Do you really need to cure old dried out liverock before reusing in a new tank?

[greg683x]

This may seem like a stupid question, but I read a ton about how when youre going to reuse old live rocks (that you have since dried out and stored away somewhere) that you need to cure these rocks before you can use them again. That makes sense if youre planning to put them into an already cycled display tank.

But if youre pulling these rocks out of storage is it really necessary to cycle these rocks before then cycling your main tank? Cant you just put them right into the display and have them assist in cycling your new tank?? What would be the draw back to doing this if you have no livestock or anything in the tank and are monitoring the nutrient levels like you would in a normal cycle?

 

[GMay]

The real problem is they have lots of dead material in the rock. If you just put in a tank with water all that material will leach into the tank and result in a large amount of nitrogen and phosphorous. The end result is a perfect opportunity for algae to grow. That is why you see people recommending that old rock be acid washed, which helps to get rid of the organic dead material in the rock.

Better to clean it well first to remove as much of the organic matter as you can then a good water wash before you use it.

 

[greg683x]

well if I happened to have added this rock to my tank and didnt do the best job as far as prepping it, does it mean my tanks doomed?? Ive had the rock in there for over a month now, the tank has gone through the entire nitrogen cycle and ive done my first water change about a week ago.

right now all my readings are normal, ammonia at 0, nitrite at 0, nitrates are between 5 and 10. My phosphates read at .25. Everything seems to be normal, I do have diatoms showing up everywhere, all over the rock and sand. But i know thats normal for the most part. Ive seen it in other tanks that Ive ran, it dies off over the next few months. So Im wondering if I dodged a bullet or if Im still not out of the woods yet.

Pretty bad oversite on my part, im usually pretty thorough

 

[jminick2]

you absolutely need to cure the rock. I had my largest ammonia spike ever using dried tonga rock from BRS... All of the stuff inside caused a huge ammonia spike anything alive in my tank would of been dead.


if its been a month and readings are 0 then you should be fine there may not of been enough dead stuff to cause serious damage.

 

[greg683x]

its been a month, when the tank cycled I used a piece of raw shrimp to kick start it all.

its gonna be another two to three weeks before I add the fish that are currently in QT, so I would think if something was gonna happen it would have already happened or would happen in these next couple weeks

 

[jminick2]

its been a month, when the tank cycled I used a piece of raw shrimp to kick start it all.

its gonna be another two to three weeks before I add the fish that are currently in QT, so I would think if something was gonna happen it would have already happened or would happen in these next couple weeks

I agree

 

[kmbyrnes]

If you were using 'old' rock to start a new tank, then all the organics will have decayed during the initial cycle. If that is completed, you should be fine.
I recently used rocks that had been outside for 2+ years to start a new tank with no issues.

 

[ca1ore]

You don't have to cure it, but a good washing is important. I recently 'recovered' about 50 lb. of rock from the woods behind my house. while any organics from the prior reef tank were long decayed, weeds and roots had penetrated the rock and needed to be removed.

 

[scooter31707]

I just took my pressure washer and gave them a very good rinse. Haven't had any problems with phosphate or decay coming off of them for a year now.

 

[gone fishin]

FWIW when I set my tank back up after my move the rock had been in totes dry for about 6 months. I gave it a good rinse and into the tank it went. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.