Cleaning Live Rock

[Doolin]

Hey guys,

A friend gave me some extra live rock he had in his tank, but he's been having a nuisance algae problem lately. Whats a good way to make sure that algae doesn't make it to my tank? Just soaking it in freshwater?

 

[kraze3]

I would scrub it all off then cook it in a seperate tank or rubbermaid.

 

[Geodriller]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14716380#post14716380 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kraze3
I would scrub it all off then cook it in a seperate tank or rubbermaid.

me too

 

[Doolin]

Thanks guys. I wasn't looking forward to cooking it but i guess i must.

 

[Doolin]

I guess I should mention that I'm not worried about keeping it live, Is there a way to just kill everything off and seed it in my tank?

 

[shaginwagon13]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14718612#post14718612 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Doolin
I guess I should mention that I'm not worried about keeping it live, Is there a way to just kill everything off and seed it in my tank?

Submerse all the rock in RO/DI water for 3-4 days. Everything will die completely, you can scrub it clean after the 4 days and put it in the tank if you want then

 

[Geodriller]

killing everything off is "cooking".

cooking can be done fast, say a couple days. It is the die-off left on it that makes it unsafe to add to an existing system. You could kill everything on it fast, and add to the tank immediatly if it was a new system.

I am guessing your tank has been up and running for at least 9 mo.. you could add a small amount of uncured rock to the system, but no more than your bio can keep up with.

 

[Doolin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14718638#post14718638 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shaginwagon13
Submerse all the rock in RO/DI water for 3-4 days. Everything will die completely, you can scrub it clean after the 4 days and put it in the tank if you want then

Now that is what I wanted to hear Thanks.

 

[Doolin]

Thanks Geodriller. I never really understood the 'cooking' process...

 

[Geodriller]

Just keep in mind, when everything on the rock dies, it stays on the rock. If you put it in your tank, it will continue to decompose in the tank and will spike amm (depending on bio-load/bio-filtration.) I would not add to much all at once. JMHO