[jelliefish]

whats the difference betwen the 2?

i just got in a few pounds of some live rock, that has been dried for a months or so. which one would be better for my needs

 

[OneDummHikk]

Cooking is the process of attempting to rid the rock of as much PO4 and built up nutrients as possible while establishing a bacterial colony to handle the waste. Curing is just a short term process that establishes the bacteria without worrying about trying to limit/remove PO4 and other nutrients from the rock.

If you have the time/space, cook the dry rock and start with the best rock possible as far as PO4 and bacteria colonies.

 

[crvz]

Yep, long term "cooking" (though in reality, it's not much more than a glorified curing process) is probably going to be a better solution.

 

[jelliefish]

cool thanks, i have the rock in a bucket with a pump on it...im just glad i get free salt water from the marine center

 

[Geoff]

when the term curing was first introduced into the hobby, it was pretty synonymous with cooking. which had not been introduced yet. cooking is a very new term, in the last 5 years or so. curing LR has been around for 20+ years, at least as long as i have been in the hobby.

back in the 80's, cured LR was LR that had been sitting in a huge vat for at least a month without any light. this was the stuff you wanted to buy. the new stuff that just came was in the other vat waiting for all of the unwanted critters and algae to die off. then the sand people came along and thought all of those critters were a good thing, so now cured LR was not what people wanted. now we find that we do not want all of the stuff that tends to grow on the fresh LR and we now call it cooking/purging.

i know way to much info, but good to know the history.

G~

 

[Doug1]

Most of the rock tubs I have seen just have it sitting around in water with no serious attempts to circulate or remove the falloff, I think hats a prime reason for after purchase PO4 issues FWIW

 

[jenglish]

i know way to much info, but good to know the history.

G~

ldman:

Sand people? I didn't know Jawas kept reef tanks:rotflmao:

 

[scenke]

ldman:

Sand people? I didn't know Jawas kept reef tanks:rotflmao:

Actually, i believe he was refering to Tusken Raiders. Much meaner than Jawas. :funny: