Live rock left out in the sun

J

jarad

Guest
Hello, I recently purchased a home, the prior owner had a very large reef system. Luckily for me, I am also setting up a nice reef system. The thing is, he was nice enough to leave me all the Live rock ~200lbs or so, but it was put out in the backyard in the 100 degree sun. I know this is considered dead live rock. It doesnt smell whatsoever, but I wanted to know what, if anything, I need to do before I put it in the aquarium to bring it back to life, so to speak.
I currently have a 55 gallon in my current home, established reef system for the last year and a half. I was hoping to put a bunch in there to start getting it back into shape. Please help.
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
u need to cure the dead rocks, just to make sure no organic dieoff will happen. put it in a bucket with saltwater with flow and run it for a week, while monitoring ammonia, nitrate and nitrite every 2 days.
 
locoyo386

locoyo386

Member
Originally Posted by jarad
http:///forum/post/3081405
Hello, I recently purchased a home, the prior owner had a very large reef system. Luckily for me, I am also setting up a nice reef system. The thing is, he was nice enough to leave me all the Live rock ~200lbs or so, but it was put out in the backyard in the 100 degree sun. I know this is considered dead live rock. It doesnt smell whatsoever, but I wanted to know what, if anything, I need to do before I put it in the aquarium to bring it back to life, so to speak.
I currently have a 55 gallon in my current home, established reef system for the last year and a half. I was hoping to put a bunch in there to start getting it back into shape. Please help.
It depends on how long it was sitting out in the sun. If it was a few days, than you will have to cure the rock. If it was a long time, than the rock is just base rock. I would rinse it very well also, one thing to consdier is why was the rock sitting out in the sun in the first place.
 
J

jarad

Guest
Its been out for a little while, everything is completely dead, rock is white whit ewhite. Should I just rinse it and put it in my tank? or should I cure it< i just put it in a tub of salt water and have it churning but I am pretty sure it is completely dead. I am an impulsive SOB so I would usually just throw it in my tank but I am trying to learn from past mistake and take the correct course of action. I do want to get a lot of the rock ready for when I upgrade to my 150 though! Tha nk for any advice
 
ryancw01

ryancw01

Member
This might take a while, but I say boil as much of the rock as you can. If you have a big old soup pan that would be perfect. You surely can cure the rock if you want to, but if you boil it you can make sure that you get all the nasty stuff out of the ******** and not have to wait as long. The rock is completely dead and white so might as well save some time and go for the boil...
 
fishkid13

fishkid13

Active Member
Originally Posted by Ryancw01
http:///forum/post/3081880
This might take a while, but I say boil as much of the rock as you can. If you have a big old soup pan that would be perfect. You surely can cure the rock if you want to, but if you boil it you can make sure that you get all the nasty stuff out of the ******** and not have to wait as long. The rock is completely dead and white so might as well save some time and go for the boil...
+1
 
J

jarad

Guest
Boil ehhhhh, sweet, I'll boil it up good, how long, twenty minutes? Thanks for the info guys
 
ryancw01

ryancw01

Member
About 15-20 minutes should be good. All the old sand and everything that is in there will pop out and the water will be brown...but that is good...then you can just do a final rinse in RO/DI water...
Just a disclaimer that I have read that the rock could get too hot and crack or break, so keep an eye on it. I have done this multiple times though and I have never seen it happen.
 
J

jarad

Guest
Yah, boiling some now, just got done with a batch, the water was brown and pretty gross, no broken rocks, have it rinsing in some salt water to cool it then Im gonna add it, i will monitor ammonia and nit/nit. Thanks for the help everyone
 
ryancw01

ryancw01

Member
That is awesome Jarad. I think live rock is totally overated. When I want to add rock I buy dead base rock and do this and in 3 months it will be live in your tank anyway and you save a boat load of money.
Besides, that live rock that we buy comes directly from coral reefs in the ocean and I don't think we need to be messing with that too much or it is going to be hard to buy fish in the future.
 
J

jarad

Guest
well, I boiled it up, put it in the tank, no ammonia spike or anything and it seems to be doing well. I think that I will be doing what you are doing with the dead base rock from now on, makes sense to me, just glad I was able to get all this for free. Thnaks for everyones help!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top