HOW TO Clean dead live rock

[Trini_Reefer23]

Hey Everyone,
I'm new too this forum. I had a awesome healthy 72 gallon tank for about a year but I had to move and shut it down.
I have the dead rocks still and know how too clean them. A friend of mine recently shut his down and gave me all his FIJI rock for free BUT the rock has been sitting in a bucket with no heater or powerhead for a month. The rock stinks and looks in very bad shape it had CYNO on it. My question is HOW DO I CLEAN THIS ROCK AND PREP IT FOR MY TANK?!?!?!?!?!

I was think about bleaching it and baking or boiling.
any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. THANKS in advance.

 

[Aquarian]

Well you can bleach it and use it as dead rock which will eventually become live rock again or you can cure it again. personally I would bleach it in a 5:1 mixture for 24 hrs and then soak it in RO water changing water daily until the smell of chlorine is gone.

 

[kbuser92]

Listen to the man. That's some quality advice, there, that is.

 

[Sakura2282]

+1 to both.

 

[ReeferRob]

OK, I'm going to be the dissenting vote here. In almost 30 years of reef keeping I have NEVER bleached live rock, EVER. Put it in another tank in the dark, heated and keep changing the water till the smell goes away. I used to bring up 200 lbs of Keys live rock a week and if you have never smelled curing , fresh collected live rock, you don't know what you're missing, lol. The smell of curing Keys rock would make a buzzard puke, seriously. Keep the temp about 72 degrees and do EOD water changes with the largest skimmer you have on the tank. Also, the skimmer goo, it's gonna be putrid, so be prepared for that smell.

 

[Aquarian]

It's been sitting in water for over a month with no heat and no flow, it's dead rock why waste the month cycling it? Not to mention the unknown tank conditions prior to its exile to the bucket.

 

[ReeferRob]

I'd never bleach rock no matter what the condition. This is one of my many pet peeves with the new crop of reef keepers. Y'all will frag a coral, but kill live rock? Sorry, it'll never happen to rock I have. Even if it was exiled to a bucket, it's still alive, with bleach it's nothing but calcium based rock.

 

[2XAl]

Once it's abandoned to that point that smelling the bucket makes me physically ill i bleach it. Not really understanding the parallel youre drawing between fragging and bleaching (dead) live rock?

 

[noy]

Well you can bleach it and use it as dead rock which will eventually become live rock again or you can cure it again. personally I would bleach it in a 5:1 mixture for 24 hrs and then soak it in RO water changing water daily until the smell of chlorine is gone.

+1
I usually dry it out for a few days after rinsing. You can speed up the rinsing if you use prime. I would also get a chlorine test kit to make sure.

Last thing you want to find out is that the last person had the rock in a sump with grape caulerpa and now its rampant in your dt or you just inherited the last person's aiptasia problem.

 

[Goob]

I have a similar question and would like some pointers.

I've had my tank set up for a few months and my quality is fine. I have some minor spikes in nitrates, which I think were from overfeeding. I was thinking of adding more rock to my tank to help cut this down on more of a natural level.

First question: Do I have enough rock?

I only have a 20 gallon long tank and there's at least 12 pounds of live rock in the tank. After displacement between my sand and rock, there's roughly 15 gallons of actual water in my tank judging by my initial fill-up from 5 gallon buckets.

Second question: Can I use this rock?

When I had a freshwater tank, I bought this rock from the LFS. It was only in a freshwater tank and wanted to know if this is suitable. It won't really match my other rock so chances are I'll just get a few more pounds of dead rock at the LFS. If I do that, do I have to clean all of it to the extent you're speaking of above or can I just throw it in after rinsing it thoroughly?



Thanks for your help.

 

[kbuser92]

You have plenty rock, but there's room for more if you want, however, I wouldn't use that kind of lac rock. It won't be beneficial and I believe it can leach out all kinds of crap, including silicates.

 

[Aquarian]

Kyle is right it will leach out silicates and phosphates. It also is not pourus enough to house the bacteria the way LR will. And to answer your question. If you buy some base rock to add to your system just rinse it in RO water before you place it in your tank. If you are buying cured LR just place it in your tank.

 

[noy]

You have plenty rock, but there's room for more if you want, however, I wouldn't use that kind of lac rock. It won't be beneficial and I believe it can leach out all kinds of crap, including silicates.

+1

 

[Goob]

Thank you

 

[Washburn82]

Not really on this specific topic but you can also soak the rock in club soda to leach out any unwanted hitch hikers. Since club soda is basically just water and carbon dioxide you'll see hitch hikers flee from that rock almost immediately. I never would have believed it until I had seen it done. Just be ready to net out the hitch hikers you want though. After that it is safe to place in your tank. Won't really clean it just an extra tip. :thumbsup: