Coral

[HoBow]

I've been sitting on a box of coral for a while and decided to cook some of it (very little since I've never cooked coral and did not want to ruin the whole box).  Most of the smaller pieces exploded and the bigger ones fractured heavily.  Is this from cooking to long, to hot, or cooling down to fast?  I buried the rock and built a fire over top of them.  I dug them up when the ground temp had stabilized.  Any help appreciated.  Thanks!

[jcinpc]

what did you use for cook it with? if charcoal then just 1 layer on top would be fine with your rock about 1 - 1 1/2 inches deep. If I add just a little too much I will blow up my load also, have done it plenty, also mixing high grade pinhead coral or the dark glassy stuff in with some of the toughe polyped will blow it up also, those darker glassier pieces need to go underneath, got any pics of the before during and after?

[mullet]

 yep!, the same as Jeff. I bury mine just a little bit deeper. Jeff, (PC) I didn't send any Pinhead, mostly Alafia River Coral. That stuff needs to go about 2" deep or less heat.

[HoBow]

I only buried it about an inch or less- just barely.  I had a nice fire that I kept going for about 10 hours.... looks like I cooked it way to much     It's a good think I did not throw the whole box down there....thanks.

[mullet]

 I cover mine about 2" with sand box sand and put a 20# bag of charcoal on it. I leave it till it is cool enough to dig out by hand. I put the bigger spalls near the top and the small stuff under them.