what do i do with formerly live rock?

[sparticle]

Hi, all. I'm very new to all this, so thanks in advance for your help.
I have been given a 5-lb. piece of formerly live Fiji rock. Someone bought it, set up a SW tank, decided they didn't like the way it looked in their tank and took it out. They let it dry. :scared: I know, I know. Then they soaked it in distilled water "to clean it".
They brought it to me, saying "I might be able to use it", but I have no idea what (if anything!) to do with it.
Is it simply a great conversation piece for my coffee table, a terrific doorstop, or is there a way I can "refurbish" it and safely add it to my 12-gallon nano-reef? There are already about 10 lbs. of functional, healthy live rock in the tank, along with an aragonite sand bed at a depth of about 2-1/2".
(I have a cleanup crew of hermits and nassarius and turbo snails as well as three shrimp, an emerald crab, a percula clown and a yellowtail damsel, all living in perfect harmony for the past three weeks. I have tested the water weekly and all is in balance.)
I don't want to upset the balance by adding something unsafe, but it is a really neat looking piece of rock, even if it is no longer live.
Is it possible to use it/some way to re-"cure" it, or should I get rid of it (or make a paperweight of it)?
No chemicals have been used on it, and it has never come into contact with tapwater, so far as I know.
Thanks for your help!

 

[smith6ar]

Throw that rock in your tank wherever it would look best. I got about 15 lbs of formerly live rock from a friend who bought too much for his 180 gallon tank, and I put it in my tank (going about 6 months now) and the coralline algae have just started to take over the new real estate.
As long as it has never been in contact with any soap or anything like that you should be okay

 

[cannonman]

How long was it out? If there was still a lot of critters on it then the die off of those critters could cause an ammonia spike. I would scrub it with salt water and leave it sit in a bucket of salt water for a few days and monitor the ammonia, if it doesn't raise it after a few days then I would add it to the tank, eventually it will "recover" and become populated again.

 

[daninct]

Listen to cannonman. Adding it can cause a spike but without being certain why risk it.; Soak it first and check for ammonia and nitrites etc. When you are certain there is no die off to start a cycle etc. add it if you want.

 

[cannonman]

If it was one or two small pieces of LR in a 150 gallon I probably wouldn't be too concerned, might even just throw it in BUT, in a nano tank like that even a small ammonia spike could potentially be devestating. Only takes a bucket, a test kit, and a couple of days to be on the safe side.

 

[sparticle]

Thanks, guys. This is really helpful. I didn't want to just stick it on the bookshelf, but had no idea what else to do.
I've been lurking for a few weeks but this is the first question I've had that I couldn't find an answer to by searching the site. Great forum.

 

[fbm]

Originally Posted by Cannonman
If it was one or two small pieces of LR in a 150 gallon I probably wouldn't be too concerned, might even just throw it in BUT, in a nano tank like that even a small ammonia spike could potentially be devestating. Only takes a bucket, a test kit, and a couple of days to be on the safe side.

agreed.
Your tank is small so any die off could cause huge trouble. Cure it again.

 

[sparticle]

Thanks so much. I don't mind the time spent doing it, and it will save a really nice chunk of rockwork.

 

[chipmaker]

I reintroduced lived rock pieces that I acquired over 20+ years ago and was used as display pieces on a shelf and never seen water from the day it was harvested. It was rock acquired from the Gulf of Mexico which is more of a quartz looking substance and much harder than the typical fiji or marshall island live rock is. All I did wa place it in a tank with SW and start to curing it like it wa just obtained and once it spiked and then dropped I ssed it in a new setup. Just treat it like uncyucled liverock and put it through a cycle period.

 

[cannonman]

I don't understand.. a rock that has been dead for 20 years "cycled" when it was put in water? I thought that the cycling was simply due to live stuff die off durring/after shipping. I would think a dead rock of 20 years wouldn't do anything to the water it was put in... :notsure:

 

[sparticle]

Update:

Here's the TetraTest Laborette kit water test result from today:
L: Sample from curing tank with 'old' LR @ 5 days - 1.5 mg ammonia/liter :scared:
R: Sample from 'live' stocked nano-reef tank - 0.0 mg/l :cheer:
(And don't worry. That's a freshwater crayfish tank in the background, not the nano-reef. I would never do anything so cheesy (or foolish) as to put dyed fishbowl gravel in a reef tank. heh.)
But thanks SO much. You guys saved my tank.
Well, actually, I never would have put the rock in there if I hadn't got any advice. I would have just used it for a bookend.