Richard Londeree of Tampa Bay Saltwater was one of the first pioneers to fight for the federal lease laws to allow the seeding and propagation of live rock in Florida/Gulf open waters. We consulted with Richard who has been dealing in live rock, both harvested and aquacultured for many years, and asked his opinion about curing live rock. This is what he had to say:
- "Curing live rock is a term that came about because of the stress that rock is subjected to during the collection process. Some collectors get it off the reef, sit it on the beach all day in the sun, hold it another day or two out of the water, box it up, send it to it's destination with multiple airline stops along the way, and finally it arrives to the buyer on the other end. So you have rock that may have been out of the water for up to 3-5 days. At that point most all the life that was on the rocks is dead and smelly, thus you have to tank the rock and cure it, which really means you hold it a couple of weeks to let it stop smelling so much so it can be sold. A better term would be, bringing the dead back to life, which is what has to be done with rock from some suppliers. Rock harvested and held correctly does not need to be cured, as it is alive and not smelly."
At TBS when they collect their rock it comes up in bags, is immediately submerged in water in 5 gallon buckets, transported to shore underwater, on their truck, underwater, 30 minutes to the shop where it is then held underwater. Because of the collecting process they use, Richard says that, "This way there is minimal die off, the rock smells good, is alive and happy. If left to sit on the floor for five days, imagine how it would smell!"
Now that you have a better understanding of what curing means, why it may be necessary to cure live rock and how to identify different types by the names given it, before going into the process of how to cure live rock there are some very important Guidelines that one should follow when working with any type of live rock. These Guidelines can help to make your venture into keeping live rock a more successful and productive one, and should be read before jumping in.
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