Curing liverock - skimmer necessary?

[Brandon M]

I won't be setting up my 300 gallon for around 6-8 months but I found an amazing deal on around 250 lbs of cured fiji liverock (~$1.50 per lb).

I currently have all of the rock in 2 brute trashcan's with heaters and maxijets for lots of flow. Now for my questions:
[list=1]Is a skimmer necessary?

How often should I do water changes? 25%? 50%?

The temperature fluctuates quite a bit, because they are in my garage, is this a big deal?

Anything else I should keep my eye on or worry about for the next 6-8 months?
[/list=1]
Thanks!

[meco65]

If the containers are in a hostile area my self I would add heaters to both cans, to keep as much life on and in the rock as possible. The temp more than likely would not kill all the bacteria, but will depending on how low of a temp you are talking about, can kill the pods and hitchhikers that are in the rock.

[Brandon M]

Originally posted by meco65
If the containers are in a hostile area my self I would add heaters to both cans, to keep as much life on and in the rock as possible. The temp more than likely would not kill all the bacteria, but will depending on how low of a temp you are talking about, can kill the pods and hitchhikers that are in the rock.

Well I am in Texas so it doesn't get too low...the temp. fluctuates between 77-84 degrees. Plus summer is coming up, so I don't see it getting low too much longer.

[meco65]

With temps in the rang of 77-84 you should be ok. But over 84 is not good either. Now this is JMO I don’t think a temp of say 88-89 would kill the life on the rock, if it will be hotter than that you may want to move the rock.

[jim63dt]

I would run a skimmer for curing rock to answer your question

[Brandon M]

Originally posted by jim63dt
I would run a skimmer for curing rock to answer your question

Thanks for the reply, would a skimmer be necessary if the rock is already cured? All of the rock has been in the previous owners tank for over a year already.

[meco65]

The skimmer will help take out any decaying mater. So it will help, but doing 10% to 20% weekly water changes will do just as well with just the rock as you will not be feeding the rock like you would a tank. There should not be much with cured LR to skim. IMO.

[bmk]

Hi
I would treat the rock as if it were in a tank i.e water changes every other week, I would also 'feed' the rock with something like phytoplankton once a week as the pods probably wont survive for that length of time with no food, just my opinion.

Barry

[Brandon M]

Originally posted by bmk
Hi
I would treat the rock as if it were in a tank i.e water changes every other week, I would also 'feed' the rock with something like phytoplankton once a week as the pods probably wont survive for that length of time with no food, just my opinion.

Barry

Barry- Thanks for the reply. I will add some food from time to time to keep all the critters happy.

[Brandon M]

One more question, is a light necessary?

[D to the P]

only if you want to keep coraline or other algaes alive on it. otherwise, no.