Preparing Rock

[Vinny Kreyling]

As long as you do it slowly it will be OK.

[Axel33]

I think the best way would be to cure the rock in a barrel with now light. Only bubler and heater. What do you guy's think?

[dochoot]

Originally Posted by wilsonreefs

I'm curious about a idea I have. I've never liked the fact that the sand under a rock eventually ends up black due to poor circulation. This in turn causes the water to become foul. I have put rock on the bare bottom and put the sand in afterwards. Sand always ends up under the rock. I have a shallow bed of sand (was a deep bed). My thoughts are to build racks out of 1/2" diameter PVC to raise the rocks off the bottom about 3/4". The sand should be able to cover the piping. This would allow sand sifting critters to actually get under the rocks. What do you guys think?

I did this and it worked great. Lots of extra caves etc.

[Toddah]

I have a new aquascape I built out of dry rock I purchased from a reefer getting out. I was in a plastic crate out in his yard for an unknown period of time.
I am starting a new IM 40 NUVO AIO from scratch and was looking for the best way to give this rock formation a head start.
I bleached the whole pile of rock in a Brute garbage can for a week in 1.5 gallons of pure bleach to about 20 or 25 gallons of water, rinsed it well then left it sit in my driveway for a few days to evaporate the Chlorine out of it.
It no longer has a bleach smell at all.
I bought a plastic tub big enough to [place the aquascape in and was planning on submerging it in RO/DI with some form of seeding material while I remove the carpeting from my mancave and install waterproof flooring, get the tank in place and plumb and wire the Apex, water change equipment, ATO and all the associated tank stuff.
I know I can just get a chunk of live rock from my LFS or use "live" sand as well as bottled copepods, and other little bugs and crustations. I have been out of it for almost ten years and am looking to see if there are any better routes to take.
The tank will go through a full initial cycling period without lights after the aquascape is installed. I am not in a hurry at all. Figure late summer/fall before I start seriously stocking anything
I was planning on a bare bottom (never done that before in all my other tanks) but thinking bare bottom with dead rock was too extreme and I would be forever in crappy tank purgatory waiting to achieve some balance in the biosphere so I think I will be using sand after all.
Any good advice to help me get this thing off the ground on solid footing?

[Vinny Kreyling]

Best Bet--- If you can get a piece of live rock from a store or hobbyist to seed the tank.

[Toddah]

Originally Posted by Vinny Kreyling

Best Bet--- If you can get a piece of live rock from a store or hobbyist to seed the tank.

Thanks Vinny

[Salma]

Originally Posted by JLund

I am starting a 80 gallon tank soon, I have a small bio cube with about 15-20 pounds of rock in it... I want to use it in the new tank but I don't want to bring whatever pests might be in it. Would curing it work? What would you guys reccomend?? Thanks

You can use UV light to clean all the pests on the rock before reuse the rocks,the is the best method but Becarefull turn the uv light and stay way from it might cause cancer if you exposed to it for longer time.