Eric Alvarado Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 (edited) I have about 100 lbs of dead rock. The rock was pretty foul smelling when I got it, and I just couldn't bring myself to place it in the tank. It might have been normal smelling for 7 year old rocks. Regardless, now I need to decide what to do with it. The options I have read are: 1. Fill my 50 gallon tub with the rock, add a bleach water to the tub, use power head to circulate and knock out debris from the rocks. Dry. 2. Do similar to #1, but use salt water and no bleach. In theory, this would turn it from dead rock to live rock at the same time. 3. People take turns throwing the rocks at Mr. Saltwater's TV. 4. Open to other ideas Edited January 20, 2011 by Eric Alvarado Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaJMasta Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Use your biggest cheapest pot to boil it all - then move it out to the sun to dry. May not dry real quickly in this weather though..... Chlorine bleach seems like a bad idea.... that rock is very porous and it is very toxic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Rodriguez Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Curing Live Rock Procedures: You will need the following supplies: -Something to safely house the live rock. -I usually us a a Brute can. However, things like a Rubbermaid container will work. -Enough newly made saltwater to submerge the live rock in the container. -A soft scrub brush and an old tooth brush, to remove debris from surface of the rock. -Submersible pump, or pumps, to provide consistent water movement within all parts of the container. -Aquarium heater capable of keeping the water at 74°F -80°F degrees during the curing process 1. Fill the container with the water you made. 2. Take the brush and scrub all of the decaying material off of the live rock. 3. Submerge the rock into the container allowing a flow pattern to hit all areas of as much rock as possible. 4. prevent light from entering the live rock container to fight unwanted algae and bacterias from growing. 5. Perform 50% water changes twice a week while trying to remove as much of the decayed material as possible. If necessary re-scrub the live rock. 7. Test for ammonia after a two-week period. If the levels are zero, then it is alright to add the live rock to your aquarium. It might also be a good idea to dose Brightwell's Microbacter7 or the equivalant during the curing process. Happy Trails Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Rodriguez Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Chlorine bleach is an okay idea if you are going to add the rock to an absolutely sterile environment. You can always neutralize the the effects that the chlorine based bleach would have on the tank with chemicals or air drying. I would take an advantage of the die off to grow bacteria that will end up benefiting your tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Curing Live Rock Procedures: You will need the following supplies: -Something to safely house the live rock. -I usually us a a Brute can. However, things like a Rubbermaid container will work. -Enough newly made saltwater to submerge the live rock in the container. -A soft scrub brush and an old tooth brush, to remove debris from surface of the rock. -Submersible pump, or pumps, to provide consistent water movement within all parts of the container. -Aquarium heater capable of keeping the water at 74°F -80°F degrees during the curing process 1. Fill the container with the water you made. 2. Take the brush and scrub all of the decaying material off of the live rock. 3. Submerge the rock into the container allowing a flow pattern to hit all areas of as much rock as possible. 4. prevent light from entering the live rock container to fight unwanted algae and bacterias from growing. 5. Perform 50% water changes twice a week while trying to remove as much of the decayed material as possible. If necessary re-scrub the live rock. 7. Test for ammonia after a two-week period. If the levels are zero, then it is alright to add the live rock to your aquarium. It might also be a good idea to dose Brightwell's Microbacter7 or the equivalant during the curing process. Happy Trails This is good advice. The only thing I'd say different is since you are starting all over, cycle it in your tank. Wether you cycle the rock in a brute, or your tank, you are still going to have to wait a couple of weeks until it runs its course. Microbacter7 or SeaChem's Stability will work. I have some extra Stability if you want it. (Why would you want throw rocks at my TV? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derekreefer Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 I would handle it with gloves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Alvarado Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 Thanks for the detailed steps on preparing the rock. My biggest challenge with option #2 was the cost and time. Trying to figure out the long term benefit out of using the debris to seed the rock. If I make it go dead, but get it "clean", couldn't I just add it to the tank and it would seed itself over time anyway? I see speed advatnage - and suspect there is a safty net in there as well - as you have already tested and confirmed clean and safe rock before you introduce it to the tank. If the objective is to clean the rock, could I just use RO water to "cure" the rock, what does salt bring to the mix? How risky is it to add "cleaned" rock to the tank without making it live first? Mark, when you say starting all over again, do you mean from the LR point of view or the tank? Everyone likes throwing rocks at TVs. It's a national pasttime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Thanks for the detailed steps on preparing the rock. My biggest challenge with option #2 was the cost and time. Trying to figure out the long term benefit out of using the debris to seed the rock. If I make it go dead, but get it "clean", couldn't I just add it to the tank and it would seed itself over time anyway? I see speed advatnage - and suspect there is a safty net in there as well - as you have already tested and confirmed clean and safe rock before you introduce it to the tank. If the objective is to clean the rock, could I just use RO water to "cure" the rock, what does salt bring to the mix? How risky is it to add "cleaned" rock to the tank without making it live first? Mark, when you say starting all over again, do you mean from the LR point of view or the tank? Everyone likes throwing rocks at TVs. It's a national pasttime. curing the rock in RODI won't work. The bacteria you need is saltwater based, not freshwater. I'd kill the rock by leaving it out in the sun for a couple of weeks, knock off the big dead stuff, then put in your tank aquascaped the way you want, add saltwater, add bacteria in a bottle and let the cycle roll. It should only take a week with the bac in a bottle products. Starting all over i mean in terms of the tank. Dead sand, dead rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Alvarado Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 Thanks for the detailed steps on preparing the rock. My biggest challenge