• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

Mistreated live rock

Tazmaniancowboy

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I have some live rock that is probably dead rock by now. It was excess when I had my 120 set up. I put it in a rubbermaid bin with saltwater and a tight lid and had it in the basement for probably 2 years. when I moved it was put outside in the shade for 2 months( forgot about it). I looked in the container the other day and there has been virtually no evaporation, the water is clear and does not smell. What should I do with it? I have to cure some Marco rock, should I doo it together?

Taz
 
D

DaveK

By now, except for some bacteria, the rock can be considered dead. However, it's still quite usable. Use it as base rock, and add a piece or two of new LR to seed it, and in 6 months or so, the old rock will repopulate just fine.
 
D

DaveK

Most likely it could go rignt in your tank and never cause a problem.

Just to be sure I'd run it through the curing process. Change the water, and run a powerhead in the bucket for a few days and make sure there is no ammonia spike.
 
S

sean_nj

Tazmaniancowboy said:
Do you think it is safe to put in right away or do I have to cure it under the right conditions?

Taz
Click to expand...

You'd better to cure the rocks under the right conditions.

Sean
 
Brizjuan

Brizjuan

IMHO I would deffinitely cure the rock under the right conditions... Its better to be safe than sorry... i would whip up a fresh batch of SW and cure it in the rubbermaid... Couple more weeks of patience avoids headaches later down the line..

Brian
 
D

Danw

I would def cure the rock and not just throw it in and risk the chance of crashing your tank. you could mix up new saltwater and let it sit in there with a powerhead and even if you wanted to you could let it sit out in the sun for a couple days and dry up and then put it in the fresh SW mix for a couple weeks and then slowly add it to the tank, I wouldnt pick it all in at once.
 
C

chaoscat

Sounds to me like you just cooked your rock....for a loooong time. Ain't no algae on those rocks. :D

If that rock has been sitting submerged in water for 2 years and you opened the lid and you have clear water and no odor?

I'd say it's extremely unlikely there's anything left on the rock to cure. The whole point of curing rock is to get rid of decaying organic matter. If you'd taken it out and left it to sit dry, yes it would need to be cured. But, leaving it in the water, anything on it that could decay has long since done so.

Rinse it off good with fresh water and stick it in.

My opinion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top