Cooking Rock

[heath]

I know that its been discussed before but I can't find the post.
I have a bunch of rock that I need to cook and I can't remember how to do it.
thanks everyone..

 

[MrHermit85]

I just stick mine in a tub with a heater and powerhead and do frequent water changes. If you want to kill everything on it try a muriatic acid bath... I found the acid bath was easier.

 

[heath]

thanks, I thought that's how it was done. The rock has been sitting on my balcony for about 2/3 weeks now so I'm sure its dead..if I add a piece of live rock will that help to re-seed it...I am hoping to use it my coral tank..

 

[reef keeper]

If you had algae issues you'll need to cook it. I'll go over it with you

 

[twisty]

I used the muriatic acid process, this not only kills organisms but removes phosphates from the rock.

The Acid is available @ canadian tire.... i went with a 1 to 10 ratio.

There are several threads describing this method.

If you had Algae issues.. this should take care of most of it.

Re-seed with live rock..Make sure it's phosphate and pest free

 

[mig]

I would be interested in a 'how to' on this as well Heath.. I have a couple rocks I would like to strip and start from scratch to get rid of the algae

 

[Easto]

This is from Eli who runs Fiji Reef Rock. He sells dry pukani, tonga branch, tonga shelf, etc. I asked on another board and this is the response he offered on how to cure rock.

As someone asked me to reply and give an explanation.
Here is my quick take on curing processes for the dry rock.

My original receipe is based on bacteria survival and keeping that bacteria to stay and do its job for as little time possible.
Yes there are other recipes out there that work be it using chemicals,HC-GFO,Carbon and other item that yes at the end cost money.
I tried keeping my recipe with as little of added cost as possible,for the short time or the long haul of any setup.
I always believed in Keep It Simple Stupid or don't fix it if it aint broke.

Yes like Denny said and I know of few people did the quick drop in the tank load it with live stock and turn lights on then cross your fingers...well I don't totally agree as I really go in details as to why the rock need the dark time and get it to coat with beneficial bacteria and use all the proteins to break down properly ,...

A quick note on how Bleach and Acid works on the rock for curing.

We all know the rock is cleaned as much as possible and pressure washed prior to shipping. But proteins is lodged into the rock and needs to be removed with little cost.

Bleach and proteins are 2 different chemical reaction as when added bleach in a water volume and add the rock to it what you will get is that the bleach will react with the amino acids that form the proteins and render it useless,..
Now all that release is in the water line or some still in the rock.

Acid well we all know that acid body of water dissolve Calcium (the very make of our rock) to nothing
When added to the water with the rock that has gotten a simple wash after the Bleach wash,well it will dislodge and remover all cracked

and useless proteins into the water line and foam out.A quick wash and your rock is ready for curing.

Curing is always needed to add bacteria and have the rock ready for any saltwater tank,...
Does the Bleach and Acid speed up the process,...I don't know as I haven't tested that theory yet,there is no right answer to that speed of curing as the recipe doesn't fall under on one or 2 items being changed but few points put together; foe exp. water temperature,water movement, oxygen availability, available proteins in the rock and added proteins to that rock,...

Bottom line is if you are planning on using Acid or Bleach I suggest using them as part of the process not one and leave the other out as mentioned above they work perfect as one breaks the proteins and the other help dislodging is out.

Hope that answers the question or at least its my lake on this.
Cheers

 

[heath]

Hi Kevin, this is the rock out of my dead coral tank, right now its in a CLOSED tote. It is in salt water (fresh) with a small power head and a heater..my rock was REALLY BAD. I put it out on my balcony for a week to die off. My understanding is that you should change the water every week or soo, mine had to be changed after 3 days, it STINKS really bad so put it in a spot that isn't going to offend anyone and keep the lid on it..I have some clean live rock in my sump and after it has cooked I will be adding some of the live to re-seed it..time frame is approx. 2 months. Iam not going with the muratic acid. if you want more info contact "reef keeper" from Hamilton, he will help you and give you more details..

