Liverock Curing

Hey guys,
so I'm looking to get a tank setup in about 4 or 5 months, and I'm highly considering spending the time now culturing a large amount of live rock.
I have a friend who told me that i could get a large trash can, saltwater, base rock, a pump, aerator, and some liverock and scrape it over the base rock and then let it cure for 5 months.
I'm highly considering the option to save money on my liverock, as well as a potential option to provide liverock at a discounted rate to other local hobbyists.

What do you guys think about the viability of this idea?
Thanks, Michael.

 

This wouldn't be a bad plan. But I seeded my tank with live rock. I have about 30lbs dry to 10lbs live and now all of it is live rock. This happened while my system was cycling so it saved time too.

 

So what about if I were to industrialize this process, doing it with, say, 5 tanks?
Curing and selling new liverock to other local hobbyist?
Would that be cost effective and profitable?

 

Its hard to say if it would be profitable or not, it would depend on how cheap you can get base rock for, and how much of a demand there would be for it in your area.

 

Fair enough.
I live in Orlando, FL, and since I'm in the middle of the state, the prices at all the LFSs are HIIIGH!!!

Having said that, what should my turnaround time be to have good liverock?

 

For me it was when I hit 0 ammonia and all my water levels were normal. It could take 1 week or 2-3 months.

 

I respectfully disagree. At that point, you had cured base rock. period. IMHO, that's not worth another dime when I can make the same thing in a week or two by placing dry rock in my own tank.

Quite frankly, I loath the LFS that passes cured base rock off as LR for a premium price. True LR will be encrusted with coralline algae and will have a myriad of inhabitants such as pods, worms, etc, etc, etc that help reduce detritus to it's smallest possible form, thereby reducing the bioload on the bacteria. It will take much longer to create that from dry base.

 

+1000000 you would be better off not going through all that trouble and just getting some quality dry rock.

 

Just got with Dry Rock

 

Tis the bees knees.