# Uncured or Cured Liverock?



## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

in the next month or so ill be buying the liverock for my 50 gallon. for my first tank i bought cured jakarta liverock. it was great, cycled REALLY fast, but i didnt get too many cool hitchhikers or anything except for the odd tubeworm and such.

now im debating whether i should try uncured liverock for my next tank. and if so, which type. i was looking at premiumaquatics and they have some really cool stuff. i know that buying uncured it will take a while to cure, but i have a better chance of getting cool sh*t on my rocks. i dont intend to "cook" the rock. im just going to chuck it in with the lights on a normal cycle and do it that way (with lots of water changes).

so guys...what should i do?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

true uncured has the chnace of cool hitch hikers but it also runs a greater chance of pain in the a55 hitch hikers like that crab you had.. i say go with 80 percent base rock 20 percent cured hand picked live rock, take the money saved from buying base rock and buy kick ass coral o make up for the lack of "cool hitchhikers"


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

hmmmm....

but base rock is so boring







lol.

the good thing is that ill be letting the tank hang out with nothing added for a few months so i could look at it like A) in those 3+ months i could save up more money for corals, and just put 100% cured LR in, or B) go the route that you mentioned and have even more money







lol

what types of live rock do you prefer nismo?

i have jakarta in my tank, but have also seen some nice Kaelini (sp?), and Marshall Islands, Deep Sea Tonga, and Fiji. but the Fiji seems to be quite "blocky" and i prefer the shapes of the other types of LR.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puff said:


> what types of live rock do you prefer nismo?
> 
> i have jakarta in my tank, but have also seen some nice Kaelini (sp?), and Marshall Islands, Deep Sea Tonga, and Fiji. but the Fiji seems to be quite "blocky" and i prefer the shapes of the other types of LR.


i totolly agree about the fiji the shapes are usually not that appealing or lend them shelf to creative aquascpes andmost importantly the fiji seems to be on the denser heavier side which adds to cost. i have gotten a few pieces of kelani (spelling) from the LFS but it was stupid expensive, full of diverse life anda variety of color coraline. the base rock is boring but after looking at millions of tanks on RC i find the guys that use the marco rock base rock typically end up with better quascapes, so in the end a few smallish pieces of something liek the marshall island or kalani combined with some of the marco shelf rock and or other variety of marco rock makes a nice tank..

i will be the first to admit i am a bit biased though, my tank is a mix of all three mentioned. i started with fiji in the 10 gallon and when i upgraded to the 20 i added some kelani then wheni upgraded to the 45 i added more kelani and the marco rock. one things for sure doesnt seem to matter what live rock or where it comes from it all has aptasia and the marco does not.

a completely different direction to consider is TBS live rock, (tampa Bay saltwater) this is "oceancultured liverock" from florida and that stuff has a disturbing amount of life both good andbad. people ahve gotten hitch hikers ranging from most commonly mantis shrimp to gobies and octopus. i had a few pieces of this stuff in my 5.5 nano years ago and with out any other corla in teh tank is was very interesting, tons of "feather duster" type worms, christmas tree worms, all types of mollusks, a couple of key hole limpit, mushrooms, polyps, some other types of stone polyps, lots of coraline. its pretty cool stuff but it doesnt look quite like the typical stuff you see from the pacific origins.

damn after typing and remembering that rocki want to set up another nano with just that. damn you puff


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

So....does anyone want to give a brief outline of cured vs non-cured? I think I know the difference...but I would really like to know all the pros and cons of each.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Grosse Gurke said:


> So....does anyone want to give a brief outline of cured vs non-cured? I think I know the difference...but I would really like to know all the pros and cons of each.


uncured is harvested sorted shipped to distibuters then sold to the public, it is typically held in holding tanks to keep it "live" but its not really cleaned so there is alot of decaying life that does not survive the process.

uncured might have more hitch hikers of all kinds both desireable and un-desireable but it needs to be acclimated to aquariums and all decaying matter must be removed are allowed to fully decay. curing can take as few a a couple weeks or as long as a couple of months. during that time it can really make a mess out of clean tank so its generally better to cure rock in a set up that you do not plan on having as your display.

cured basically means the rock was harvested from the ocean, cleaned and aclimated to uae in aquariums in very general terms (a bit more is involved).

cured rock is more or less ready to be put directly into any display. most large scale operations use curing methods that greatly reduce the varity of "treats" you might get on the rock. for example a colony of zoo's might get seperated to be sold as coral as opposed to just live rock with hitch hikers.

