Burning Live Rock??????

[seahorse11]

HI, This may be dumb question but here goes............ I just bought some LR and I have it in a large plastic rubbermaid container. The temp of the water is VERY cold and I want to put a heater in. Can I lay the bottom of the heater on top of the LR or do I have to somehow attach it to the side so no LR comes into contact with thermometer? Also the rock was in a tank that was up for 5 years. When I took the rock out, it had a bad smell. Will the smell go away as the rock cycles in the container?
Thanks

 

[fishieness]

i dont think it would realy matter if the heater touched the LR, however, it would be a good thing to attach it to the sides with a suction cup just in case. most heats come with some; no? the bad smell is die-off. once the LR cycles then all of that will be gone.

 

[seahorse11]

Thanks Fish,
I was hoping that I didnt have to scrub the rock to get the smell off. There is some beautiful purple algae on it. Thanks for the advice.
Seahorse

 

[rev]

or,if you have a piece of base rock to lay the heater on.

 

[fishieness]

scrubbing it will get the dead stuff off quicker and you wont have to change the water that the LR is cycling in as much. IF the algae is coraline, then it is hard and will not come off if you use a toothbrush. If you use a wirebrush it could even help it spread to other rocks quicker