Crazy live rock question

[kindaobsessed]

I have some left over rock from a previous shipment. Unfortunately, its been awhile and most all the good stuff has died off. Only have a nano so there's no room for the extra rock. If I put it in a rubbermaid tub, keep the salinity at a normal level, and put a good light over it, will the rock slowly turn to usable live rock? Or do I need to seed the tub with leftover live sand?
Or, is it a waste of time and just use it later in a established tank with good live rock?
Thanks in advance

 

[stuckinfla]

Yup...you can do it. Dont forget cpl power heads. How dead is it? Dried out - add apiece of nice live rock with it....still wet, you should be good to go. Watch temps too and a water change once in a while prob wouldnt hurt.

 

[kindaobsessed]

Got a good powerhead in it...and the temp is fine. The rock unfortunately is pretty dead...maybe some tube worms inside the rock but not much else. I don't mind waiting since its doing nothing anyway. Just wasn't sure how to seed it is all. One rock has some nice coraline and macroalgae...
Thanks for the reply

 

[fishboy2]

I agree with SIF, but when doing water changes use the water from your tank that you would toss, that can help to seed or reseed the rock. Be careful with the lights though can cause algae bloom. Good luck

 

[kindaobsessed]

Good point on using the tossed water...One more thing: How often would you change the water in the rock seeding tub? Can't imagine much of a bioload until things start growing. Even then, w/o fish or corals it probably needn't change that frequenty? Guess just check ammonia levels...
Again, thanks for the replies

 

[scotts]

I guess my question is what are you going to keep the rock for? If you are going to use it in a month or two, or if you are going to sell it, it might be worth going through this. But if you are going to use it later down the road in a larger tank I would say just put it in a box in the garage and store it. Then when you get the larger tank put the rock in there with your other rock and in a matter of months you will have full bown live rock again. I bought a used 125 set up with countless pounds of pure white rock. Less than 6 months later it is covered with coralline and is fully live rock again.
Scott

 

[funkyman]

Thanks for the idea regarding the water change re-usage.

Never thought of that, and I have a temporary live rock bin in the garage right now. As you would expect, I had just done a water change and dumped the used water down the comode right before I read that thread.

 

[hkgar]

My experience.
My tank crashed last August when I lived in Florida, as a result of hurricane Charlie and no electricity for two weeks. Since I knew I was moving back to Michigan I just packed everything and prepared for the move.
I finally got the tank back up and operating in early October. I used my "dead" live rock and sand and added some new sand. The cycle actually only took about 3 weeks and today the rock is covered with Coraline algea. I don't think you can really kill those little microbes - they just sort of hibernate for awhile.

 

[kindaobsessed]

Thanks again for the excellent responses. Since I won't be using the rock anytime soon, I'll just box it up and reincarnate them later--and remember to use the tossed tank water.

 

[jda]

so im a little new to this . can you make regular dead rock into live rock after a few months .
i have about 3lbs or dead rock and about 2lbs of live rock
i know i need to get more but my local store just ran out
they sell it for 6.99 per lbs .
right now in the tank i have one clown ,star fish , 4 crabs

 

[scotts]

JDA, kind of hard to answer without knowing more about your tank but in general yes you can turn dead rock into live rock. All that live rock is is rock that has all the good bugs and critters and coalline on it. These things will spread onto your dead rock if they are in a tank with live rock. That of course depends on your tank and the health of your tank. HTH
Scott