with option #2 was the cost and time. Trying to figure out the long term benefit out of using the debris to seed the rock. If I make it go dead, but get it "clean", couldn't I just add it to the tank and it would seed itself over time anyway? I see speed advatnage - and suspect there is a safty net in there as well - as you have already tested and confirmed clean and safe rock before you introduce it to the tank. If the objective is to clean the rock, could I just use RO water to "cure" the rock, what does salt bring to the mix? How risky is it to add "cleaned" rock to the tank without making it live first? Mark, when you say starting all over again, do you mean from the LR point of view or the tank? Everyone likes throwing rocks at TVs. It's a national pasttime. curing the rock in RODI won't work. The bacteria you need is saltwater based, not freshwater. I'd kill the rock by leaving it out in the sun for a couple of weeks, knock off the big dead stuff, then put in your tank aquascaped the way you want, add saltwater, add bacteria in a bottle and let the cycle roll. It should only take a week with the bac in a bottle products. Starting all over i mean in terms of the tank. Dead sand, dead rock. Ah, no new tank. I moved everything over to the 125G a couple weeks ago. SO I am dealing with adding rock to an existing tank. I have 100lbs in there now, thought to add 25-40 lbs of the rocked cleaned to the tank. Sounds like everyone pretty much sticks to only adding live rock to an existing tank, not adding dead rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Rodriguez Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Thanks for the detailed steps on preparing the rock. My biggest challenge with option #2 was the cost and time. Trying to figure out the long term benefit out of using the debris to seed the rock. If I make it go dead, but get it "clean", couldn't I just add it to the tank and it would seed itself over time anyway? I see speed advatnage - and suspect there is a safty net in there as well - as you have already tested and confirmed clean and safe rock before you introduce it to the tank. If the objective is to clean the rock, could I just use RO water to "cure" the rock, what does salt bring to the mix? How risky is it to add "cleaned" rock to the tank without making it live first? Mark, when you say starting all over again, do you mean from the LR point of view or the tank? Everyone likes throwing rocks at TVs. It's a national pasttime. curing the rock in RODI won't work. The bacteria you need is saltwater based, not freshwater. I'd kill the rock by leaving it out in the sun for a couple of weeks, knock off the big dead stuff, then put in your tank aquascaped the way you want, add saltwater, add bacteria in a bottle and let the cycle roll. It should only take a week with the bac in a bottle products. Starting all over i mean in terms of the tank. Dead sand, dead rock. Ah, no new tank. I moved everything over to the 125G a couple weeks ago. SO I am dealing with adding rock to an existing tank. I have 100lbs in there now, thought to add 25-40 lbs of the rocked cleaned to the tank. Sounds like everyone pretty much sticks to only adding live rock to an existing tank, not adding dead rock. The thing is, you could clean it, but you won't know how much is left on the rocks in the "impossible to get to" places. That stuff is going to endup causing a nutrient cycle. You could always set the rock to start curing for a week and see if it ends up boosting the Ammonia or Phosphates in the container it is curing in. The the amounts are low enough that you can live with them then you should be fine. Just be vary careful with that. -The nutrients are going to be more concentrated in a small container so take that into consideration. A 60 gallon container would show an an increase of nutrients that would be 2 times as much as a 120 gallon tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnj Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Perhaps sharing my experience will assist somehow. I spent about a year collecting "live" rock from various ARC members. I usually waited for some phenomenal deal to come along. As a result, I paid less for the "live" rock than most would pay for dead rock. My intention was to keep it "live" until I set-up my new tank, but much of the rock was infested with Aiptasia, so I ended up drying it all out in the sun. Before adding it to my new tank, I needed to address the fact that the rock probably contained a lot of trapped phosphates, which could lead to all kinds of algae issues down the line. So, I put all of the rock in large containers with RO/DI and vinegar and powerheads (no light). I changed the water/vinegar solution about three times over a 1-month period (the first batch of dirty water was very foul-smelling). I then soaked the rock in just RO/DI (no vinegar) one last time, then I dried it all out in the sun. My tank's been up and running almost a month now (moved all of my livestock over from my previous tank) with no issues. I allowed the new rock/tank to cycle for about 2-weeks using Seachem's Stability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuyatwo Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 If you are cooking the live rock with saltwater I would test the water for phosphates and copper just to be sure they aren't leaching out since you never used the rock before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Alvarado Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 Don't think I can ever really relay how much I appreciate everyone's feedback! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 I would brush off some of the "decay" and set it in your tub with saltwater. Then just do water changes now and then and id say when it stops smelling it's good to go. smelly rock=bad so good call on your part not putting it in. Let it cure till the smell is gone and there is no more dying sponge. Just expect a small amount of nutrient exchange, nothing frequent WC won't take care of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Don't think I can ever really relay how much I appreciate everyone's feedback! It's all part of why we are here. I'd venture to guess all of us have been in the exact same position. But, thanks for saying it and you're welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Don't think I can ever really relay how much I appreciate everyone's feedback! I'm going to take this opportunity to echo the same sentiments. I've been keeping saltwater since '88 and running a saltwater maintenance business since '95 an I've still gotten good ideas and excellent feedback from this site and seen excellent thought provoking QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS!. Kudos everyone and don't bug me about getting a cut! As far as the original thread, as long as the rock is clean I wouldn't have a problem adding that amount of clean rock to an established tank as you've described. As far as cleaning it I like PBNJ's vinegar process all though since I have a pressure washer I would use it first but i think hosing it off would be sufficient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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