SRC Member Sherilyn91 Posted December 15, 2014 SRC Member Share Posted December 15, 2014 How do I cure live rock? I bought 2 big pcs from lfs with coralline alage.. I soak in hot water for an hour den gonna sun dried it.. After drying the red coralline will turn white? the rock having a bad smell now.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member pcw Posted December 15, 2014 SRC Member Share Posted December 15, 2014 Correct me if I'm wrong, but to cure live rock, isn't the rock just cycled with salt water such that the die-offs are complete? You seem to be describing the process of drying out/ bleaching rocks. By doing so, the rock will be dead already. i.e. dead bacteria and other organisms After drying the coralline will be white but this certainly isn't 'curing'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xiggie Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Curing and killing live rocks is two different method . What you are doin is killing the live rocks with hot water .. When they are dead for sure they will rot and smell bad.. Curing live rocks is putting them above water lvl while having salt water spraying on them for a period of time , this way the unwanted pest like crabs , mantis shrimp and worms will crawl out and drop to the bottom leaving the bacteria and other good stuff alive on the rocks it's self.. Quote Stairway to Heaven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member Sherilyn91 Posted December 15, 2014 Author SRC Member Share Posted December 15, 2014 Ooh. But since now I soak in hot water alrdy.. Jus need to dry them and the bad smell will be gone? After which I can put into the tank alrdy? I jus wan to make sure no pest.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tofubox Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 you can dry them. But the smell will take awhile to go. Basically there will be die offs on the rock which cause the foul smell. Quote I Love Stagsss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member Sherilyn91 Posted December 15, 2014 Author SRC Member Share Posted December 15, 2014 Must the smell be totally gone before I can put into tank? Or once dry can put in le? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member asg Posted December 15, 2014 SRC Member Share Posted December 15, 2014 Take a brush and brush them n time. Then wash them n time before putting in ur tank... Quote 子非鱼,焉知鱼之乐... (you are not the fish so you...) Then: my 4FT low tech selling off tank... (2006) Now: (2014) @Sept 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member Sherilyn91 Posted December 15, 2014 Author SRC Member Share Posted December 15, 2014 N time means? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tofubox Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 No problem, can place them in the tank anytime.. But just make sure u try to scrub/brush/remove any organic matter found on the rocks. Your cycling period may be slightly longer. Quote I Love Stagsss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member Sherilyn91 Posted December 15, 2014 Author SRC Member Share Posted December 15, 2014 Ooh ok sure.. Thanks thanks.. Jus wondering how the red become white after drying.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member fatphotoboy Posted May 22, 2016 SRC Member Share Posted May 22, 2016 Any formula to bleach rocks? I read the process require a week of soaking and followed by flushing with water then drying? Any masters to share the formula? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Supporter Harlequinmania Posted May 23, 2016 SRC Supporter Share Posted May 23, 2016 There is no secret formula, basicly you soak your rock in Salt water with either a power head or air stone to keep it alive while waiting for the bad stuff inside the rocks to die off and leech off whatever it has in it. Change water after a week or so and test to see if it is still leeching any p04 or nitrate into the water. Some reefer cycling the rock together with their new tank. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app Quote 1000 Gallon Tank in the Hole http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/topic/120957-1000-gallon-3d-hole-in-the-wall/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Supporter SubzeroLT Posted May 23, 2016 SRC Supporter Share Posted May 23, 2016 2 hours ago, he said: There is no secret formula, basicly you soak your rock in Salt water with either a power head or air stone to keep it alive while waiting for the bad stuff inside the rocks to die off and leech off whatever it has in it. Change water after a week or so and test to see if it is still leeching any p04 or nitrate into the water. Some reefer cycling the rock together with their new tank. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app This method is for 'curing' live rock -> i.e. keeping live rocks alive & let the organisms that may have damaged/die during transportation to die off completely. A process that takes 3-5 weeks. As he mentioned - can be part of the tank cycling process. On 5/22/2016 at 9:21 AM, fatphotoboy said: Any formula to bleach rocks? I read the process require a week of soaking and followed by flushing with water then drying? Any masters to share the formula? Thanks. If you intend to 'kill' the rock, a typical method is to soak it in 50% bleach / 50% water solution for a couple of days. Then keep rinsing/soaking (a few days) multiple times with tap water + anti chlorine till you don't get any more bleach smell. You can also just get a chlorine test kit to verify (about S$12) An optional step is to do a vinegar soak. Hearsay it gets rid of phosphate. And it really gets rid of the bleach. 100% vinegar (eg. $3.50/liter from Seng Shiong). About 30min vinegar soak will suffice. Then rinse a couple of times with water (IMO, tap water will do) to get rid of the vinegar. Then let it dry completely. Quote Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/mysliceofnature/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member fatphotoboy Posted May 23, 2016 SRC Member Share Posted May 23, 2016 (edited) 2 hours ago, SubzeroLT said: This method is for 'curing' live rock -> i.e. keeping live rocks alive & let the organisms that may have damaged/die during transportation to die off completely. A process that takes 3-5 weeks. As he mentioned - can be part of the tank cycling process. If you intend to 'kill' the rock, a typical method is to soak it in 50% bleach / 50% water solution for a couple of days. Then keep rinsing/soaking (a few days) multiple times with tap water + anti chlorine till you don't get any more bleach smell. You can also just get a chlorine test kit to verify (about S$12) An optional step is to do a vinegar soak. Hearsay it gets rid of phosphate. And it really gets rid of the bleach. 100% vinegar (eg. $3.50/liter from Seng Shiong). About 30min vinegar soak will suffice. Then rinse a couple of times with water (IMO, tap water will do) to get rid of the vinegar. Then let it dry completely. Thanks for the great input! I have started to do bleaching yesterday. Hearsay that the vinegar will induce more algae? Cant wait to have the rocks ready for scaping and commence my project! Thanks again all. For the good tips! Quote Edited May 23, 2016 by fatphotoboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member illumnae Posted May 25, 2016 SRC Member Share Posted May 25, 2016 50-50 bleach-water is excessive. Usual recommendation is 20 parts water to 1 part bleach, or 10 parts water to 1 part bleach if you're kiasu. Soak for 24 hours is enough, 48 hours if you're kiasu. Thereafter, you can soak the rocks in water with antichlorine to get rid of as much bleach as possible. Dry the rocks completely to be 100% sure that you are free from bleach (bleach evaporates completely without residue). A small amount of remnant bleach on the rocks is not a bad thing as it actually raises your ORP until depleted. Vinegar will burn the surface off your rocks as acid reacts with calcium carbonate. Just use pure artificial white vinegar (5% acetic acid) undiluted to do this. Please note that this is a very dirty process as the entire surface of the rock is burnt off by the vinegar. There will be fizzing and popping while the reaction takes place, and the resultant residue is brown and smelly and damn disgusting. How it helps to reduce phosphate is that phosphate can bind with calcium carbonate and then leech into your water, causing phosphate problems. By burning the surface of the rock off, you are also burning the bound phosphate together with it. How effective it is depends on how much phosphate was bound in your rock. For example, I made the mistake of buying recycled live rock that was in another tank for goodness knows how long. Even after 1 round of vinegar treatment, the rocks are still leeching measurable amounts of phosphate (though much less than before). I would probably have to do a 2nd round of vinegar bath to totally get rid of the phosphate. However, as this rock is extremely porous and "holey" in structure, excessive vinegar bath would cause the rocks to potentially disintegrate or break into small pieces if too much of the surface is burnt off by the vinegar. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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