Pre-Cured Rock

[FishyReef]

Ordered my rocks today - 75lbs of dry rock and 25 of live (along with the 65lbs of dry rock I got off CL) - so excited!! The live rock I ordered comes "pre-cured" - I know I need to cure it again but am wondering where I should do it? I could do it in my tank, but my tank is in my office and I've read that the curing process can be quite smelly! But given that its only 25lbs, will it be that bad? Also, should I cure it by itself, or add it to the dry rock before curing? And finally, with pre-cured live rock, do I need to do a hypertonic dip beforehand to get rid of hitchhikers like I would if it were uncured?

Thank you all!! So excited to be moving forward slowly but surely!

 

[MikeG]

I put all my dry rock and live rock in the tank along with the sand (substrate) and let my tank cycle. That way your dry rock will begin to turn live as the tank cycles. As for the dip I didn't but I'll leave that part to someone else to say if it is a good idea or not.

 

[AmberSunrise]

I didnt dip, I think the creatures and hitchhikers are essential to the ecosystem you are creating. I dont know where you are getting it from but its probably not going to have any creatures on it unless it came right out of the ocean. Most stores keep the live rock in very cold water which gets rid of a lot of the organisms.

I would put it all in together also, I had a mixture of live and dry and I dont remember it smelling bad.

 

[Bifferwine]

You can dip to get rid of hitch hikers -- but you will get rid of good and bad hitch hikers. I wouldn't dip it. I wouldn't want to risk killing off good guys that came with it.

 

[FishyReef]

Thanks everyone! I won't do the dip then :D My dry rocks were shipped out yesterday, hoping the live ones ship tomorrow so that I can start curing them this weekend - perfect time to work on my aquascape and play!