Cooked Rock

[lizzie]

Rob had mentioned in his post that he didn't want to cook the rock b/c it comes out white and bare. That's what I have now, after I cooked my rock. Will the vibrancy return, and if so, how long before I will see that again? I had some beautiful, beautiful rock!

[Fly Guy]

When yo ucook your rock it may be white by the time you are done if you do it thoroughly...but it is healthy and it and the tank the rock is supporting has signifigant advantage and head start over just buying some cured rock and cycling it.

If you maintain your alk, mag and calcium levels you can start seeing coralline growth in the tank by the end of the first month and the rocks will cover right back up

[lizzie]

OK, I just did the math and I cooked the rock for 6 weeks. Its not pure white like in some of the pictures I've seen, but it looks very clean. BIG difference. A few rocks in one of the buckets had a little algae on them still, but not much, so I put them in the tank. I set the tank back up a week ago and my ammonia is b/w .25 and .50. I see a bristle worm alive on one of the rocks. I added live sand, but just one bag, thin layer at bottom. I added more flow. Do the pods live through the cooking process? I used to seem them come out at night. I want to add a mandarin next week...JUST KIDDING!