 

[BigReefer]

what about dry dead rock .... would I just put a heater in it with flow??? and do lots of water changes ??? for about 1-3 weeks ... its dead and be dried for weeks... Parents brought me some rock from hawaii, so I would like to use it if i could...

 

[Neopimp]

I was always under the thinking that Cooking and using bleach and acid are different things to achieve the same end product.

Bleach and or acid will destroy organics in/on the rock. Essentially its now dead rock with a very large surface area on which the bacteria will populate. Seed the dead rock with some live rock, bacteria will populate and you have your live rock again. However you will have just rock and bacteria as anything else of interest, good or bad will be dead.

Cooking is the biological approach to achieving the same thing. With out the complete destruction of living things. You are letting the existing bacteria do its thing. But with rock that has been neglected, dried and not cleaned etc you are providing TONS of food/fuel for that process which produces lots and lots of wastes that will need to be removed over the course of the cooking until you have a complete culture to handle the wastes being produced. At that point cooking is done.

I prefer acid. Yes the biological diversity of the rock is destroyed, but that is regained with just a small piece of live good quality rock. With acid you have a blank slate... no badies.. no surprises. Tossing a acid cleaned rock into an exiting system presents no issues in my experience with cycling or anything. The rock is clean.. there is nothing to die. Yes the system will go through a small slow swing as the bacteria and stuff populate through but the existing bacteria process in the tank will handle that without issue.

Starting a new system with only dry or acid cleaned rock requires a bit more patience I believe though.


This is just my thoughts, feel free to pick it apart

 

[reef keeper]

Essentially what you are doing cooking rock is allowing bacteria to consume everything in the rock and force the phosphates and nitrates out. The problem IMO with acid or bleach is it gets the surface. And I inlude inside the rock as well when I say that. But it doesn't get everywhere, and leaves a lot. The biological cookig process is slow. Up to 2 months. And frequent water changes. It's stinks to high heaven and the water is disgusting. This is your phosphates and nitrates coming out. By leaving it in the dark, the algae can't consume the phosphates and therefore has no food source and dies. I'm cooking rock for a member here, and it was an algae carpet. He saw the rock after 10 days and could t believe how much better it looked. You can skim if you want but the water changes will get rid of everything and force more nutrients out into the water. The water changes stop it from being re absorbed into the rock. Curing rock is a whole other thread lol. Cooking is all about patience.

 

[heath]

My rock was/is full of all kinds of nasty stuff, it was gross after the tank crashed and its even grosser (is there such a word) now. Mine was outside on the balcony for about a week, so it was good and dry..Mike, I didn't get the water changed until today and trust me I didn't even want to put my hands in the water and the smell was god awful, I plan on reusing the rock in my coral tank so I am a little reluctant to use the acid/bleach method. I just hope that the smell dies down a bit when I take the lid off.. neo, are you saying that stuff can still live in the rock after going through all of this or does the acid/bleach kill the hitch hikers, I don't want them back either..could maybe change my thinking..

 

[Neopimp]

Acid = Death of assumably everything organic

Cooking = Probable Death but no guarentess there are some tough things out there

I am biased to the Acid so I never really dug as deep into Cooking process. I have seen things such as colonial Hydroids survive a cooking. Not a chance with acid.

 

[heath]

oh, please don't tell me that, I had some nasty bristle worms, not an Infestation but I did have them. some of them were weird looking so not even sure they were bristle worms or that other nasty worm...maybe when they are done cooking I will give them a bleach bath, will have to see..

 

[Neopimp]

if you go through the trouble of cooking... don't bleach unless you want to sterilize

watch them worms.. I would think they would die but they are tough bastards.

 

[heath]

oh, I think that the ones that I had bit the dust, as I said they were outside for a week, rain, snow and what ever else fell on them.. they were pretty black and crusty when I brought the rock back in to start cooking.. I just wish that I had another place to do it, really don't like the smell in my apartment..