Cured Live Rock from the lfs

[Strider199]

I initially bought 42 pounds of live rock from BigAls which I used to cycle my tank. It was uncured Bali rock so as I was just starting my reef tank it was what I had planned. Use uncured rock to cycle the tank and then add a little cured man made rock to top off what I needed.

All worked out great, tank cycled after 4 weeks or so and I added coral and a few fish slowly. Snails and shrimp went well. Hermit's seemed to love the tank.

So now we zoom to the present. I purchased 6 pounds of made made live rock from a small local reef shop to add to my tank. The owner said it was cured and not to worry about adding it to my other stock. I got home, put it in a bucket of newly mixed r/o and reef water for a few hours and added it to my tank.
No real issues but my coral looked a bit ugly for a few days. I tested the water (API LIQUID TEST), and the nitrates did rise a bit from 0 ppm but a water change cured that.
I posted here about man made live rock and a senior member replied saying I should treat all rock as uncured, man made or reef.
So when I purchased another 10 pounds of the man made live rock which is "cured", I put it in a bucket of reef water with an air line for movement. 24 hours after the rock had been in the bucket I tested for ammonia. Wow the results were 2.0 ppm.
This rock will stay in the bucket until the ammonia come down with some water changes and we will see were the nitrates are.
Thanks Cliff for the advise about man made reef rock. You were right on the mark.

Note to newbies like me; Listen to the experienced members on the site. Your lfs (even small local ones), aren't as knowledgeable as some of the members here.

[Cliff]

Thanks Strider, I'm glad I was able to help.

I would suggest keeping not letting the ammonia get higher than around 1ppm so you don't get any soaked up into the rock making the rocks cycle longer.

I'm looking forward to seeing a up-dated pic once you have the new rock in the tank

[Strider199]

Is it a benefit to have light on your curing live rock? Mine is in a 10 gallon without light right now, took it out of the bucket. Have a power head and room temperature without a light. If light and 80 degrees F help to cure it quicker, I can do that. Just thought I read it was OK in the dark.
The rock I cured in my 55 gallon had both a light and a heater and all went well. Thats why the questions.
Thanks in advance.

[Cliff]

IMO, it is best to cure your rock in complete darkness (or as dark as you can). Otherwise, you will likely start to grow some algae on your rocks. You don't need light to cure rocks. I have always cured mine in complete darkness and it has always worked very well for me. That will also limit the risk of nasty hitchikers. I would suggest a heater to heat it up to 80F tho.

[Strider199]

Thanks Cliff, heater is going in.