Cooking Live Rock (w/ pics)

woz9683 · 06/14/2007, 04:23 PM

Well, I started a thread about this a week or so ago because I thought for sure I had ruined my live rock. I just moved my system and upgraded to a new tank (all DIY) and thought I would take the opportunity to cook the live rock to get rid of some nuisance algae and so on.

I got everything to the new location with no problems, and got some water over the rock in a 33 gallon brute trash can. I put a powerhead in with an airline, closed her up, and let it go to work. Here's where the problem came in; apparently the powerhead was plugged into a faulty outlet that gave it juice right away, but at some point the plug wiggled in the socket, the connection got loose, and the powerhead cut off.

Of course I didn't notice this for almost a week until I was getting ready to do the first water change. I walked out to the back porch to find a nice bucket of black, anaerobic rock. There was a lovely sulfur aroma too.

(this is my first attempt with photo bucket, so if these don't show up right away bear with me)
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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

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So, I asked around on RC and was just told to do the water change and get some good circulation to the rock. No permanent damage done. A couple of people suggested that this mistake might have actually expedited the cooking process since no circulation and no air would accelerate the death of any algae I was trying to get rid of. So, I'll document the rest of the process and see if my mistake is easily corrected.

One more point I should note is it's 90+ outside right now. I'll be using water change water from the tank to refill the cooking rock bucket. Should I let it reach outdoor temp before doing the water changes? I mean, at this point there's not much to damage on the rock except the bacteria and coralline.

woz9683 · 06/14/2007, 04:30 PM

The flash makes that rock look a lot better than it actually did. Some pieces were solid black and had a black, slimy film on them. Also, notice the rust colored build up at the water line of the bucket. Any ideas on what that is?

Anyway, here's the remains after rocks were dunked in these buckets during the first water change.
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And here's the rock back in the bucket (well, back in another bucket) after the water change. Great circulation in there now three different powerheads at different levels. And a Mag7 with a quick little DIY venturi and air line pointing straight down to make sure some air gets to all the rock as well.
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edwing206 · 06/14/2007, 04:52 PM

Man that's some nasty rock. Good luck with cooking it.

woz9683 · 06/14/2007, 04:56 PM

Not even a full 48 hours after the first water change.

Looks better than my protein skimmer some of the time.
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Rock doesn't look half bad either.
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woz9683 · 06/14/2007, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Man that's some nasty rock. Good luck with cooking it.

Well, yeah. That's what happens when it sits in a bucket of stagnant saltwater for a week with no light.

frederickk · 06/16/2007, 09:33 AM

Make sure to continue your water change for a while before adding it.

06/14/2007, 04:23 PM	#1
woz9683 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Jackson, MS Posts: 1,029	Cooking Live Rock (w/ pics) Well, I started a thread about this a week or so ago because I thought for sure I had ruined my live rock. I just moved my system and upgraded to a new tank (all DIY) and thought I would take the opportunity to cook the live rock to get rid of some nuisance algae and so on. I got everything to the new location with no problems, and got some water over the rock in a 33 gallon brute trash can. I put a powerhead in with an airline, closed her up, and let it go to work. Here's where the problem came in; apparently the powerhead was plugged into a faulty outlet that gave it juice right away, but at some point the plug wiggled in the socket, the connection got loose, and the powerhead cut off. Of course I didn't notice this for almost a week until I was getting ready to do the first water change. I walked out to the back porch to find a nice bucket of black, anaerobic rock. There was a lovely sulfur aroma too. (this is my first attempt with photo bucket, so if these don't show up right away bear with me) [IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG] So, I asked around on RC and was just told to do the water change and get some good circulation to the rock. No permanent damage done. A couple of people suggested that this mistake might have actually expedited the cooking process since no circulation and no air would accelerate the death of any algae I was trying to get rid of. So, I'll document the rest of the process and see if my mistake is easily corrected. One more point I should note is it's 90+ outside right now. I'll be using water change water from the tank to refill the cooking rock bucket. Should I let it reach outdoor temp before doing the water changes? I mean, at this point there's not much to damage on the rock except the bacteria and coralline. __________________ Michael Current Tank Info: 195G (125G Display, 70G Sump)

06/14/2007, 04:30 PM	#2
woz9683 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Jackson, MS Posts: 1,029	The flash makes that rock look a lot better than it actually did. Some pieces were solid black and had a black, slimy film on them. Also, notice the rust colored build up at the water line of the bucket. Any ideas on what that is? Anyway, here's the remains after rocks were dunked in these buckets during the first water change. [IMG][/IMG] And here's the rock back in the bucket (well, back in another bucket) after the water change. Great circulation in there now three different powerheads at different levels. And a Mag7 with a quick little DIY venturi and air line pointing straight down to make sure some air gets to all the rock as well. [IMG][/IMG] __________________ Michael Current Tank Info: 195G (125G Display, 70G Sump)

06/14/2007, 04:52 PM	#3
edwing206 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Shoreline,Washington Posts: 4,518	Man that's some nasty rock. Good luck with cooking it. __________________ The name's Luis. :) Current Tank Info: 50G cube

06/14/2007, 04:56 PM	#4
woz9683 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Jackson, MS Posts: 1,029	Not even a full 48 hours after the first water change. Looks better than my protein skimmer some of the time. [IMG][/IMG] Rock doesn't look half bad either. [IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG] __________________ Michael Current Tank Info: 195G (125G Display, 70G Sump)

06/16/2007, 09:33 AM	#6
frederickk Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 2,712	Make sure to continue your water change for a while before adding it.