Dead Or Alive?

[vinny]

I have about 150lbs. of what used to be live rock that was set up in my 120 make a long store short I kept the rock in a rubber maid tub with a small pump circulating the water but its ben in there for about 3 years and I know thats a long time but i redid the basement and then considered to sell everything.But know I want to set it up and ask you guys if this rock is any good.Someone told me to dry it out in the sun and rinse it and use it as baserock what do you think.

 

[Greg Hiller]

I'd agree, it's just base rock now. I don't think it's likely to make much difference if you dry it out or not.

 

[vinny]

Greg so you think I can just drop this rock in my tank and not worry about anything happening to my water, thanks .

 

[Jocko]

It's going into a new tank, right?

 

[Reefdweller]

I recently used Florida Rock that I purchased in 1995 to start my 80g tank. The rock was sitting in a rubbermaid tub in my garage and outdoors for many years. It was dry most of the time but had rain water in it for some time. It is now in my 80g for 9 months and is very nicely covered with coralline algea thanks to seeding the tank with Garf grunge.

My only concern with your rock is that if it's been in water for a long time, it could have undesirable algea or other organisms on it which will either proliferate once you place them in salt water or dye off. In either case, you don't want this. My suggestion is to clean off the rock with a water/clorox mixture (1 cup/5 gallons) or boil the rock. In either case, you will need to reseed the rock with beneficial organisms once you sterilize it. You can do as I did with Garf grnge (www.garf.org) or use live sand, but in either case it will take some time before the live rock will become a live again. It will take some time, but its worth it.

Best if luck!

 

[~Flighty~]

I would just wonder about it being contaminated with something. Have you had your house treated for insects? Any mice fall into the rubermaid? any sprays or soaps around that area? Other than that, if it was me, I would soak it in some fresh water over night and spray it off really well in the morning and use it if it didn't smell funky.

 

[Jim Tansey]

I would bleach it for a couple of days, soak it in a tub with some flow for a couple of days, sit it in the sun for a week and use it for dry rock.

Jim

 

[merk1_99]

I have done it two ways:
Let it all sit in salt water in darkness for 6-8 weeks changing some water every week after a month. Set it up with no problems.

And then I have set it up just throwing the rock straight in the tank adding water, a month and a cycle later add fish and inverts.

Same result each time extremely healthy diverse tank. Only some cyno/hair algae in months 4-5-6 of the tank then its gone. But that is to be expected. Keep in mind I keep a light bioload fish wise. The diversity I have in my rock in sand is just as abundant if not more so than when I first bought the rock 12-13 yrs ago.

 

[Greg Hiller]

I think if it has not contacted anything nasty (as per Flightys comments) it should be fine to go into your tan. I'd try not to ship any of the water it's in since the water might have a lot of dissolved nutrients. You might give it a brief swirl in some tank water outside the tank before adding it to your tank.

 

[vinny]

This rock has ben in the barrel for a long time with a cover over it and a pump it never ben sprayed or gased in the house my concern is that at the time when it was running the nitrates were very high i'm worried that it might still be in the rock.