curing rock

HD, that rock we got this weekend must be dead rather than live huh? We put it in the 10g which was kind of silly because we're just going to have to take it out now and put it back in a bucket since the 10g is for the nano build. Anywho....the colors on the rock are turning black and there are dead pods and bristle worms coming out of it like crazy. So...I'm in new territory here. I need to do some research on curing again. I've not ever really done that. I set up my first tank with dead rock and seeded it with a few pieces of live stuff. It didn't have dead stuff falling out and off of it! Anyone experienced with this? I'm not crazy about doing the acid bath thing even though I know HD has had luck with it. How long will it be before this is potentially ready? It was supposed to be for my nano build. It's sitting in saltwater with a heater, power head and DIY skimmer going (also supposed to be for the nano build). Anything else we need to be doing? I'm making more water for a W/C and plan to do them often.

If it's for the 10 gallon build leave it in there, won't hurt to cure it in the tank any and will take just as long as curing it somewhere else. Just leave it like normal with a heater, powerhead. I wouldn't put sand in yet as it's easier to clean up all the dying/falling off stuff that way. Keep an eye on your ammonia, try to keep that fairly low but it's hard in a smaller tank, I usually do large water changes the first week and then slack off. You can take a toothbrush and scrub off any dirt/gunk/dying sponges whatever too. I wouldn't be acid bathing it or anything, it'll be fine in a couple weeks once the dieoff is done.

Hi Cammie

I have been curing some LR for 3 weeks now. I had a power head and a heater in there all this time. I have a shop light over that runs for 6 hours. I did 2 water changes so far and there has been very little die off. If you have some die off I would suggest you do a water change after a week and light brushing like Tiffany suggested would be good...Just remember for the contest the first picture should be a soda can in an empty tank. So you might want to take the rock out to post the first picture.
Good Luck
Vishnu

OK. Will do. Thanks!

I took down the frag tank and put the rock in there for a few days I think it will be fine once all of the dead pods and brisle worms get out of it. I rinced it in SW before I stuck it into the 40g but there is still ALOT of dead stuff comming off of it.