Cook or dry out?

[DarthOcellaris]

I want some opinions about this. I am cooking about 200 pounds of LR in my garage. I have been doing so for about 5 months. I thought about it last night and came to the conclusion that I might not be ready to use any of it for another 6 months to a year since I don't have my large tank yet.

What would everyone else do in this situation? Keep cooking it and spend the money on electricity, water, salt, time, etc or just put it out in the sun and do this at a later time when you're closer to needing it?

[jamessp01]

id save the money and stop the cooking myself. The rock can only get so clean.

[aquawolf]

Originally Posted by jamessp01

id save the money and stop the cooking myself. The rock can only get so clean.

Seems a shame to come this far and then let it dry out, but you can always finish cooking it later.

If it is not bothering you to let it keep cooking for another 6 months, then that would be some of the most pristine rock ever when are done with it.

Good luck with whatever way you decide to go.

[jph]

if you let it dry, everything that's alive in the rocks will die, and well... you know what dead stuff in your rocks turns into i think that if you let it dry now, you will need to cook them again.


J.

[Loverotties]

I'd finish cooking them.

[jamessp01]

After reading your other thread, I think id at least continue to cook them till the phosphate is really low. As for die off, I dont know how much stuff other than bacteria is still going to be alive on the rocks anyways after a 6 months or a year of cooking?

[Kevin1000]

My 02

Assuming you have cooked your rocks correctly & your not concerned about saving a few pods I would let the rock dry out and save the money. Letting the rock dry out isn't going to require you to "re-cook".

[Fly Guy]

continue doing it.

The rock will be rockin' and you will have a huge jump start on setting up a new system.

Keep in mind you dont HAVE to do that 100% water change every week, especially when you have been doing it this long. Drop it bck to once a month for the next 6 months or even less. Kee p it alive though for sure


I agree with kevin that it wont necessarily need to be "recooked"....but it will need reseeded.

keep going with it. you wont regret it.

[wharyat]

Agreed with fly, keep cooking.

[reefermike1]

i say keep cookin! really wish i would have cooked mine, should be some primo rock when youre done

[Elegance Coral]

After a year of cooking with no additions of food or phosphate, the rock will be virtually dead anyway. The bacteria population will be so low that it won't be able to support much of a biological load. I would dry the rocks and store them somewhere clean and dry. You will need to reseed/cycle them before they can be used anyway.

[Fly Guy]

Once again........I as someone who has cooked lots of rock(not for sale on the street)........I encourage you Elegance Coral to actually do it thoroughly and start a tank up with it before you make claims as to how the rock and system behaves when you start a tank up with aforementioned throughly cooked rock.

I respect much of your knowledge...but you have to actually do some things to witness their benefit before you will be a believer and before you cna make claims as to how things will react to the situation

You will need to reseed/cycle them before they can be used anyway.

this is simply not true on either count. Granted like anything you cant just load it up with fish and expect it to handle it immediately, but your system will be ready and able for you to start ramping up and throwing anything you want at it and will mature much much much faster than if you had to reseed the rock again

[Doug1]

Originally Posted by Elegance Coral

After a year of cooking with no additions of food or phosphate, the rock will be virtually dead anyway. The bacteria population will be so low that it won't be able to support much of a biological load. I would dry the rocks and store them somewhere clean and dry. You will need to reseed/cycle them before they can be used anyway.

I can see some merit to this line of thought, once it's cooked enough to stop sloughing off detritous from bacterial turgor then it might be a waste of energy to keep it heated, etc, you will basically have base rock at that point, and using it later will probably require reseeding(see next reply)

Originally Posted by Fly Guy

Once again........I as someone who has cooked lots of rock(not for sale on the street)........I encourage you Elegance Coral to actually do it thoroughly and start a tank up with it before you make claims as to how the rock and system behaves when you start a tank up with aforementioned throughly cooked rock.

I respect much of your knowledge...but you have to actually do some things to witness their benefit before you will be a believer and before you cna make claims as to how things will react to the situation




this is simply not true on either count. Granted like anything you cant just load it up with fish and expect it to handle it immediately, but your system will be ready and able for you to start ramping up and throwing anything you want at it and will mature much much much faster than if you had to reseed the rock again

Once the rock has shed most of the crud in and on it, ie no more serious detrital sloughing off, I think cutting back on the skimming and or major water changes would be OK, I would store it in a dark container with a heater and a few powerheads to move water and either do the raw shrimp in mesh bag or add a few drops of ammonium Chloride to feed the bacteria, so that when its time you are good to go with a healthy population of bacteria to avert the cycle.

[Fly Guy]

skimmer isnt needed in the cooking tub to begin with.

I agree with not needing to do weekly water changes any more. Personally I would still do them monthly as I know how much the rocks can continue to dump...and dump...and dump...and I want it out of there.

and the bacteria is there and throughout the rock, and will continue to be if you keep it alive, granted not in huge populations after a years time.

Once you dry it out and or kill it you will be starting over from scratch when you start back up and costing yourself many months. it can take huge temp swings though, so just keeping the water circulating and a little bit of aeration is all it takes to keep your rock alive

[Doug1]

FWIW I added another option that goes with my reply

We have to agree that there are always options, good or bad, and whats right for one may not work for another. Please respect one anothers opinions, discussion of issues is good, but lets keep it friendly, thanks