Cured or Uncured...what to do?

So I've tried searching the forums and internet, trying to get a decent understanding of cured and uncured LR. I'm going tomorrow to my LFS to get my rock, and am unsure what to get. He has both, and they're both $5/lb.

Can someone please explain the concept to me very simply and suggest what I should do? It will be for a 20g nano reef tank w/ 10g sump.

Thanks!!!

 

If they're the same price, get the cured. Cured basically just means it is farther along in the process of colonizing bacteria. You will still most likely have a cycle, but it may be shorter than with un-cured rock.

 

+1 on Mikejrice for me

cured / uncured are both general terms , there are no standards as far as I can see
cured should mean rock has been cycled , and any die off that would occur has occured
uncured means its just rock from water and you will have the die off in your tank

so if your adding to a new tank - uncured is OK as it promotes a quicker cycle anyway, the die off from the rock adding to the bioload and thus encouraging faster bacteria generation - I will add that running a new set up for a few weeks without lights became popular due to many algae plagues arising from nicely coloured uncured rock being placed in new set ups.

In a existing tank with existing life forms, then you dont want a load of new rock with all sorts of things dying off in your tank - so cured rock is better IMO

ask your LFS to explain his curing process for you
if he includes a period where the rock is deprived of light for a period of time, which should hopefully result in the die off of nuisance algae spores but not affect bacteria
then that rock is the rock you want IMO

Steve

 

Using nothing but "cured" LR to start up our brand new tank also worked wonderfully for us...minimal die-off...quick cycle...you just have to be careful and slowly add creatures to your piece of ocean so that the bacteria population can catch-up to the bio-load...

 

Man you are throwing you money away paying that for rock. Get some base rock from some place like Marcos Rocks and let mother nature do her thing. Save that money for some nice equipment. :-/ People in this hobby want stuff way to damn fast.

As they say " The only thing that happens fast in this hobby is trouble "

 

I agree that nothing good seems to happen fast (except maybe life n general, but that's another topic). However, I can't seem to find good base rock that compares to the price of purchasing live rock.

Marco Rock's, while they look like a great product (seriously nice stuff) is still expensive. As much as $3.80 for dry rocks is less than a dollar cheaper than some live stuff. Then, there's shipping, which is another $30-45.

So, 100 lbs of dry rock is going to cost $420. I can purchase nice live rock from 3 different LFS in close proximity to me for $4-5/ lb.

So, while I might save $20-80 on dry rock, I could just go to my LFS and hand-pick out some nice LIVE rock containing a good variety of infauna for my tank.

 

I pay like $1.80 per lb for dry rock at my LFS but the live rock is rediculous. The regular live rock is 5.99 a pound and the "premium" which most stores would probably consider regular is 7.99 a pound!!!! but they are the only LFS in my county that sells it! and I live in florida! I guess most people where I live keep cows and horses not fish.

 

Put it in a tank and give it some time and it will become "live rock" ........

 

That's what I do, I purchased a few "premium live rocks" to seed the 60# of dry rock I bought. It is doing very well and getting great coralline coverage in only 2 months!

 

If you can find good, cheap dry rock then great! I still have yet to find good stuff that is cheap... the cheapest I have found locally was very heavy dense dry rock, so lb for lb wasn't really that cheap... and I don't like adding unneeded weight to my tank setup. I'm still a fan of porous live rock.

To answer the poster's original question, I would pick the uncured live rock if you're starting a new tank. Sure, it'll take longer to cycle, but your tank will be better cycled when it finishes. Not to mention that you will probably get more diverse life from the rock. You gotta start somewhere and a 20G nano is not going to take much rock to begin with.