Should I cook them?

[gkw]

I am getting about 60lbs of LR this weekend from a guy that's selling them from his tank. The LR don't have any coralline algae on them and it's brown in color. I don't see any hair algae or anything on the rock or the tank.

They do have some mushrooms on a few rocks. I will be putting them in my QT along with the clowns.

Now, I was wondering if I should cook the rest of the LR or I can just put it in my maintank? Cook meaning put in a tub with a small powerhead and no light for 2 wks. Is air pump required?

Thanks!
GKW

[Jason McKenzie]

I don't know who came up with the term "cooking" but it freaks me out.

I would place it in a tub with a power head heater and airstone. Then take a Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate readings if they are all 0 then n prob to put it in the main tank.

BTW if you put LR in a QT system you will not be able to use Copper to treat sick fish without killing the LR


J

[Bruce]

Hmm...well if they are from an established tank...i guess you dont "have" to "cook" them (Also freaks me out)...but it wouldnt hurt

also i agree with Jason, no copper untill the rock is gone XD

[gkw]

I don't know who came up with the "cooking" either, but I thought that what's it called.

The tank is up for 2 years and is bare bottom. The reason I wanted to do that (cooking) is the last time I saw them they looks like they have some brown algae on them and i don't know if they will cause any algae bloom or problems in my tank.

Also, I wanted to QT the mushroom LR with fish is because of the algae on the rocks too. I only have a 10 gal QT, will it be ok for 4 clowns. It was the first time I saw his tank, so I don't know any of its history, but the clowns look healthy tho.

The transfer of the LR will be about an hour. I can try to submerge them into water, but most likely it's gonna be dry in a tub with some wet paper towels on top. Would that cause a lot of die offs??

Thanks!

[Covey]

I'm cooking rock right now and I don't think you'll need it. A plastic bag and some wet newpaper are likely how the rock got here from the other side of the planet. Any way I don't think it would cause much of a die off in only a hour. I would keep the mushroom rock wet.

[gkw]

Just curious, let's say I am getting these LR from a tank that often has aglae bloom and the tank was just cleaned...so I bought the rocks home and put them straight into my MT, will the rocks cause anything or leech anything in my water?

In this case, will "cooking" the LR a better move?

Also, is 10 gal QT enough for 4 clowns (2 adult and 2 juv)?

Oh, the fishes and the mushroom rock is gonna be bagged w/ water.

Thanks!

[Covey]

When in doubt cook them. 4 days in at the first rock cook water change if the rock is shedding a bunch of detritus then keep cooking if not it can go in the display.

[Jason McKenzie]

STOP SAYING "COOK"

It's cure or cycling. cooking is when you put the rock in the oven and bake it and kill everything because the rock is beyond the persons ability to fix.

J

BTW I'm just kidding but STOP IT

[rickzter]

Instead of "cooking," you should term it "reseting rock." Cause that's what you're really doing, restarting it or re-cycling it.

The term "cooking" is actually quite confusing. Whenever I would see it in a thread I would picture someone putting rock in a pot and boiling it.

There's really no purpose to put rock in the oven or boil for that matter since everything will die with or without boiling it under extreme conditions, like being out of water; boiling will solve nothing. All you have to do is scrub it when the rock has completely died. BAM! Good as new - base rock. Actually cooking the rock might stain it maybe and definetly be a waste to pots... omg, I could just picture the smell of the room in the process of doing such a thing. I know I would not want to reuse a pot for regular cooking after doing something like that.

Do the smell test man, it works. If there's death, it will smell funky! And it will continue to smell funky until it's scrubbed, rinsed and aired.

[Covey]

How about "Dark Curing" because that is what it is. The only person I've ever really seen bake LR was I guy that couldn't get rid of his Aptasia for anything so he took and blow torch to the rock. Quite funny pictures. BTW Aiptasia burn green