Prepping Old Live Rock

[roswaldreef]

I'm not really new to the hobby, but I've been out of it for a few years and I'm looking to start my tank back up. I have a good size 40gal tub full of nice rock that used to be live rock that I was hoping to reuse.

Do I need to do anything to rock that has been out of water for a few years prior to putting it in a new tank? Bleach or clean it somehow? Or is everything gone at this point and I can toss it in the tank?

It will be a new tank set up, so I'm planning to grab some new aragonite sand for the base, put the rock in, fill it with water, and let it cycle. I'm planning to add a good amount of new live rock to hopefully kick the old rock back into action, but I don't want to start with an unhealthy tank if the the old rock is going to be a problem.

75G tank, I'll probably add about 15 or 20lbs of new rock 100 lbs of the old. Once it cycles, I'll be starting with a FOWLR until I get some good growth and have a healthy tank.

Any issues using old dead rock that used to be "live rock"?

 

[thegrun]

I would first bleach it for a few days, then soak it in fresh water (changing the water daily) for a week. Then blast it off with a hose to remove as much of the dried on organics as possible before adding it to your tank.

 

[downbeach]

I would etch it too, in a solution of vinegar and water @ 2pts water to 1 pt vinegar.

 

[whitemarlin]

as said above do a acid bath first then do a bleach bath. the acid will remove any po4 traped in the rock and the bleach will remove the organtics.

 

[oakengineer]

Sorry to revive this very dead thread, but I'm just about to start doing the same thing. When soaking/bleaching rock like this, do you use RODI water, or is plain old tap water OK?

 

[Wright6568]

When bleaching and vinegar bath plain water is alright. When you let it dry out in the sun for a couple days I bring it inside and rinse or soak in RO/DI water with prime. Also make sure you can't smell any bleach. If you do let it dry out in direct sunlight until the bleach smell is gone. That's how I do it but others will do it different.