Re using your rock

[dpulve]

I want to use my rock that I have carried around for the last couple years waiting on my "final" setup (hopefully) which is to start over the next couple of months. The rock was in an established tank that when it was torn down I just basically rinsed it off and stored it.

My question is how intensive to I have to clean it? Bleach bath or maybe just a rinse ? I wouldn't think i would have to do the bake out thing ive read about but I'm not sure if my rinse and go is enough?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[CStrickland]

There's 2 issues: dead organic matter, and bound phosphate.

All the dead sponge and worm carcasses that remain in the rock will create ammonia when it gets wet again, and be gross. A little bit will help cycle your tank as the bacteria eat the ammonia.

If the old tank had a lot of phos, it is still bound to the rocks carbon structure. When it goes into less phosy water, it will leach out until the levels in the rock and water match. That can fertilize algae for the first year.

Once the rock is in sw for a week you'll know what your dealing with. In my tank I'm doing the aquascape dry because it's much easier. I plan to test the water after a week to see if anything is coming out of the rocks, if not I'll add sand and be on my way. If I knew that they had a lot of dead stuff, or phosphates, I would dip them in acid as it's much quicker. Acid melts off the outer layer of rock, and anything nasty on it. Bleach just takes apart dead stuff, so no benefit for phos. I've also heard of people renting a power washer from Home Depot to blast dead stuff out of the nooks so there's less to rot.

 

[dpulve]

Thanks for the info,,, Il check out acid washing

 

[CStrickland]

This would be a good place to start http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1914426

Also, I should've mentioned that there are ways to reduce the phos in the water in order to speed up the leaching. Gfo is common and easy but can get expensive, lanthanum chloride is another thing to research. I'll be using LC on my rock if necessary, you drip it into the water and it chrystalizes the phos, which you then catch in a filter or such. It's much better to do before you stock the tank though, so it fits my wait and see plan well. If my rock leaches, I'll drip LC into the water, then the rocks will release more phos into the clean water, repeat until the rock is empty, then stock the tank. A week of that is supposed to save a year of algae, so seems worth doing, and during that time the tank is cycling too so two birds with one stone.
Good luck!