Live Rock Curing question

Hey Fellow Aquarists,

I have recently bought 55 lbs of live rock, It's in a 35 Gal Tub and it's been curing for 6 days. I have a skimmer and powerhead in the Tub for circulation. I 've been getting ammonia readings of 8.0 for the last 3 days. I've been using seachems Prime and biozyme to eliminate the ammonia and still 8.0 reading. I have scrubbed off alot of die off from the rock that last 3 days and still have same reading. I have another 35 tub with salt and proper water temp ready to, should I move the rock over to the new Tub or not? What should I do need advise. Also is it possible that the detrius or die off at the bottom of the Tub is causing the high ammonia? Any ideas or insights are very much appreciated. Thanks.

 

Let the stuff sit and let nature take it's course. It's only been 6 days. :-/ IMO you need to quit putting chemicals in the water and let it happen naturally. Saltwater is not a game of speed it's a game of patience. Too many people try to rush their cycle and it may end up bitting you down the road a bit. Just like what Matt says "go slow and let it grow"

 

yes i agree, from what i understand the nirite will eventually eat up the amonia, then the nitrate will eventually eat up the nitrate and then eventually and very slowly the nitrate will decrease to 0 along with everything else... and then your cycling prosess will be done.... remember it is possible for this prosses to take up a month at times... just be patient my friend and nature will take its cource IMO.... good luck!

 

he is not cycling a tank, he is curing liverock. He is going by method, but left out some steps. Thats why he is having problems. He told me yesterday his ammo has been at 2.0 for the last few days, so I dont know where he is getting 8.0 from. Curing liverock is not like cycling a tank, you can cycle a tank while curing liverock, but that takes a long time.

I use to farm liverock and I use to cure it for a LFS. I know what it takes to cure liverock. If you deviate from any of the steps, you will have problems.

 

Another thing.... He didnt add a skimmer or anything else untill day 3 when he couldnt figure out why his water was red. When in my article on here says to use a skimmer. A skimmer is KEY in curing liverock to remove the DOM out of the water. Prime is an ammonia blocker so the skimmer can remove it as well. I also told him to go ahead and change tubs the other day which he apparently hasnt.

Sorry for the rant people, but you can only help a person so far and then they dont listen and wonder what went wrong.

 

What works for one, might be different for another. Alot might not agree with my method, but it Works and i've done it for years. I take new live rock and place it in a tub by itself with a powerhead, water from my already running system and an airstone. I do a water change to save from wasting expensive salt.I run it in there for about a week. I change about 1/3 water daily. I also scrub it daily under Freshwater (in a laundry tub sink)After about a week I add it to the Aquarium. I've never had a problem. Some people claim you need a skimmer, Thats simply an opinion. change enough water,you dont need to skim when curing rock.

 

If you use a good skimmer, no need for water changes.

 

Didn't know he was just curing LR in a seperate tank, thought he was cycling a tank and curing LR at the same time. My bad..... Guess that is my early 20's coming back to haunt me.......;D

 

It amazes me why people waste time and money on L/R then to just kill the stuff off ? What constitutes L/R ? I know when we started with its use it was just for bacteria. then as that went on it became more about what was living on the surface ? But if people had a clue as to how bacteria in that rock works or on it for that matter its ll going to die . There is no demand of it's use in a new system it will die and then repopulate to the proper needed levels. So other then Coraline's and the mess on it why use it ? Oh I know Bio diversity thats the stuff they are scrubbing off You guys just kill me . buy it to kill it

 

Tangster has some good Opinions. But "to each is own". Buy it to kill it??? What if someone was buying the rock just because they liked the shapes or looks of it? Say Tonga branch for example. Ive never seen "DEAD" Tonga branch on sale. And as for scrubbing off, When i buy rock, theres always stuff i do not want to add to my system, Hence the scrubbing off. And Waste time and money, Im not sure i understand where Tangster is qualified to say who's time is wasted or how much money He thinks they waste. Thanks for your Opinon though.