Rock prep

[Jimbo662]

I've got some old dried out rock and some from a tank I just broke down. It's all in a couple of brute trash cans that are in the garage with water and a pump prepping it for the new tank. Temp stays in the low to mid 70s in there. Do I need to put a heater in the cans?

[Neon Reefer]

To answer your question bacteria will grow in the mid 70's F.  However if you raise the temp to 80 F they will thrive more and grow faster giving you a better cycled live rock in the same amount of time. 

To go on I'd ask if the rock coming from the old tank was dried and cleaned properly.  Or was it removed live and placed into saltwater with the dry rock.  If the later is true then any pest on the old rock will thrive and become part of the cycle. 

Even dried rock should be cleaned prior to cycling to remove the outer layer of contaminants which can increase your phosphate and nitrate levels contributing to algae outbreaks.  With my current tank setup all my rock came from existing tanks and was treated prior to the cycling process.  Results were first new tank with zero pest algae breakouts. 

Old rock should be dried rinsed and then acid washed x2 and then  neutralized with baking soda

then rinsed dried and bleached

then rinsed and again dried  before putting them in pest free salt water to cycle. 

This 3 step process is a bit timely but IMHO well worth it.

 I like to jump start with pure ammonia but a piece of table shrimp will do nicely 

[Jimbo662]

It's pukani rock that came from BRS. I'd put it in 5g buckets with wet newspaper. It sat in the buckets for about a week and a half. I'm in an apartment with detached garage. I've already got the rocks / water in the cans so trying to do any cleaning will be a PITA at this point. I'd planned to start them in the cans while I wait for the tank to arrive then would move them into the tank once I've got it set up and let it all finish in the tank.

Also, there's only two plugs in the garage.

 

[Sascha D.]

I reused the LR from my previous tank when I started me new tank 8 months later. This is the muriatic acid method that I used to clean the rock. I gave mine one bath for one hour and dumped the yuckie water in the grass when I was done. I didn't use baking soda and the grass wasn't harmed. Good luck!

[Jimbo662]

Using acid probably isn't best here in my apartment. Who knows what it would do if I poured it out onto the driveway or down the bathtub drain. 

[Sascha D.]

There's no harm in just cycling the rock. Acid is mostly used to destroy gametes and spores. If you cycle the rock in the dark and don't feed during cycle then nearly everything will pass by the 76th day. One thing to note is that Valonia spores can outlast drying and darkness. Afterwards you can seed with a bottle product.