Cooking Live Rock

SIMS said:
Ok I unpacked most of my rock from the sump and was suprided to note that they are algae clear not one spec - I have scrubbed them and put them in the cooking tub, skimmer ran 12 hours no foam - should I leave them in there or take them out?
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Sims just to be sure leave the rock in the sump for a few more days.
 
You mean cooking tub - I just taken it out the sump :) but yea will leave it for 2 weeks and should be ok by then.
 
So what are the signs that it has finished cooking? Or is it just a guess?
 
millepora said:
Prod it with a fork, if it slides though easily then they done.
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:lol: good one mille.

I think the answer is when there is no hair algea left. After that stage I would give it another month.
I read somewhere that you want to starve the bacteria in the rock.
 
Don't forget to give the rock a good swish in a bucket of clean SW a few times during the process, the idea of cooking rock is so that it will expel all the nasties in it, when you rinse the rock the water should get quite dirty, when the water doesn't get dirty anymore then I think you can safely say it is pretty well finished cooking and should be nice and clean.

You should see millepora's rock cooking drums, the bottom of them are full of gunk that has been expelled from the rocks.
 
Pics are in my thread, I think it's called Viper's algae farm
 
Galibore said:
Bwahahah... or until it is El Denté
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:lol:
If thrown at the ceiling and it sticks.... its definitely overdone.

I would imagine it depends on how severe the problem, the volume of water, skimming and circulation..... But what i can say with confidence is that with freshly imported Kenyan...nothing less than 8 weeks.
 
So Dean hows the rock going? Mine has been in the tub a few weeks and I have done 1 water change, skimmer is not really skimming anything just a bit of clear water in the cup - tell me once it is cooked if I add it to a new setup will I still have to cycle?
 
Hey SIMS, yeah my rock is still in the kiddies play pool in the garage, my skimmer is also only pulling out light green water, but I must say there is a lot of gunk that has been expelled from the rocks and is lying on the floor of the pool, which is exactly what I wanted.

I have been extremely lazy and haven't done any water changes yet.

I want to get some liquid phosphate remover and dose this in the pool a few times, I also need to do some waterchanges and also rinse each rock in a separate bucket of SW to remove excess loose detritus.

I don't know if there will be a cycle once the cooked rock is re-introduced into the tank, will need someone else to help on that matter.
 
Yip looks like we both the same - I'm too lazy to tell the gardener what to do but I see he was inspecting what was in the bucket today and I'll get him to mix the water when he comes to work tomorrow....

WRT the cycle I want to use this rock in a new tank and need to know if it will still need to cycle or can I just add fish?
 
I tried that with a new tank and old rock and old water from my old tank, didn't work so well. I would strongly recommend still waiting about 6-8 weeks just in case you do have a cycle, rather be safe than sorry, I lost a LOT of stock because I was too excited about my new tank and trying "miracle cures", really not worth it.
 
Your rock won't need to cycle, that's what it's doing now provided you keeping your basic parameters in check.
With cooking it's important to keep up the water changes. Dunk and swish the rock you cooking in the old water that you have used for the water changes to shake off all the loose detritus that the rock will be shedding.
After 6 - 8 weeks there should be very little left.
 
cool, thanks Anthony, I seriously need to squeeze some more hours into the day, will get the waterchanges and swishing done this weekend hopefully.
 
DragonReef said:
Your rock won't need to cycle, that's what it's doing now provided you keeping your basic parameters in check.
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Ermmm... That would depend on one's definition of "cycle". The bacterial population only increases up to the first limiting state, and in the case of prolonged "cooking" and regular water changes there might not be enough dissolved organics (FOOD) left to sustain a large enough bacterial population to handle the bio-load of a whole new tank with lots of fish all introduced at the same time.

I would still advise to go slow with new introductions... After all, only BAD things happen quickly in a marine tank.

Hennie
 
Yip agreed Hennie. What I meant is provided you keep the rock within the basic params it won't be sterile. As you rightly say when stocking it's important to realise that the bacterial populations of the Rock / DSB or any other biological filtration needs to be given the chance to build up according to the bio load of the intended system.
 
Traditional cycle will not be necessary. ie No ammonia or nitrite spikes....however with my new set up,... i went thru all the other traditional side effects...different algal films, diatom blooms and an immediate fuzz on anything new placed in the tank ie pipes, pumps, glass etc. All old or cooked rock showed no growth....It was interesting to note that all my new ceramic rock showed immediate long hair growth which lasted two months. All transferred coralls (lps) lost a lot of their colour and vitality a day after transfer, even though water was freshly mixed Tropic Marin.

My last lot of purchased Kenyan rock has been cooking since beginning May. It will remain that way until end August. Skimmer stopped skimming gunk weeks ago.

I use the water from the dislay water change for my cooking tank and the latter douche and shake. I feel that this should keep bacterial levels at a suitable level for reintroduction.
 
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