reviving old rock
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sir_dudeguy
Active member
no it wont act like a nitrate source at all! 
Great to use as base rock, and will become live again once you put it in with some other rock that is currently live.
The only thing i'd do is give it a good wash first, just to get anything that might be dead on it off.
Will this be for a new tank? if so, put this rock in, and then put some new live rock on top of it. That will seed it (the critters will jump over to the rock) and it will be live rock eventually.
Great to use as base rock, and will become live again once you put it in with some other rock that is currently live.The only thing i'd do is give it a good wash first, just to get anything that might be dead on it off.
Will this be for a new tank? if so, put this rock in, and then put some new live rock on top of it. That will seed it (the critters will jump over to the rock) and it will be live rock eventually.
stereomandan
Premium Member
Most likely, it will leach out nitrates due to the die off in the rock. I had rock that was in a very nutrient rich tank and when I upgraded the lighting, it had hair algae like you wouldn't believe. After a few times of scrubbing, the HA was gone for good, but it took some work. The rock is great now.
Dan
Dan
Yes, you can recycle your rock. It depends on how much you have on how I would reintroduce it to a tank. I would put it in a container (5 gallon bucket, small trash can..) with salt water and soak for a week with a powerhead. Change the water every week for a month, and check for sediment/junk coming out or off of the rock. If you currently have a tank, you can do small water changes, and use the old water to do this.
sir_dudeguy
Active member
Why soak it for a month in saltwater? Why not just clean it really good w/freshwater just to get off any die off or other dead stuff?
Having it in a seperate bin or whatever wont really do anything will it? i mean ya, it'll get some stuff off...but so will just freshwater wont it?
Theres not going to be any beneficial...anything on it right now...so just rinsing/scrubbing in freshwater isnt going to harm it in any way. Its not gonna get the new bacteria growth on it till theres some sort of bioload and other bacteria to cause the new stuff to grow, so why not just clean it and put it in w/the new live rock? that way your bacteria and critters will start spreading to the new rock sooner.
Konadog,
I'm not saying that your way is wrong in any way, and it cant hurt anything for sure...but i'm just thinking that soaking it for a week in saltwater might be un-needed and wont do anything other than get stuff off, at which point so does just washing it really good.
Maybe another way to do it would be to rinse it off really good...put it in a bucket of freshwater w/a powerhead and let it set for a night...then look at the water and see if its dirty or not...if it is, then dump it out and rinse the rock again really good. Wait another night and i'd think it would be clean with no crud on it. Surely that would work???
Having it in a seperate bin or whatever wont really do anything will it? i mean ya, it'll get some stuff off...but so will just freshwater wont it?
Theres not going to be any beneficial...anything on it right now...so just rinsing/scrubbing in freshwater isnt going to harm it in any way. Its not gonna get the new bacteria growth on it till theres some sort of bioload and other bacteria to cause the new stuff to grow, so why not just clean it and put it in w/the new live rock? that way your bacteria and critters will start spreading to the new rock sooner.
Konadog,
I'm not saying that your way is wrong in any way, and it cant hurt anything for sure...but i'm just thinking that soaking it for a week in saltwater might be un-needed and wont do anything other than get stuff off, at which point so does just washing it really good.
Maybe another way to do it would be to rinse it off really good...put it in a bucket of freshwater w/a powerhead and let it set for a night...then look at the water and see if its dirty or not...if it is, then dump it out and rinse the rock again really good. Wait another night and i'd think it would be clean with no crud on it. Surely that would work???
What I've done is (depending on how much rock you've got) put the rock in boiling water with a good dousing of vinegar. The vinegar dissolves the outer layers of the calcium carbonate rock and releases whatever nutrients have been incorporated into the very outer layer through dissolution and precipitation over the years. Think of it as the equivalent of sanding down wood.
sir_dudeguy
Active member
yes thats also a very good idea imo. I completely forgot about the boiling method
sir_dudeguy, no problem. There are many ways to accomplish what needs to be done. I was thinking of cleaning and seeding the rock at the same time. Either way, it will take time to release the stuff that is deep down in the rock. There is no quick fix, only time.
