Dry/live rock question.

[Polkman]

I have a pretty big peice of live rock and established media that I'm planning on transferring over from my 5g to a 16g.

About a month ago I pulled out a bunch of live rock from a tank I broke down and had it sit in a bucket outside. It has then been submerged in rain water for about 3 weeks. I've noticed mosquito larvae swimming around in the bucket and decided to take the rocks out and blast them with a hose. So far they have been sitting in the sun to dry.

My question is, would it be safe to introduce 2 large rocks (maybe 20lbs worth) into the established tank?

 

[rovster]

No, you should at a minimum cure them or better acid treat them then cure them in salt water.

 

[Polkman]

No, you should at a minimum cure them or better acid treat them then cure them in salt water.

Not really confident in acid soaking. How long should I let the rock soak in saltwater and power head for?

can also throw some established media in the tub if that would help expedite the process?

 

[rovster]

Is the new tank cycled and have animals? If not I suppose you could just dump it in there and cure it there. There is going to be a lot of junk and die off on that rock that will fuel all sorts of stuff for months. To me its not worth the aggravation. At the minimum I'd cure in a tank with circulating salt water and several water changes over the course of several weeks. My opinion of course.

 

[Polkman]

Is the new tank cycled and have animals? If not I suppose you could just dump it in there and cure it there. There is going to be a lot of junk and die off on that rock that will fuel all sorts of stuff for months. To me its not worth the aggravation. At the minimum I'd cure in a tank with circulating salt water and several water changes over the course of several weeks. My opinion of course.

I'm just transferring everything over from my established 5g to the 16g. It's stocked with a bunch of corals and 2 fish and a couple of inverts. I have 2 media bags from the 5g. I can throw one of the bags into a tub for the rock to cure, and have the bag to help with any ammonia from the die offs.

 

[Polkman]

I also thought that the rock submerged for 3 weeks in rain water (no salinity? Maybe?) would kill whatever was growing on the rock prior?

 

[rovster]

Yes it will kill it, but the "remains" are there. You wouldn't dump a bunch of dead shrimp in your tank right? Especially a nano. That is a resounding heck no! Don't risk it especially with corals.

 

[Polkman]

Yes it will kill it, but the "remains" are there. You wouldn't dump a bunch of dead shrimp in your tank right? Especially a nano. That is a resounding heck no! Don't risk it especially with corals.

Thanks for the info man! So yes or no on throwing established media along with the rocks?

 

[rovster]

Don't waste your time on it. Not needed. Should focus on clearing and curing the rock. No need to seed it.

 

[jonnyu]

Dry/live rock question.

I agree. If you had a 200 gallon tank one or two rocks would not kill the tank but in a 16 gallon two rocks might wipe everything out. The acid bath is not that hard. You can leave it in there till it stops bubbling or 20-30 min then toss some baking soda to neutralize the acid. Pressure clean them and then let soak in RO with power head for 24-48 hr then do 100% water change and then start testing for phosphate and dosing L..... (Can't remember the name but it binds with the phosphates so you lower it pretty quick. I think it took like a week to do the whole process.


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[Polkman]

The 2 Rock peices are sitting in a bucket of salt water at the moment. What do you test for to know if the curing process is done? Phosphates?

I'm going to look into acid washing for next time. Decided to only use about 8-10lbs of the 2 rock peices,

 

[rovster]

If you are just curing, just let it go a few weeks with circulating water and several water changes. You can use the water you take out of your current tank (that's what I did). As far as testing, you will not strip the rock of everything by just curing, but you can make it suitable for introduction to your system. You just want to make sure as much of the nasties leach out. For a full on treatment, acid wash, with curing and using Lanthanum Chloride (found at pool supplies) will strip the rocks of as much as you can get off. Properly cured and acid treated rocks will even resist algae growing on them. Aside from some brown snot and cyano, I have never seen hair algae in my tank, ever! it grows in my fuge, so its probably a combo of herbivores and really clean rock. That said, there is no substitute for fresh live rock. But given your situation, I wouldn't plunk them in the tank like that.

 

[justin82185]

I have some smaller pieces of dry rock that I could give you if you want to come down and pick it up. 5 gallon bucket worth to choose from

 

[Polkman]

I have some smaller pieces of dry rock that I could give you if you want to come down and pick it up. 5 gallon bucket worth to choose from

Thanks for the offer, but I have a bunch of recently dead liverock from a tank I broke down a month ago. I also have some liverock I could pull from my 55g, but I'm just really attached to these 2 nice peices of rock that I wanted to put into the 16.

 

[Lacy]

Depending on the size of the rocks you could put them in the 55 to cure (or maybe one at the time) and then move them over.

 

[Polkman]

So decided to test the water just to see if any die off has occurred. Tested for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, and all read 0.. Shouldn't there be at least an ammonia reading?