Curing Live Rock

Curing live rock must be done to allow the plant and marine life, especially sponges, to undergo a natural die back without polluting the aquarium water.

This die back occurs on all live rock during the transportation period. From the time it’s harvested until it arrives at the local fish store it continues.

As a result of this die back, a large amount of waste material is produced. This waste causes an ammonia spike and would be extremely toxic to an existing system that had fish or corals already in it. They would most definitely die.

The good news is, not all the organisms will die. Some coral, algae, and invertebrates will survive as well as most of the beneficial bacteria. This remaining life will have a solid foundation with which to grow and flourish.

How do you go about curing live rock?

There is more than one way to accomplish this task. The following method is for a new aquarium setup. No fish, corals, or invertebrates have been introduced to your tank yet.

In this case, you can use the live rock to cycle your aquarium. I am assuming you have completed the Reef Aquarium Setup Guide and are at the last stage, adding live rock.

1. Rinse each piece of live rock in a bucket of saltwater. Use a new nylon tooth brush to remove any loose organic matter, debris, and sand. Be careful not to remove any living animals, corals, or invertebrates.



2. Place the rock in your aquarium. Aquascape until you are satisfied, remembering to make sure your structure is stable and will not fall.



3. Scrub the rocks every 3 or 4 days to remove any white film and/or dead material.



4. Remove dead or dying material that falls to the bottom of your tank as soon as you can. Use a siphon. There’s no need to leave it there, letting it decay and further pollute your tank.



5. Once a week, perform a water change of 10%. Again, use a siphon to remove any material that accumulates on the bottom of your tank. This material will be debris and organic matter that has died.



6. After the first week, test for ammonia and nitrite. Then test once a week after that.



7. In about 3 to 5 weeks the ammonia and nitrite will be zero. Congratulations, your tank is cycled.



8. Do a 50% water change. You are now ready to add your first reef inhabitants.

I recommend you run your skimmer all through the curing live rock process.

What about your lights during the curing process?

The main reason to not use any lights is to control or stop the growth of problem algae.

However, lighting with actinic bulbs is becoming popular because they promote the growth of coralline algae which is something you want. There will also be a little less die off with the use of lights.

Others turn on one or two of their lights. I have done it both ways with no problems. Yes, you will get some undesirable algae, but the soon to be added cleanup crew will take care of it.