Can Dead Rock become Live Rock?

luckyk0505

luckyk0505

Member
my friend gave me a 45lbs of dead rock today
It was a Live rock when he first purchased this rock
and He was getting busy and didnt take care his tank
every fish was dead.. and rock was in there for a year
and he put them into bucket and put it outside for a 3 days..
it was all dry when I got them.. I put them into my 40 gallon tank
which is in cycle right now.. there is 3 hermit crab in there..
no fish at all.... can this rock become a live? and when should
I put them into my main tank?
 
killafins

killafins

Active Member
my LFS says that it can in theory but i don't trust my LFS nemore :rolleyes:, but in theory the live rock can seed the 'dead' rock...
 
raynmann

raynmann

New Member
Having just gone through this, I can tell you it does work. Similar situation... I've got a 150 Gal reef tank. Started with 100 lbs of dead rock. Cycled water for a month, then over time added about 100 lbs of live rock piece by piece. The first couple of pieces I added were un-cured live rock (very smelly, and full of growth) but the LFS said it would accelerate the process. There after I just added selected pieces of fully cured rock.
Primarily used the dead rock for base, and placed the live stuff on top and in the front surfaces. I'm also using 3 MH lights, and 3 six foot astenic bulbs.
Things that helped, was using a tooth brush to scrape any long hair algae that grows. (remove it immediately) I've also used the tooth brush to scrub the purple coraline algae (helping spread the spores). It just takes time, but all the white rock, will eventually turn green, then over time purple. Slow process, but the more live rock you can add, the faster the transition. Calcium levels are also very important here.
Things to keep in mind... when you go through the Red Algae bloom phase. Add a cleaning crew. I went through a phase where every day the glass was covered with brown/red algae, as well as the base. Very annoying. Added a full cleaning crew of snails, hermit crabs, emerald crabs, etc. It disappeared over night. Oh, also... the higer the flow, the less problems with red algae. I added 4 additional pumps in the tank for circulation.
6 months into it, my reef is fully green, and part purple.
 
kris

kris

Member
I would cure this rock before adding it to your main tank to get rid of the die0off. ( search the archives about curing live rock)
It'll make great base rock to start and after time will again regrow color and life.
Believe it or not the rock may not be as completely dead as you may think!!
Anything you put in your tank will become "live" after time
Good Luck
 
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