Cycling a rock in an established tank

[erifish3]

I have a big rock, about 18"x10"x10", that needs cycling. It was taken out of an established tank 3-4 weeks ago and placed in water. Problem is that I forgot to go back and connect the powerhead and heater and now I want to put it back in my 180g. My question is, can put it back in there without any problems? Its a FOWLR.

 

[meowzer]

If it has been sitting in stagnant water for a month.....I would change the water in the bucket to new sw......put the heater and powerhead on....and watch it.....if there is a lot of die off you will get an ammonia spike and such....then just cure it in the bucket
I would not add that rock to my dt the way it is

 

[btldreef]

I agree, put it in the bucket with clean water and keep an eye on it. If you haven't dumped the water yet that it has been sitting in, it's worth testing it to see how bad it is and you can probably gauge from there how long it will still need.

 

[eric b 125]

i read once that LR that has been subjected to high ammonia levels during the cycle is prone to hair algae. whether thats true or not, i would still change the water as others have said and test over the next few days.

 

[lion_crazz]

I definitely would not put it in your display until you are totally sure there is no dieoff on it. Since it has been sitting for weeks without a heater and filter, you can almost guarantee you will have a pretty good amount of dieoff, which, by the sounds of the size of the rock, will cause a pretty large ammonia spike in your display if you were to put it in there now.