Advice with reviving old dead rock

[jwheeler]

I've read all kinds of threads and still confused. I've got some about 10 years old rock that I had in a nano cube. I want to get back in hobby and use this rock. I got it out and there was some yucky green and brown dead stuff on it. I used a power washer and blew tons of little stuff all off of it. I now have it sitting in a tub of water in dark. Just plain well water for now

My question is what do I do next to get it good and clean? Do I need to soak it in bleach or just keep rinsing it off for a few days?
What should I do after it's clean to get a cycle going? Start using saltwater and a heater and RO/DI water and get a piece of live rock to mix with it?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Pslreefer]

Advice with reviving old dead rock

Soak it in bleach for a day or 2, then soak in rodi water for 2 days, then dried out in the sun and should be good.

Use some seafood from your grocery store to get a cycle going.

 

[billdogg]

If it were mine, I would have done as you have. IMHO, it's ready now for a little ghost feeding to get it to cycling. You need to use salt water, but I would skip the bleach/acid/etc. Any little bit of stuff left on it will just add to the start of the nitrogen cycle.

 

[jwheeler]

If it were mine, I would have done as you have. IMHO, it's ready now for a little ghost feeding to get it to cycling. You need to use salt water, but I would skip the bleach/acid/etc. Any little bit of stuff left on it will just add to the start of the nitrogen cycle.

Keep it in the dark, or move it to tank?

What do you mean by ghost feeding?

 

[mcgyvr]

Im with billdog..
Just put it in the tank and start the cycle by adding a shrimp to decompose or just sprinkle fish food in for a week or so or whatever your preferred cycling method is.
A powerwash is all I do with my old rock when I want to use it again.. Then just start the cycle

 

[billdogg]

Like mcgyvr said, I'd just arrange it in the tank, add sand, and start the cycle going. Lights on or lights off. The cycle will happen regardless. With lights on, you will get a bit of a head start on the inevitable "new tank uglies" - cyanobacteria, diatoms, etc that all new tanks go through.

Ghost feeding is just putting a little bit of a food source (a pinch of flakes/cocktail shrimp/whatever) in with the rocks so there is something for the bacteria to feed off of. And yes, the denitrifying bacteria will be there regardless of whether you choose to add "bacteria in a bottle", a cup of live sand, a piece of "live" rock from your LFS, etc or not.

 

[jwheeler]

Thanks for the help. Should I even mess with getting a new piece of LR from LFS or just roll with what I have?

 

[mcgyvr]

Thanks for the help. Should I even mess with getting a new piece of LR from LFS or just roll with what I have?

There is no "need" to seed with live rock..

Having said that..
The only time it can hurt though is if it was to bring in some unwanted hitchhiker which many people make out to be more of a problem than it really is..
It could help to speed up the cycling process some..