cured usually costs more then uncured because someone is doing the dirty work and you can use it pretty much right away.

base rock is formerly live rock that is harvested and allowed to dry out, most of it could have had a lot of life though that just died and dried up still on/in it so it will still have to be cured before using it but the chances of hitch hikers both good or bad is slim to none. this does have its advantages though. you get the rock cheaper and you get more of it since your not paying for water. you can mix it with choice cured rock with no pests and set up an environment pest free, after a few months to a year teh cured rock will seed the base rock and it will be hard to tell what was base rock.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

When I get around to it...Im going to take that post and move it to a thread for the saltwater newbs. Maybe we (well...lets face it...you guys) could start posting/gathering basic newb info and put it in a saved topic type forum....so new salt people can get a comfort level with these terms before asking questions. Not sure that makes any sense.....lol. To me...there is some very basic things that I would like to know before asking questions...and this would be one of them.


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

ive been looking at premium aquatics and im debating whether to order from them or not. up here you basically only find fiji and jakarta live rock, and i want something different.

i know im not supposed to bring it over the border, but it's quite easy to say "limestone" when they ask what you're bringing over the border. many ppl up here have done that.

that said, if i paid for cured live rock, there would definitely be some die-off from being shipped to washington state from florida. so im trying to decide if it would be best to just go for the uncured liverock and cure it in a rubbermaid w/ a light overtop, or if i should just get the cured liverock and hope for minimal dieoff.

how much light would i need over the uncured liverock to keep the stuff alive while curing?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puff said:


> ive been looking at premium aquatics and im debating whether to order from them or not. up here you basically only find fiji and jakarta live rock, and i want something different.
> 
> i know im not supposed to bring it over the border, but it's quite easy to say "limestone" when they ask what you're bringing over the border. many ppl up here have done that.
> 
> ...


light is the least of your worries when curing, the amonia and high levels of nitrates and phosphates will likely keep most stuff closed up so it wouldnt even be getting much light not to mention the abuse you put it through is minimal compared to what th is subjected to from the tiem it leaves the ocean


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

i was thinking of running a skimmer on the curing tub to try and help the ammonia spikes and such. another alternative is to put it into the display tank, but on top of eggcrate, without the sand. letting it cure in there. then taking it out, adding sand, then adding it back in

all things ill have to think about before i go any further.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puff said:


> i was thinking of running a skimmer on the curing tub to try and help the ammonia spikes and such. *another alternative is to put it into the display tank, but on top of eggcrate, without the sand. letting it cure in there. then taking it out, adding sand, then adding it back in*
> 
> all things ill have to think about before i go any further.


this might not be a bad idea.. atleast easier then setting up a curing tub.


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

nismo driver said:


> i was thinking of running a skimmer on the curing tub to try and help the ammonia spikes and such. *another alternative is to put it into the display tank, but on top of eggcrate, without the sand. letting it cure in there. then taking it out, adding sand, then adding it back in*
> 
> all things ill have to think about before i go any further.


this might not be a bad idea.. atleast easier then setting up a curing tub.
[/quote]

definitely. plus i get to keep an eye on any cool critters







hehehe

when the time comes that it is cured ill just take the rock out, dump in the sand, then chuck it back in. im thinking this might be what ill do, as i dont think i have a rubbermaid that can hold 50+ lbs of liverock.lol

i just found a local place that sells all types of live rock. fiji, tonga, cuban (never heard of cuban). i might be getting it from there.

im wondering about my sump though. should i get some liverock for the sump? or just rubble?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puff said:


> im wondering about my sump though. should i get some liverock for the sump? or just rubble?


rubble, the idea of rock in the sump it to have surface area for de nitrifying bacteria and secondary purpose is habitat for pods


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

i like to use my hob fuge to store rubble and any liverock pieces that i cant fit in the display.lol


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puff said:


> i like to use my hob fuge to store rubble and any liverock pieces that i cant fit in the display.lol


my fuge is the trash can of my tank and ironically enough it was made out of a trash can..

i throw all my sps skeliton in there and some times mi]ontipora frags and GSP and all the macro that i pull out of the tank since i have some wild calpurpa (spelling) which is annoying becuae i can erradicate it from the display and it barely grows int e fuge because the cheato shades it too much


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

lol

my fuge has so much sh*t in it. i threw a bunch more in there today.


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