Cooking Rock for 6 months?

[ps2cho]

I have an upgrade planned for about a 150g tank next summer. Since I have downtime til then, I am considering purchasing about 50-60lbs of new rock (Pukani and Tonga) and letting it cook in a brute trash can in the garage.

 

I've heard Pukani especially, it has a lot of PO4 so I figured if I let the rock sit in a trash can with a powerhead and heater for 6-8months, when the time is up I'll have zero algae issues with the new tank, or very little!

 

Does this sound like a smart plan?

[VW_TDI_02]

If you have the time then sure. I would periodically drain and replace the water in there as well. Heater, powerhead, and saltwater is all you need. Oh, and definitely make sure to cover it so no light is getting in there. You'll probably still get some algae in the tank when you're first setting it up but that's going to be severely limited by properly curing the rock.

[jedimasterben]

No. The nutrients in the rock will have nowhere to go. It takes significant bacterial activity to cleave phosphate from the rock, and then the bacteria need to be removed as they die or else it is released back into the water and bound to the rock again.

 

IMHO, just use the rock as is and get a rabbitfish for any algae

[Dan R]

When I set up my 40 I used pukani. I cleaned it first then soaked it in salt water for a month. Then I changed the water and added some live rock and some fish food. let it soak for another month. When I set up my tank it cycled in no time. Seven months later and no leaching problems.

[evan38109]

I did something similar when I set up a tank, had it fail, and didn't set up the replacement for over six months. I moved the pukani rock first to the sump with a strong pump, then to a quarantine tank with several power heads. I had already fully cycled the tank, so the rock was colonized by bacteria. I added ammonia regularly and performed monthly 100% water changes.

 

When I finally got the new tank up, everything worked well. No algae or phosphates and the tank could handle ammonia on day one.

[Matteo]

If you want you could basically cycle the rock for 6 months and really build up the bacteria, then once your new build is wet you can throw your 6 month old live rock and basically not really even have to cycle.

[streamline.by.design]

Bleach soak for 24 hours, acid bath, rinse and repeat bleach bath. Then soak in triple dose of prime for three days, changing water each day. Pukani will be clean

[ps2cho]

I don't care too much about the bacteria as removing organics.

 

It'll be removed and aquascaped in the air for a day or two so it'll likely lose the bacteria anyway.

 

I thought I read that without a food source the bacteria eat anything remaining from the rock?

[VW_TDI_02]

I don't care too much about the bacteria as removing organics.

 

It'll be removed and aquascaped in the air for a day or two so it'll likely lose the bacteria anyway.

 

I thought I read that without a food source the bacteria eat anything remaining from the rock?

Whenever you get live rock, there will always be a bit of die off just from transit. That starts producing ammonia which helps feed the bacteria.

[Exodus]

listen to ben or matteo, cooking the rock for 6 months is nothing but a waist. If you choose to cycle that rock though since you have the down time you will have allot more benefit when you put the tank up as your cycle will be almost non existent. Otherwise as ben suggested you don't need to bother with the effort of it and just toss the rock in. Your not going to get any more algea from that stuff than you would otherwise.

[Matteo]

Bleach soak for 24 hours, acid bath, rinse and repeat bleach bath. Then soak in triple dose of prime for three days, changing water each day. Pukani will be clean

 

Don't do bleach. Just acid. If you do this you can buy acid at a pool store. It's very concentrated and kind of a pain to dispose of. Bleach is more likely to soak in the rock and leach out over time.

[ps2cho]

listen to ben or matteo, cooking the rock for 6 months is nothing but a waist. If you choose to cycle that rock though since you have the down time you will have allot more benefit when you put the tank up as your cycle will be almost non existent. Otherwise as ben suggested you don't need to bother with the effort of it and just toss the rock in. Your not going to get any more algea from that stuff than you would otherwise.

Pukani is known to have a bunch of dead organics still on the rock.

 

How is it a waste of time when I get the bacteria to eat all the dead organics before I start a new tank?

 

I could do monthly 100% water changes to remove the po4 from the water.

 

Am I missing something here?

[Exodus]

Pukani is known to have a bunch of dead organics still on the rock.

 

How is it a waste of time when I get the bacteria to eat all the dead organics before I start a new tank?

 

I could do monthly 100% water changes to remove the po4 from the water.

 

Am I missing something here?

"when I get the bacteria to eat all the dead organics" Are you referring to cooking or cycling the rock? If your referring to cycling the rock and curing it in an effort for it to host beneficial bacteria for when your ready to add it to the tank, your not wasting any time, I say go for it. Otherwise if your simply wanting to cook "Sanitize" the rock, you could just as easily throw it in the tank and let the dead organics kick off the cycle for you. There is nothing on that rock being dead that long that's going to set you up for failure in anyway if your getting this straight from BRS.