Adding dead corals?

[MadSkillzMan]

HI guys.

Newbie to this part...i was given a chunk of hard coral, about the size of a fist at my local LFS. The guy who gave it to me said whoever brings in his SW fish gives him BAGS of this dead coral. Its not bleeched, its pretty dirty, but claimed he was told its good for the water...though he didnt understand why. Hes not much of a SW guy

So he gave me a chunk. Now im curious to put it in my tank. Im GUESSING since corals are made up of calcium (right?) that itd probably give some off in the water and i might be as so lucky as to get alittle coraline. Or maybe it will help buffer my water?

But im afraid of stickin it in there and a day later having it clouded and screwed up!

This is not RO water, not yet atleast. All thats in there is some LR, a tomato clown, snail, and a hermit crab. 20gal btw.

BTW what will go with the tomato clown?

 

[mike4271]

If you want to use it {yes it is calcium} I would advise you boil it up in a weak bleach mixture, give it a good rinse until the bleach smell has gone and you should be fine. You can also break it up into rubble and use it in a sheltered area where the critters can live and breed in it. HTH

 

[MadSkillzMan]

Now what am trying to get rid of by bleeching it?

And would this help me get some coraline?

 

[mike4271]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7378648#post7378648 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MadSkillzMan
Now what am trying to get rid of by bleeching it?

And would this help me get some coraline?

Forget coraline for just now, it will come or it wont, wait and see. The bleaching is just to make sure you dont ad anything bad to your tank, you would be amazed what can survive on rock or coral skeletons for a substantial amount of time..


.

 

[MadSkillzMan]

Ok thanks!

Adding bad things as in organisms? or a type of bacteria? And even if its been out for years itd still be alive? Is that what backing Live Rock is the same as?

Sorry for all the Q's, just trying to learn all i can

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

You can use clorine remover to help remove the bleech. It should make a good place for bacteria to grow and turn it into Live Rock.

On another note, the PH of your tank should NEVER get low enough to dissolve the coral to release the calicum and other good chemicals into the water colum for up take by the corals. That's why people use a calicum reactor, the PH of which is lowered to 6.4 or less so that it dissolves the coral rubble in it.

 

[mike4271]

Basically you dont want to introduce anything into your tank that you dont know, its really as simple as that.

I think you mean "cooking" Live rock, and that, strange as it may seem, is nothing to do with cooking, (see, its getting confusing already )

You may not be able to search at this time, but if you want to know about it, I am sure someone will post a link to some info

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

If your going to use the dead coral, you want to clean it since you don't know for sure where it's been and you definatly don't want to add anything bad to your tank.

best bet is to soak it in a diluted soultion of clhorine bleech and water. Be sure to use pure clorene bleech, nothing with the smell good additives.

After soaking in there for a day or two, rinse well several times and soak in a solution of water and chlorine remover adding twice the normal dose. Do this several times. Let it dry well and then soak it in a small batch of SW. Then you should be good to go.

 

[MadSkillzMan]

oh wow i never knew thats how a caclium reactor worked. Thats cool! Now it makes sense, with the CO2 tank and whatnot

Alright then ill get to bleaching this thing and dumping it in. Thanks guys!

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Glad we could help.