Very well written article, Paul. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting anecdote.. I was out of the hobby for the past few years, and upon returning, I was fascinated to learn that people were "cooking" live rock. For those not familiar, this essentially involves making a few buckets of fresh saltwater, taking your rock out of your tank, and shaking it vigorously in each bucket. This removes the very detritus and gunk that Paul refers to in his article. After doing so, you place the rock in a dark container of saltwater for a week, then repeat the process. This sounds like a direct cure for the very problem that Paul touched on in his article: live rock becomes clogged over the years, leading to nutrient problems or even tank crashes. I've always thought that cleaning your rocks regularly would negate the utility of this sort of process, and here's 40+ years worth of reefing experience to back that up
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It's hard to say how well things work in this hobby because few of us are actually scientists, or have the patience to test out interventions in a scientific manner. However, it's hard to argue with Paul's 40+ years of results, especially when you consider his no-nonsense approach to reefing. Paul, thanks for taking the time, and thanks for contributing to the hobby!
