DIY rock curing

Ice · 11-28-2004, 06:42 PM

hi all

i'm cureing about a 100 lb of diy rock and it's been i the water for about 5 months now and the PH of the water is about 9.5 right now just wondering when it would be the right time to add the rock to my tank without messing anything up

thanks in advance

Peter

JohnO · 11-28-2004, 07:39 PM

Hi Peter,

Just as a suggestion, get a bucket and mix up some fresh SW, aerate it for 24 hours and then test the PH.

Place a piece of your rock in the bucket and let it stand for a few days with the aeration still going, then do another test and compare the differences. *

You could probably do this without the aeration but I believe that the PH in saltwater swings as oxygen depletes. *So I was thinking that aerating the water throughout the test would keep the O2 at a constant level and therefore not effect the PH for that reason

John

Ice · 11-29-2004, 06:34 AM

thanks JohnO, great idea, i'll try that and see what happens

Peter

Ice · 12-01-2004, 06:50 AM

hi JohnO

i put a piece of rock in a bucket with saltwater and an air stone as you suggested, it's been stting there for a good 24 hours and the PH stays at about 8.3 so i'm guessing it's now safe to put the rock in my tank?

Peter

FragOutpost · 12-01-2004, 07:33 AM

When the rock was in the freshwater cure, did a film still develop on the surface between water changes? (Without areation of course)

I would start by adding the rock slowly, a few pieces at a time, just to be on the safe side.

Although after 5 months of curing, it should be ready. How often did you change the water?

Ice · 12-01-2004, 07:41 AM

hi fragoutpost

the water on the surface is perpectly clear and i do waterchanges once a week

thanks for the responce

peter

FragOutpost · 12-01-2004, 07:51 AM

You should have no problems then.
The rock has probably leached out all it has to give.

Ice · 12-01-2004, 09:15 AM

cool thanks for the help, i'm gonna start adding rock to my tank over the next couple of dayswhile keeping an eye on the PH in the tank

peter

JohnO · 12-01-2004, 01:48 PM

Peter,

Sounds good to me :-) As suggested, just add it slowly andkeep an eye on the PH :-)

John

Matt Rogers · 12-02-2004, 05:12 PM

Good suggestions. I added all mine at once and the pH went through the roof! Luckily there was nothing else in there. I ended up dumping a lot of macro algae in there and that brought it down within a couple weeks.

Good luck!