Safe yet?

[dartmti]

Hi

About a month ago I purchased around 13 lbs of "dead" or "dried" live rock, boiled it, and set it in a bucket of saltwater at room temperature to cure.

The water tests have all been reading zero for a couple of weeks, but I left the rock in the bucket just to be sure.

Is this rock safe to put into my tank yet?

Thanks

-Matt

 

[kraze3]

Is the tank already up and running? If so what is in it and how long has it been running?

 

[dartmti]

Yes, the tank has been running since January with a two ocellaris clowns, a head of xenia, and some hermit crabs and snails for the clean up crew.

 

[kraze3]

The rock should be ok. To be on the safe side you may want to add half now, monitor params for a week then add the other half. Have some newly made saltwater for a water change just in case you see any kind of a spike.

 

[dartmti]

Thanks! Thats a good idea.

I appreciate the help.

 

[jon1985]

Correct me if Im wring but id it was dead rock why would it cycle? Im in the process of getting all my wrong and was under the impression that dead rock could just be added anytime.

 

[dartmti]

Hi Jon,

You still have to cure the rock even if it is dead. The idea is usually more to seed the rock with the beneficial bacteria found in established live rock so it can aid in biological filtration than to actually cure or cycle it.

However, there is always (and usually) a possibility of leftover "stuff" that can die off and cause an ammonia spike.

In the first few weeks of curing my rock, I saw some relatively large ammonia and nitrite spikes that would have been detrimental to my established tank.

-Matt