Dead Rock!!

sdascher

Member
I need some advice PLEASE! I am not up on curing & making use of all dead rock! I have a friend who owned a very large tank that was broken - fish all were OK and taken to a LFS but they do not sell LR and so with no place to keep it, no one to give it to, he just let it die!! (Yes he's nuts & stupid!!) Anyhow, that was over a year ago, and he has all of this "dead" bare as a bone rock. Now that he moved closer to me, he told me that I could pick out whatever I wanted because he does not want to have another tank...... :D So I will pick some pieces out, of course looking for nice shapes. My thoughts were to cycle the rock???? in tubs and add some live pieces to it later and maybe move the rock to a tank for a lovely rock tank for a few months ????? Any thoughts?? I was thinking of around 75 lbs. of dead rock (maybe some pieces stored some place??) I also was thinking that if one had 50 lbs. of dead rock that you could add maybe 25 lbs of LR to it ???? Any ideas on making good use of this rock??? After curing maybe I could add a rock or two to my 125g to use as base rock - its a reef tank....... Thanks in advance for any reply's!:)
 
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toungetwster

Guest
I don't think you really need to cure "dead rock". But it will become live rock once you seed it with other live rock. It will take months but it will happen....just will take time...
 

birdy

Active Member
Well if it is all dead and dried I don't know if you will need to cure it at all. Curing is usually because there is a lot of life and by shipping it some of it dies, when you cure it you are waiting for the stuff that died to decompose. I would take that rock and seed it with LR I would think 50/50 would be a good amount, you can go with less LR but it will take longer for the base rock to be beneficial. I would be sure your friend didn't use any copper based medications in the tank but sounds like you got a good find on some base rock!
 

scy

Member
Hello:If it was me i would put that rock in a tank by itself and use a filter and a skimmer and clean the rock before i put it in my main tank.
 

saltyj

Member
Noooo don't use it, it will kill everything.
But send it to me and I will risk putting it in my tank LOL JK
sounds like a great deal. If there is any leftover when you are done email me
Studleydoright18@msn.com
Jeff
 

birdy

Active Member
Salty J- LOL!
Send me some of that "toxic" baserock too, I think I can dispose of it properly!
 
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thomas712

Guest
Yeah I agree with Birdy that what you have now is baserock, was alive at one time now dead.
My suggestion is to place it in a tub with saltwater and a powerhead for a while then test to see if it is leaching anything or causes and oil slick onthe top of the water, depending on how it was stored. Check for copper, smells/oders, and oil slicks.
Thomas
 
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