curing dead rock

[thefishy]

I got about 30-40 lbs of dead live rock from a local reefer who got out of the hobby. Washed them with the hose then put them in a tub with a powerhead and heater.. Anyway it has been about 2-3 weeks and they still smell god awfull.. Wife wants me to hurry and get them in the tank lol.. So my question, if I boiled them or put them in the oven would this get rid of all the dead stuff inside the rock alot faster? Anybody have any tips to make this process faster=) Changed the water 2 times and I am still getting a ammonia reading thats about 1.0-2.0... Thanks)

 

[stanlalee]

once you've removed all the dead matter from the exterior and scrubbed/rinsed them thoroughly its just a waiting game. If your at 1-2ppm you dont have long. Hell mine was at 8ppm and within a week it was down to zero (then there is the nitrite wait lol).

 

[thefishy]

Oh man there is more waiting lol=0 Well guess I can wait a little more.. Soo there is no tricks to speed this up? Thanks for the info)

 

[robdog696]

What did the previous owner do with the rock to make it dead? If it's having die-off then it's not completely dead. Baking it in the oven or setting it in the sun for a few days will "kill" it. But you don't really want to do that. Are you changing the water? You should be doing 100% water changes. I'd just keep doing what you're doing. You're probably closer to done than you think. If you change the water and it doesn't smell in a few days then you're done. Good luck!

 

[thefishy]

They took it out of the tank and put it in 5 gallon buckets for a day (dry).. So mabye something lived deep inside the rock but I just figured it was dead=) I have been doing 100% changes every mon for 2 weeks. /cheer hopefully sometime this week it will be ready, been waiting to redo aquascaping. Thanks

 

[robdog696]

Yeah, one day of being out of the tank... especially in a bucket won't completely kill it... just torture it enough to make it stink. LOL! Good luck!

 

[aztec reef]

95% of that lr is dead, thus why u keep having ammonia after three weeks.. Is your DT already cycled??
If Not then u can take advantage and cycle it with that semi-dead lr... The stink is due to the organisms dieying which = decomposed organic compounds..

 

[thefishy]

Cool guys thanks for the info=) Yea my dt is already cycled been set up about a year now.

 

[bizzmoneyb]

did you add something to get the bacteria going? if not its just sitting in a pool of waste with nothing to eat up those ammonia producing compounds. alot of people add a small piece of shrimp.