just got back from the Cayman islands

[ameno]

I just got back from a dive trip at Cayman Brac, (great diving, lots of coral) But the beach was full of dead coral. I picked up a few rocks from the beach and a few dead corals, I was thinking about adding it to the live rock in my tank. Hoping maybe the rock would still have some things come to life on it. but if not would still be helpfull for filtering. Should I do anything to this stuff before putting it in the tank? maybe somekind of curing process? Or should I not even put it in the tank? anybody have any ideas or input.

 

[natureboy]

I put dead pieces of coral in my tank that i find on the beach. they are all bleached out so of course nothing is going to be alive, but they look nice and fit in well with the surrounding liverock. I boil them first just to be sure that no unwanted bacteria or viruses slip into the tank.

 

[sebae09]

I allways pick up rocks at the beach and put them in my tank but i boil them first beaches have all kinds of bad bacteria you dont want in your tank.

 

[babyb]

i brought back some dead coral from costa rica and put it in my tank and its done awsome

 

[ameno]

Thanks for the input everyone, I'll give it a try. a few peices are actual rock with some real nice color. it'll be interesting to see how it does. It was kinda sad to see so much dead coral alone the beaches, I guess it's from hurricanes and such. but there's so much that they actually build walls with it.