Old live rock should it be boiled ??

[diverrk]

I have a oice of some old live rock I have left outside on me deck for a couple of months. Now I want to use it in my refugium. I'm figuring on just boiling it to make sure it's clean to reuse.

 

[calaxa]

Probably not necessary. It's been subjected to cold temps, hypo, etc. Give it a good scrubbing. It's probably dead rock at this point.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I would be a little reluctant putting old “live” rock directly into a tank or refugium. What if you still have dead remains trapped in the rock. I would be more inclined to put the rock into it’s own tank for a period of time and measure water parameters on occasion. Once I see it’s not putting out “nasties” then I put it in the tank/refugium.

 

[diverrk]

I would be a little reluctant putting old “live” rock directly into a tank or refugium. What if you still have dead remains trapped in the rock. I would be more inclined to put the rock into it’s own tank for a period of time and measure water parameters on occasion. Once I see it’s not putting out “nasties” then I put it in the tank/refugium.

I agree, thats the reason I am considering boiling it .

 

[redfishbluefish]

Yea, but boiling the rock only makes sure it’s double dead ???.  If there are any critters in the rock, it could cause for a nitrate/nitrite spike in the tank as it decomposes.  Realize, I know what I’m talking about; I speak with great ignorance; it’s my specialty!

I would still boil the rock, but "cycle" it first in a seperate tank.

 

[stcreef]

No need to boil....

Use some 10:1 water to chlorine. Let it sit in that for a week. (this will break down a lot of the organics that boiling wont. Then let it sit out for about a week and dry, this will allow the chlorine to gas off. Then rinse off and use 10:1 water and vinegar. Let sit for a week, this will break down any other nasty's, then rinse. Then I would let it sit in ro water for a week. Change out the water at about the half way point. Walla nice clean rock with no organics or anything.

 

[ken6217]

No need to boil....

Use some 10:1 water to chlorine. Let it sit in that for a week. (this will break down a lot of the organics that boiling wont. Then let it sit out for about a week and dry, this will allow the chlorine to gas off. Then rinse off and use 10:1 water and vinegar. Let sit for a week, this will break down any other nasty's, then rinse. Then I would let it sit in ro water for a week. Change out the water at about the half way point. Walla nice clean rock with no organics or anything.

That must be some piece of kick a$$ piece of rock to go through all of that.
Ken

 

[diverrk]

No need to boil....

Use some 10:1 water to chlorine. Let it sit in that for a week. (this will break down a lot of the organics that boiling wont. Then let it sit out for about a week and dry, this will allow the chlorine to gas off. Then rinse off and use 10:1 water and vinegar. Let sit for a week, this will break down any other nasty's, then rinse. Then I would let it sit in ro water for a week. Change out the water at about the half way point. Walla nice clean rock with no organics or anything.

Thanks for the info, sounds like the right way to do it but, that is too much work for only a couple of pounds. I'll just hit up a member online for some rubble when I'm ready ;D

 

[mikem]

You can also put a piece of rock in the sump at a time to make sure your spikes are small enough to do a small water change if needed.

 

[BobCReef]

Personally unless there was something unwanted on the rock that you wanted to get rid of i would not go through all of that. I would just cure in a separate container just like it was raw live rock. Plain and simple.

 

[stcreef]

Unfortunately when I did that recipe, I had acquired 200 lbs of rock from a breakdown that had an extremely bad algae bloom from neglect. I am certain much of the bloom was bryopsis. There was no way it was going in my tank with the unknowns. Its now been in my tank for almost a year. Its covered in coralline and havent had any issues with it. Some simple household chemicals can give you pretty good insurance against the unknowns.

You could also just do a muriatic acid dip and achieve the same result. But the above is much safer.