Curing my dry pukani rock advice

Fishflakes · May 4, 2018

Hello, im brand new to the saltwater world, but ive had several freshwater cichlid tanks in the past. Ive done a lot of reading concerning curing my pukani rock. I decided against acid since my wife would kill me if i damaged our driveway or garage. I made the decision to do a traditional cure in a 44 gallon brute can with saltwater at 1.026 salinity, a powerhead, and heater. My question, whats the best way to get rid of phosphates and is my salinity level ok? I read 1.026 was best for curing pukani. Im not concerned about starting the cycle necessarily yet until its actually in my 125 gallon tank. And water changes while curing...how often should i do them? Is once every week ok? Thanks is advance!

Brew12 · May 4, 2018

Fishflakes said:
Hello, im brand new to the saltwater world, but ive had several freshwater cichlid tanks in the past. Ive done a lot of reading concerning curing my pukani rock. I decided against acid since my wife would kill me if i damaged our driveway or garage. I made the decision to do a traditional cure in a 44 gallon brute can with saltwater at 1.026 salinity, a powerhead, and heater. My question, whats the best way to get rid of phosphates and is my salinity level ok? I read 1.026 was best for curing pukani. Im not concerned about starting the cycle necessarily yet until its actually in my 125 gallon tank. And water changes while curing...how often should i do them? Is once every week ok? Thanks is advance!

I wouldn't bother with water changes to deal with phosphates. To get the phosphates out of the water you can run GFO through a reactor.

Fishflakes · May 4, 2018

Hmnn, i dont have a gfo reactor currently. I have a skimmer though. I suppose that would help? The water already looks pretty nasty and it smells pretty bad. I thought water changes were a necessity during the curing process. Guess i have more reading to do!

User1 · May 5, 2018

Brew12 said:
I wouldn't bother with water changes to deal with phosphates. To get the phosphates out of the water you can run GFO through a reactor.

Wouldn't running GFO at this stage be a bit cost prohibitive? If this really is about cycling outside the display then he could pressure wash, bleach for 24 hrs in tap water with a power head, rinse, another 24 hr soak in bleach, rinse, then a 24 hour bath in tap water with lanthanum chloride, another rinse, another 24 hour LC bath, pressure wash, then start the cycle using ammonia and go from there. Just an idea and may save a couple bucks.

Jobet · May 5, 2018

Fishflakes said:
Hmnn, i dont have a gfo reactor currently. I have a skimmer though. I suppose that would help? The water already looks pretty nasty and it smells pretty bad. I thought water changes were a necessity during the curing process. Guess i have more reading to do!

You and I are in the exact same boat, my friend. My curing plan and setup are identical to yours. I thought that a water change was also recommended during the curing process......i look for forward to seeing what other people respond with.

Idoc · May 5, 2018

I used pukani in my tank as well. I also didn't care about starting the cycle so I cured mine in de-chlorinated freshwater. It is going tho give off some putrid smelling stuff the first couple of weeks. I changed my water daily at first, then every couple of days after for the first couple of weeks... hence why it's a good idea to use freshwater! Set the temp around 85 degrees to speed up the organic breakdown. I cured mine for 6 weeks. I used a small bag with Phosguard near a powerhead in order to control the phosphates... thus worked well. Others have used lanthum chloride as well. As soon as phosphates would rise, i would change the Phosguard out with new.

Brew12 · May 5, 2018

Fishflakes said:
Hmnn, i dont have a gfo reactor currently. I have a skimmer though. I suppose that would help? The water already looks pretty nasty and it smells pretty bad. I thought water changes were a necessity during the curing process. Guess i have more reading to do!

If your water is already this bad, then yes, do a water change. Pukani can come in all sorts of cleanliness levels. Some hardly releases anything. Once the water stops getting putrid then you can add something like GFO to pull the phosphate out quicker.

And as @Idoc said, nothing wrong with using tap water if you have that much breaking down. Much cheaper than using salt water.

Fishflakes · May 5, 2018

I like the idea of using freshwater instead of saltwater as that could get pretty expensive. I think im going to do a 100 percent water change and switch to freshwater tonight. The pukani was black in spots when i got it, lots of dead sponges looks like. I scraped off what i could and then pressure washed it. Ill probably switch back to saltwater after awhile so i dont get another mini cure from dead freshwater bacteria.

Jobet · May 6, 2018

I understand the difference between curing and cycling however, i feel like im not yet clear on the entire process, timeline because it seems like the two processes are kinda meshed into one procedure in some of the videos I've watched. What is the standard process when putting together a new tank? Curing the rock for several weeks (not being concerned with establishing the bacteria growth needed for the nitrogen cycle, in other words, cycling it) and then placing it in your tank and executing a cycle once your take is setup ? OR...
Cycling the rock, while simultaneously curing it in the plastic containers and then introducing the cured/cycled rock into this display tank. Adding newly prepared water and setting everyhing up for the display.

Keep in mind I'm new to this all and there is no doubt that i will one day look back at this post and laugh at my current lack of knowledge.

User1 · May 6, 2018

@Jobet - i doubt you will look back and laugh - but I will guarantee you that you will look back and smile at how far you have come. It is a pretty rewarding hobby and we all learn new things. So sit back and enjoy the ride

Fishflakes · May 6, 2018

Im new to this this as well, but from what i understand you can cure and cycle the rock simultaneously in a separate container if you use saltwater, a powerhead, and heater. Essentially the cycle would start using the ammonia from the decomposing organics on the rock. Sounds like some people do this in their actual tank too when starting a brand new setup. But im glad i didnt because of the smell. The cure is just getting the dead stuff all off the rock. The cycle is starting the beneficial bacteria needed on the rock. I suppose if you started with live rock that had some salvagable organics or corals on it already, you would want to definitely use saltwater to try to keep that stuff alive. Or am i talking nonsense? Lol, let me know guys!

Jobet · May 6, 2018

Thanks, thats what i gathered from what ive read and watched online......my original intent was to cure and cycle simulatiously but after watching the video BRStv put out about different methods of curing, i think i want to consider bleaching the rock til i get past all the bad smell and nasty water, then rinse the rock with fresh water and dechlorinator. Simply cure it, i suppose. Then I plan to set up the tank, epoxy the rock as i desire and fill the tank with prepared water and do the cycling stage in the DT. I plan to use dry aragonite substrate, i figured, by cycling in the tank, i can get some of that bacteria established on the dry sand simultaneously with the pukani......dang, i hope this makes sense. To all my experienced folks, please speak up if you think i should consider another route....i haven't started yet.
THANKS!