once live "dead " rock

[Skinr1]

Id like to ask a question maybe some 1 here can answer it
a few years ago a friend dismantled his tank and stored it . all the live rock he just let dry out in the tank sitting on his back porch . for months
then he just boxed it all up and stored it .
now he is asking me if I want it .
is any of this old rock re-useable ?
since its been stored in boxes for so long were talking a couple of years here .
only asking this because he offered it to me and he has 5 boxes full but if its of no benefit anymore theres no point in taking it .could any of this rock be used as a base at least if I maybe soak it in salt water and put it out in the sun for a few days ? then put it in my tank and maybe cover it with a few pounds of live rock to save a few bucks .I also read somewhere that old rock needed to be boiled and cured before reuse
anyone know the procedure for this ??
help

 

[flower]

Id like to ask a question maybe some 1 here can answer it
a few years ago a friend dismantled his tank and stored it . all the live rock he just let dry out in the tank sitting on his back porch . for months
then he just boxed it all up and stored it .
now he is asking me if I want it .
is any of this old rock re-useable ?
since its been stored in boxes for so long were talking a couple of years here .
only asking this because he offered it to me and he has 5 boxes full but if its of no benefit anymore theres no point in taking it .could any of this rock be used as a base at least if I maybe soak it in salt water and put it out in the sun for a few days ? then put it in my tank and maybe cover it with a few pounds of live rock to save a few bucks .I also read somewhere that old rock needed to be boiled and cured before reuse
anyone know the procedure for this ??
help

Hi,

Just put it in the tank. The only reason to boil it would be to be rid of aptasia or something... nothing can be on the rock after it's totally dried out, so just use it as base rock and put live rock with it to seed it.

 

[geridoc]

If there happens to be any dried organic matter still in the rock it will only help with the initial cycle of the tank. Use the rock, and thank your friend for saving you a ton of $$$.

 

[Skinr1]

would maybe soaking it in salt water
and sun baking it for a few days be a good idea to clean it up alittle before putting it in , it is kinda ugly and dirty looking from being in storage so long .
suggestions ?

 

[flower]

would maybe soaking it in salt water
and sun baking it for a few days be a good idea to clean it up alittle before putting it in , it is kinda ugly and dirty looking from being in storage so long .
suggestions ?

You can soak it in saltwater if you just want to clean it, but it isn't really needed. Like GeriDoc said...be sure to thank your friend!

 

[Skinr1]

ok so last night after work I picked up a total of 60pds of dead rock from him in boxes and 2 buckets . the rock is pretty nasty , dirty etc from being stored and seriously needs to be cleaned .
I stopped by the local fish store showed the guy some of the rock and the he told me to make a 5 gal. bucket of water to .5 cup of reg household bleach let soak for 3 hrs then rinse , repeat if needed .
he told me this will clean and whiten the rock back up nicely .
then after soaking , re rinse , then make a bucket of fresh water , put in the rock and then add dechlorinater . let soak for 24 hrs . dump water and repeat again for 24 more hours with dechlorinater to neutralize the bleach .
then remove rock and place out in the sun for a day if possible .
next step : get a big bin or clean garbage can fill with salt water , put in rock , and a bubbler , or power head for water movement ... just leave it alone for about a week check ammonia and nitrates in the water a few times during the week during this curing process he called it . then it will be ok to put in the tank .
so last night I followed his instructions set up several bucket on the bleach soak and the rock whitened right up and was real nice looking again with in like 3 hrs like he said , I rinsed it off real good and now its all soaking in the fresh dechlorinated water .
so before I go any further and I put this rock in my tank to reuse let me say
ok I have never done anything like this before
using bleach or vinegar on anything marine tank related ..... is this guy tellin me the right procedure am i doing this correctly in regards to this rock ? or did i just stay up late for nothing and clean a bunch of dead rock to use in the rose garden as lawn ornaments ????
has anyone here ever heard of this or done this ???

 

[geridoc]

There is no need to cure the rock. Curing is used after live rock is shipped. During shipping there is a lot of die-off in the rock, so curing will allow the natural decaying process to complete before you add the rock to the tank. It can't hurt, but isn't (IMHO) really necessary. Bleach will basically sterilize the rock, and remove almost all of the organic matter. Obviously then, bleach is very toxic. That's why the repeated soaks in dechlorinator, which will inactivate the bleach. You are not doing anything wrong, just possibly unnecessary. Your system will be fine.

 

[Skinr1]

thanks for that , not ever doing this before with rock or bleach etc , the hole time I was outside working on it I was wondering if I was just poisoning the rock in some way or just cleaning new lawn ornaments .

 

[flower]

Hi,

Let me guess...the LFS guy sold you the dechlorinator. The rock is fine, quit stressing over it.

 

[Skinr1]

lol no I had plenty at home

 

[flower]

lol no I had plenty at home

LOL...He sure put you to work for that rock. At least it's all settled now.

I personally would never use bleach on any tank for any reason, that comes from 30+ years of being told bleach is deadly for fish. I get so stressed over it's use, that no matter how much I rinse or use dechlorinator, I still don't feel it's safe. Of coarse, others have done it without a hitch, so I know it's just me.

 

[Skinr1]

im the same way .... that hole bleach thing concerned me also , but he guaranteed me that if , I soak for 24 hrs
rinse , soak again for 24 in the dechlorinated water and sun dry it would be fine and wont harm the fish . so lets see I will know by Friday .

 

[Skinr1]

after what I just went through battling this algae bloom I aint taking no chances on anything . now that I just emptied $290 + into this tank in the last 10 days .im alittle leary now , so with this rock I did go all the way with it , I soaked it after bleaching , for a total of 30 hrs in dechlorinated fresh water , last night I put it in a bin of salt water even added alittle nite out 2 , in it to try and get some bacteria going cause the rock was so nasty ,
but it is looking good hopefully I will get it in the tank by fri . lets see how its looking by then .
my thoughts on this . considering what I just went through and now that im getting the tank back to where it needs to be I don't wanna take any chances . I went the extra mile in my mind set of this project because this rock was very nasty when I got it , with the bleaching cleaning process which i have never done before ever ,nor would I ever consider such a thing , and considering the rock is extremely pouris , it was my thinking that if I put it in a bath of salt water with alittle nite out bacteria in it , like a type of curing , which i knew it didn't need but ...hopefully being so pouris the rock would absorb some salt and bacteria making it just alittle better and cleaner going in the main tank .
hopefull going the extra mile and over doing it ,will pay off in my way of thinking . the last thing I wanna do is put something in that main tank that is gonna cause anymore issues . plus I just thought it would be best to just take my time with this project anyway . who knows maybe it will help out .
im hoping to re acclimate the community back in the main by fri .
the ammonia in the med tank they are in is starting to climb alittle its time to get them out of there now

 

[bang guy]

In my opinion using the rock as is will create a tank full of Phosphate loaded rocks what will be a constant source of filament algae for at least a year.

You could spend some time cooking the rocks (high flow, low light) until bacteria pushes out and consumes the majority of the PO4.