[Luiyo]

Hey !! Hello everyone I just start in this hobby and I have a little question I live in a Island and here are beutiful underwater marine life and Im wondering If I can collect some live rocks from the ocean and cure it my self because the rock here is at $9.00 pound per fiji rock. If yes how I can cure it??

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Luiyo

Hey !! Hello everyone I just start in this hobby and I have a little question I live in a Island and here are beutiful underwater marine life and Im wondering If I can collect some live rocks from the ocean and cure it my self because the rock here is at $9.00 pound per fiji rock. If yes how I can cure it??

Hola Luiyo, bienvenido a Reefland!

If you collect live rocks (dead coral skeletons) from the ocean and quickly get them into your aquarium, they will NOT need to be cured. You may want to clean them off a bit first in clean seawater depending on where you collect them.

However, you should first check to be sure you aren't violating the law. I don't know if it is legal to collect live rock in Puerto Rico or not but I suspect that it may not be legal. It is certainly not legal in Florida or Hawaii. I really don't know about Puerto Rico.

[Luiyo]

Thanks!!! I will verify that I hope is not illegal but you can go any beach here and you don't see no federal guys walking around so I think is going to be easy. About curing is just taking it from the beach and insert them on the aquarium ??? and is done??? no chemicals ???

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Luiyo

About curing is just taking it from the beach and insert them on the aquarium ??? and is done??? no chemicals ???

First, you have to understand what is meant by "live rock." Live rock is composed of calcium carbonate. It is the dead skeleton of formerly living coral. It is not rock of terrestrial origin that may have landed on the beach or in the water. When hurricanes, or even heavy storms, hit the reef, the pounding waves can break some of the coral. The broken off pieces get tumbled around at the base of the reef and the living tissue dies. Then marine worms, bacteria and other organisms bore into the calcareous remains making it very porous. After a few years of "aging" it would be considered live rock.

It is illegal to collect live rock in Florida but what is legal there is the licensed commercial farming of live rock by placing chunks of calcareous rock (from ancient coral reefs) that is mined inland back into the ocean for a couple of years so that marine organisms can do their thing with it turning it into live rock. After two or three years it will be porous and covered with marine life of all kinds. It is possible to order this aquacultured live rock and have the diver harvest it the same day that it is shipped. If the hobbyist receives it the next morning, it has been out of the ocean for less than 24 hours and there will be very little dieoff.

IF it is legal for you to collect live rock, you would have to collect it near a coral reef in what is called a "rubble zone." The only "curing" that you would have to do would be to wash off any undesirable mud or other stuff that you don't want in your aquarium. It would help to have a container of seawater with you to transport the live rock back to your home so that any sponges or other delicate organisms do not die off when exposed to the air.

When hobbyists order live rock from Fiji or Tonga or other South Pacific locations, it is cleaned there when it is collected and then it is "semi-cured" by being placed on outdoor racks in the open air with seawater sprayed on it periodically. Usually they will clean off any dying sponges or macroalgae before shipping it out. When the hobbyist receives it and puts it into his tank there will be a release of ammonia as a result of organisms that are dying inside and on the surface of the live rock. Curing live rock simply refers to the process of waiting for this dieoff to finish so that no more toxic ammonia is being released.

[Luiyo]

Thanks for that excellent information !!