Receiving new LR... what steps do I take..

Ok, I have been recently reading some articals and books on setting up a reef tank. I broke mine down last year due to poor water quality in my area. Since I moved, I got the bug again. But there are 2 fields of thought. But before I jump into them, is this for an established tank or a new one.
1. is to place the rock into the tank if it is a new tank and let the rock cure that way. Run the lights and constantly keep an eye on your skimmer. This is to help promote any alage growth in the tank and let the struggling organisms thrive. The reason I was told to let the lights run is to help what is surviving live. I did this method when I first started my tank many years ago, it thrived for many years and my rock was incredible looking.
2. The other is to let it cure in a darken bucket, with a skimmer and power head and wait a few weeks.

So if you have an established tank, i would probably place it in another spare tank with lights or a lg plastic storage container again with lights, a skimmer and power head until the rock is cured.


jim

i wouldn't run lights on a batch of live rock that is curing. When live rock is shipped a lot of the life on it dies, so when you put it in a tank/container your going to go through a complete nitrogen cycle, ending with a good deal of Nitrates. The lights, combined with nitrate, will just promote the growth of nussance algea that you will end up having to scrub off before you put it in your main/display tank.

I would rather lose a little more life to having no lights than having whats left snuffed out by algea overgrowing on it...

Guy

IMHO it depends on the quality of the rock how you cure it. If your buying fiji rock that has been out of the water a while, I would cure the rock without lights, skimmer and water changes. If your buying Gulf rock(or precured fiji) I would cure the rock with lights on, a protein skimmer and water changes to try and save as much life as possible.
If your tank is brand new, I would cure this rock (either way) in the tank. If you have an established tank, I would cure the rock(again either way) in a seperate container.

Brian

The key here is whether or not your tank is cycling or established. If you put uncured live rock ( or pre-cured) in an established tank you will cause an ammonia, nitrite spike that could kill all other inhabitants. If the tank is still cycling, it is a great way to cycle.

If it's Fiji or other pacific rock, I would buy a big rubbermaid tub, put a heater and a skimmer, if possible, in and let it cure in there. If it's from the gulf, you will probably still get a small NH3/NO2 spike, but that can be controlled with water changes in your main tank.

Regardless of how you do it, I would keep the lights low or off for a while.