Cured vs. Uncured for new tank?

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aaronuflaw

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Feb 14, 2007
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I am finally taking the plunge and will be starting a small reef aquarium. I have had FOWLR tanks in the past, but this will be my first time trying for a reef.

The setup:
20g AGA tank (bought today)
150w HQI SunPod (will arrive Friday)
maxijet 900 waterpump (will arrive Friday)
150w heater / test kits / etc (will arrive Friday)

The problem:
I plan on using live sand (about 2") and about 20lbs of live rock. I am trying to decide whether it would be better to buy cured or uncured rock and would like your opinion on which you would use and the benefits of each. I do plan on ordering it online, so even the cured liverock would have some die-off. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
if you dont want die off the cured would be better but it depends where u get it. if u order it it will always have die off just less on the cured. also with curred ur cycle will go faster. i have never cycled a salt tank for more than a week because i always get ultra grade rock for established systems it cost a pretty penny but i spare no expense.
 
I bought uncured LR to help cycle my tank since I did a fishless cycle. It took about a month to cycle. So if you want things to move along faster it might not be the best choice. But the great thing about uncured is the things that travel along with it. I was able to get some wonderful coloring and a couple hitch hikers that did survive the cycle. Not quite sure what your cured LR there looks like but most places here have very unimpressive cured LR. Everything has bascially died off so its pretty boring, with few colors. I am sure others have had better luck with cured.

Ah and good starting amount for your LR. That will leave room for you to add some pricey and expensive pieces later. That way, if cost is a factor (LR=expensive xD) you can start out with some plain pieces and seed them later with a small amount of nice ones.
 
Thanks!

I think I will probably go ahead with the uncured LR. Specifically because there is more biodiversity. With all the die-off though, I am concerned about the sandbed. Should I forget the sandbed until after my tank has cycled.
 
aaronuflaw said:
Thanks!

I think I will probably go ahead with the uncured LR. Specifically because there is more biodiversity. With all the die-off though, I am concerned about the sandbed. Should I forget the sandbed until after my tank has cycled.
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Concerns? You mean things getting trapped in the sandbed from the die off? I placed my sand in right away. I didn't have any problems with it. I took out any large pieces of debree with a kid sand filter scouper (toy) ^^ My sand did turn a couple of shades darker overtime. But it creates a more natural look. Maybe add most your sand now and then add some later? Just be prepared for mini cycles that can occur when you add anything live (rock or sand) in your tank. Its something to watch out for when you spot a new LR piece you want for your established tank.
 
Germanman said:
quality cured rock has lots more organisms as well as corals and good pod growth. cheep cured rock is just glorified base rock. and thats what sevenstar is talking about. where i used to work our cured rock was full of life and none of it died because we sent u home with it in water.
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Sadly quality cured liverock is hard to find here. 8/10 fishstores I visited had the cheap version (glorified base rock -heh nice description-) and the places that I did find nicely cured LR had them selling for $13-18 a pound. Not quite sure I would want to chance something that expensive in an uncycled tank. But if you have the money then you should go for it :)
 
You may consider skipping the live sand and saving some $$. If you're using live rock anyways, argonite or any other non-live sand will be seeded by your live rock and quickly become live anyways.

By the way, I just finished up cycling my tank with uncured live rock and like sevenstar, I found it took almost a month.
 
Germanman said:
wow thats a rip off as a price.....wher i used to work it basic live rock was $4.49lb, curred $6.49, super curred $7.99, and ultra grade was $9.99
that was for all rock except Tonga which sold for about 2-4 bucks a lb more
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I know. Those greedy people.
Where I live:
Uncured LR -$5-6
Basic Cured LR- $6-7
Nicely Cured LR- $13-15
Specialty Cured LR- $15plus

So, being that cheap person I am I tried to balance my biodiversity and price. I figured I would be cheap and buy uncured LR which has the benefit of live organisms (even though all might not survive) rather than buy plan basic cured. Since I already have my majority of rock now I can buy the more expensive pieces slowly when I spot some great ones.
 
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