Not Really New But I have A Question Please Help

[peterfarhangi]

OK so I have a 210 gallon RR tank and I moved it about a month ago and I didn't have time to add all my live rock back. I messed up really bad and I'm sure its all dead because it smells really bad now. It is now spring break for me and I have time to out it back in. I was just going to slowly add it back in but I kinda want it all in now. What is the best way to do this? I have about 20 pounds in there now and its doing fine with good life and growth. I was thinking about just rinsing the rest very well and setting it out to dry for a few days then trowing it all back in. Right now I have 3 triggers, 1 tang and 1 grouper. Can advice would be great so I don't end up killing my fish. And also I heard people have used household bleach to whiten the rock before its placed back in, your thoughts on that too? Thanks guys I have another 100 pounds that needs to be added back in ASAP

-Peter

 

[PRDubois]

You will need to cook the rock if it have been out of the water to get rid of the dead stuff. Otherwise you will spike a cycle

 

[seapug]

if the rock has been kept in circulating saltwater at the proper temperature it should be fine. If it's been sitting in an empty box or stale water in your garage, it's probably completely dead and filled with rotting death. If you want to recycle it, I'd put it in a barrel of water (saltwater, circulating, 75 degrees) for a few weeks to cure it out before adding it back to the tank.

 

[ihopss]

What seapug said..

 

[peterfarhangi]

How do I cook it? Boil it? And I don't really have the time or money to re-cure it. Is there another way I could do this even if it takes months for it to become live again (in the tank)? Thanks

 

[poppybeds]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14683051#post14683051 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by peterfarhangi
How do I cook it? Boil it? And I don't really have the time or money to re-cure it. Is there another way I could do this even if it takes months for it to become live again (in the tank)? Thanks

*so* much easier to throw it in a bucket of aged saltwater with a heater and pump and cycle it back to life. If you boil it, it will never grow anything everever again.

I wouldn't recommend bleaching anything that goes back into your tank, unless you plan on soaking it in freshwater for about a month and a half to leech all the bleach out of it, all the while changing the water it's soaking in so it's not just reabsorbing it. That's a horrible idea, really.

Maybe vinegar at the worst to sanitize it, if you really never want anything to live on it.

Bite the bullet and cycle it. That'd be a horrible waste of money to ignore it now.

 

[mounts327]

Not to be a d***, but how did you not have time to place your rock in your tank? I paid $5.99/lb for my rock and I will make damn sure that it stays alive. The best thing you can do is re-cure it, which will take roughly a month. I just can't understand that if you dont have enough time to take care of rock you have enough time to take care of a 210 gal setup. If all you have is 5 days on break, I would put base rock in your tank and hope that the live rock seeds it relatively quickly.

 

[peterfarhangi]

I was moving all my stuff into a new place by myself while going to school full time and working. I got the 210 tank really cheap because it has a scratch on the black plastic molding. Its not very hard to take care of when I do it right. But as of now I put in about 20 pounds and then im gonna cure the rest in a plastic trash can with a power head and a heater. It just a lot of money in saltwater to be wasting all the time. Thanks for your help guys.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Unfortunately that's the only way to get the rock back in your tank without killing you tank inhabitance with toxic ammonia levels. Cooking (curing) it is the easiest way. It may cost some money but at least you won’t make this mistake again.

 

[jim.l]

google RC, or search if you can, for cooking rock. It refers to a process for ridding rock of contaminants like phosphate. It requires you set up the rock in a tub with heater at tank temp and circulation in salt water in the dark, doing 100% water changes periodically for a few months, I believe. I've never done it but there was a good thread covering it last year.