Live rock, cured vs uncured and quantity?

That is the whole reason why I am saying for BB23 to purchase CURED live rock instead of UNCURED!
I am also stating that it is easier to get cured live rock as most stores don't carry uncured anyway, but why get uncured to save a buck and have die off and CYCLING and water parameter problems?
The fact of the matter also is that if you did want to go with uncured rock and have the sand in the tank-ahead of time which is easier to do IMO before the live rock , their are many organisms to break down these components. Likewise some people, may wish to go with uncured liverock to cycle their tank instead of using Damsels or a frozen shrimp!
Just easier and quicker using the cured live rock is all!

 

Or you could avoid all that and set the tank up with base rock, seed it with one piece of cured live rock, bagged live sand and a cup of sand from an established tank

 

Nice debate, but if I understood BB23, it is a brand new tank. Doesn't this make all the worry about die-off a moot point? When you cycle a tank, you need garbage to make the bacteria grow right? Whether it's from decaying matter off un-cured live rock, or a bunch of fish waste (and even a few dead fish). what is the difference? We just cycled our new tank with a small portion of cured rock, and about twice that in un-cured, along with a few fish. Yes, it was nasty for a short while, but it is looking beautiful now. Discuss?

 

I dont know if this as been mentioned yet (didnt read thru all of it). Uncured liverock is pretty nasty and has a rather rank smell. All of the life forms other then coraline and lots of bacteria die off during transit. In some cases you will have surprises and get hitch hikers, but most of them are half dead or dieing. You will however have some things live. Things you cant buy from a store. I ordered 45lbs of fiji DIRECT from fiji, and cured it using my method in the 3Reef Article section, and didnt have very much die off. I now have several Stomatella's, Feather dusters out the butt, macro algaes, sea squirts etc... BUT It did have some dead/rotting sponges, clams and a few toher things.

The best thing to do is order some uncured liverock, have a "curing tank" of some sort, follow my curing method and in about a months time you will be surprised what made it thru the trip, and even years from now, the things that grow super slow will still be showing up. My tank in question has been up for over 3yrs and I am still finding new critters just showing up out of nowhere that is unidentified when nothing had been added to the thank in over a year.

 

Soooo, (assuming you didn't read my post thoroughly) why can't a brand new tank be the curing tank? That's basically what we did. I'm not arguing your point, just very curious as to everyone's opinions on this.

 

You can do that, but it would take longer. In a curing tank you drain the water to decrease cycling time. Hard to do that in a tank sitting in your living room.

 

Also, it does have a rank smell like I mentioned for a few days.

 

My two cent:

Cured Vs. Uncured.

1. Yes, the curing process kills off a lot of good stuff on the rock, but also alot of bad stuff...mantis shrimp worms etc.

2. Uncured rock...will eventually need to be cured by you so, your not really gaining much.

3. IMO, cured rock is the way to go...I sometimes buy very small uncured rock... <1lbs if they have a lot of Coraline on them or something, but never alot.

Amount of LR:

1. 1-2lbs per gal...just a suggestion.

2. I would start small, buy in batches, see how the rock fills out the tank.

3. Relating to my previous point, change it up, do not just buy one type of rock. Believe me, its fun to mix and match.

4. If you are in the final stages of aquascaping and you go to buy 1 or 2 more pieces, here is a good tip. If you find a rock that looks just right, chances are it is too big. I know....hah

Hope this helps somewhat XD

 

From how I am taking it it seems as if he is asking about live rock cured as oppossed to uncured, not what is better for the cycling process! He is asking about living organisms from the ocean being better than cured rock where he feels that those things are dead>thus thinking that the uncured would be better!
If we are talking about his cycling of his tank then yes a uncured rock is better for the cycling process and a way of getting away without using Damsels for instance!

 

In this hobby you will find opinions are like buttholes, everybody has one. You just have to use what YOU will think is best for YOU and YOUR situation. READ as many books as you can get your hands on, many of them will CONTRADICT each other because each book is what works for THAT person, which may not work for you. There is a million different varibles out there, some we know, some we have no clue about......my 2 cents