Lets get it started!

[Reeftanker3295]

Hey everyone,
I really want to start cooking my rock but im trying to buy my RO/DI and my new rock at the same time but then realized since it will be in the dark, will the LFS' water matter during the cooking process? I was thinking of buying the marcorock and sand and starting the cooking process and then before im finished ill have the RO/DI system all ready for the new tank.. Will this be ok?

[Elegance Coral]

Take a phosphate test kit with you to your LFS. Buy one gallon and test it. If it's loaded with phosphate, you will need to find a different sourse, or hold off on cooking the rock until the RO/DI arrives.

[Reeftanker3295]

I did that and it all came up with 0 (Nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, ammonia) Im just worried about TDS, but that shouldnt matter while cooking, right?

[collin]

what do yall mean cooking it?

[Reeftanker3295]

Cooking is moving your LR into the dark with no source of light, food or anything that the algae on your LR needs to grow and the bacteria rids your LR of phosphates so the algae dies off and no new algae grows.

[Elegance Coral]

Originally Posted by Reeftanker3295

I did that and it all came up with 0 (Nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, ammonia) Im just worried about TDS, but that shouldnt matter while cooking, right?

If it is Ro water from your LFS and you get a zero reading for phosphate, it should be fine for cooking your rocks. TDS becomes more important when you are mixing the water with delicate reef critters.

[Reeftanker3295]

Perfect! I should have enough money to put the order in soon for 60 pounds of sand and 40 pounds of rock then the cooking process begins! A couple questions though.. Will my lionfish be ok with all this light or should i make him a dark spot and how could i make that? For my corals im going to frag my xenia into 3 stalks, im going to scrape off my button polyps with a razor and then i guess im going to just scrape off my clove polyps into a container with rubble hoping i dont lose that colony... Does that all sound ok? Whats a fast way to get some nice pieces of rock or some other material to connect all these corals too without having to cure more rock? Could i use pieces of tile? What should i do with my sand in the biocube? Just vacuum off the top layer where all the algae is? What do i do with my new sand? Should i just leave it alone until i get the tank setup or should i put in a bucket with a cup or two of my biocubes live sand and let it sit in water with a powerhead for a couple months so it becomes live?

[three90s&125sump]

Toss the old sand after you cook the rock use the old sand as the biofilter for your corals while you wait for the rock to cook. Any small piece of rubble will be fine to attach them to.

[scoop]

look at the 'Substrate free tank husbandry' section in the forums and there is an excellent thread on how and why to cook the rock.

[Reeftanker3295]

Jason, the fish will be in the tank as well during the cooking process, will about 4-5 pounds of LR and the sand act as enough of a biological filter for my fish?

[three90s&125sump]

its hard to say... If there are only a few fish and there is enough sand the sand will be all you need. If you have too many fish, live rock and sand might not be enough. It really is hard to judge with out seeing.

[Reeftanker3295]

I have my tomato clown (3"), my sixline (2"), and my lionfish (2") and i can transfer another like 5 pounds of LR if needed from my other tanks so it will be sand and about 10 pounds of LR. Thats enough right?

[Loverotties]

Originally Posted by three90s&125sump

its hard to say... If there are only a few fish and there is enough sand the sand will be all you need. If you have too many fish, live rock and sand might not be enough. It really is hard to judge with out seeing.

+1

[Elegance Coral]

As long as this isn't in the 10gl tank, it should be fine.

[Reeftanker3295]

Its in the biocube. So 5-10 pounds will be enough? How long should i cook each batch for?