ch0ch Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 I want to determine once and for all which is better? Truthfully, Ive always loved the idea of gettin uncured rock from a wild location and not knowing what kinds of critters you're going to get. I know un-cured has its downsides... but are they really that bad? I mean you have a chance of getting something like a coral or a sea star or anything on your un-cured. Cured rock just seems to be easier in the cycling process... what do you guys think? My vote goes for the un-cured... the excitement of wild life on your rock just out wheighs the cons for me. Link to comment
jmt Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 It depnds on your situation. ALL live rock needs to be cycled. If you have an established tank and you're adding a few more pounds, cured would be recommended. If you're just starting a reef and curing all the rock at once, uncured all the way. -Justin Link to comment
~_~ Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 Totally depends on where its coming from, but overall I would go with the uncured (since not many places deal in GOOD cured rock) Some cured rock has more life on it than uncured, but other cured rock is more like base/dead rock. Uncured is a pain though since you need to have tons of water to cure it and you have to do waterchanges all the time to keep the ammonia and smell down. Link to comment
ch0ch Posted March 30, 2004 Author Share Posted March 30, 2004 Well im moving everything to a 20 gal from a ten gallon... I wanted to know what would be best to cycle the 20 gallon and how long would it take for me to move everything over. btw i dont have any lighting for the 20 gallon because its on my ten gallon ( i have oversized lights) Link to comment
Hwarang Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 If it were me, I'd go with uncured • appeal of wild and random elements/hitchhikers (fun factor) • a chance to up the biodiversity of your little ocean • swapping to a new tank is likely going to cause a cycle anyhow (whether you move the substrate or simply make a new one) ... Given the last reason, I'd use the chance to get some uncured LR and stuff, preserve your existing life with frequent massive water changes (at least while the rock is stinky!) and maybe even consider keeping your less hardy specimens in the old tank until the new one is ready to roll. Link to comment
jamesj525 Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 I got aqua-cultured rock from liverocks.com. My understanding is that it's basicly straight from the ocean to my door. Nothing died and I never got a significant ammonia spike. What ammonia was there was gone in three days. It had tons of cool stuff on it including a spagetti worm and a bunch of trippy crabs. I'd do it again for sure. Link to comment
Hwarang Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 I got aqua-cultured rock from liverocks.com. My understanding is that it's basicly straight from the ocean to my door. Am I noob or something? I thought aqua-cultured means "farmed NOT in the ocean" ... it's basically the opposite of ripping reef rock right off the reef. Link to comment
pecan2phat Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 The Florida aqua-cultured live rock is suitable rock (usually from the bahamas) placed in the Keys or the Gulf on leased sites and harvested by the companies after a year or two. It's fresh as in less die off than trans-shipped LR from the Pacific. The stuff from liverock.com is harvested and transported back without water (covered with wet towels) and placed in their holding tanks for a few days to a few weeks. This usually takes care of any dieoff & then when you place your order, they ship overnight so that the dieoff is minimal. Link to comment
ODOG Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 I think aquacultured just means farmed...it could be farmed from the ocean and still not wreck the environment. Like by putting your own man made rock in the ocean to kind of capture all the little critters and such. This way your not pulling off of an existing reef...right? Link to comment
ReeferMonkey Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 Aquacultured rock is placed in the ocean so that it will be colonized by reef creatures. You couldn't do this in a closed system because you would have seriously limited biodiversity, ie whatever was in your "farm" tank. Check out the move that Richard has on the Tampa Bay Saltwater website, it shows them dumping a few million pounds of rock on a sandbed in the Gulf. Link to comment
jamesj525 Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 Yeah, What ReeferMonkey and pecan2phat said... Farmed in the ocean, transport is minimal so die off is less. They creat an artificial reef and then harvest from it after a few years. I pecan2 is spot on. I really didn't have any die off or ammonia to speak off. I also like the idea of sustainability. Plus it looks great. Way better than anything I've seen at any of my LFSs. Link to comment
AReeferIsExpensive Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 uncured is a lot more fun!! You get to see all the goodies that will die off and eventually grow back. And you also watch all the neat things that start popping out of the rock like tube worms and stuff towards the end of the cycle. Link to comment
ch0ch Posted March 31, 2004 Author Share Posted March 31, 2004 Hmm good point... I think Ill get one large un-cured rock... and the rest cured. Dont get me wrong I love the idea of aquacultured rock and not destroying the worlds naturl reefs... but it just seems to fake for me... it also seems to me ( correct me if I am wrong) that certain coralline only grows on certain type of rock. thanx choch Link to comment
jamesj525 Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 Hmmm... I have couple of different colors of coralline growing. As far as it looking fake, I don't think your looking at the same stuff I'm looking at. I like it and will advocate it use. But if it ain't your cup a tea, then your not gonna like it. Good luck with what ever you get! Link to comment
AReeferIsExpensive Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 TBS is the most life covered rock ive seen...and its aquacultered Link to comment
SeaSide Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 Cured vs Un-cured goes to TBS vs Other rock... Cured vs Uncured - jmt gave you nice opinion. you can put cured LR into either new tank or old tank. Uncured LR in your new tank will give you more fun and bio diversity, just like AReeferIsExpensive told you. If your tank is new, why not take this fun and bio diversity? Also, uncured LR. will give you a chance to learn / experience very important things like.... cycling, algae bloom and etc. Gonna be very nice bio chemistry lesson. For TDS and other LR debate... ehhh.... The idea behind this is.... State of Florida itself is sitting on the dead coral structure. So, what do they get when they dig the mountain? dead coral structure (dead rock). Bahamas rock is basically the same thing with florida digging stone. They dump million tons of those stones into the ocean, and harvest them when it covered with lives. Thus, TDS rock is imferior in terms of shape, density and overal looking. But superior in terms of preserved lives since it is off directly from the ocean. Tons of stuffs are on TBS rock. SO... which LR is the best excluded its preserved life? This is hard question. Then.. which LR is the worst excluded its preserved life? This is easy question. If you love to see a lot of lives on your LR. Florida LR is the one. When you care about shape, density of LR. Get something else. Link to comment
jamesj525 Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 Good points Seaside - I sure didn't mean to hijack the thread. I just thought it was interesting that I was able to get a lot of life with out really suffering the curing process. I went with this stuff partly because I felt a pang of guilt while snorkeling in Tahiti - But that's my problem! I say get what you like and keep it well. For pics if you're interested check out: www.wiggledog.com/reef/day1.html And here are a couple of recent ones. This is after a month and half. Link to comment
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