what to do with dry rock

[anemoneguy]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------i posted this in reef chem forum, may belong here? But anyway...----

I have a 60 cube im setting up. made a rock wall and will have a 6inch sand bed. i also took my rock (dry) and epoxied together three sections that fit well together and will look really cool and be very stable. what i didnt think about was should i have boiled my rock for any reason or should i soak in something in the bath tub b4 i put it in my tank and add water?

 

[glubbock]

I would just run the tank with some RO for a week or so, then empty and fill salt water

 

[Chris27]

I would just give the rock a rinse with some tap water to remove any dirt.

 

[Newreeflady]

There is a thread going in the chemistry forum (I think it's called something like Eco-rock or Marco rock cycling."

It seems they are recommending either running a good 6 week cycling period out of the tank (assuming you have inhabitants.) Or, perhaps a bleach soak followed by an acid soak (you'd likely want to follow this with a good hose down and then running some pumps in a sequence of clean water vats to get the residual bleach out.)

I've got some dry rock I bought and am going through the same questions in my head. If yours was pulled from a tank and dried, though, you'll probably see a cycle with it from all of the dead material on it.

-A

 

[alovely]

Wash it out and like others have said if you plan on putting it in w/ other creatures I would let it cycle in its own tank maybe a bath tub. I too am doing a similar project except my tank is a 55 hex and I had it looking nice tested it and the wall floated. I was even doing a 6" sand bed like you but since it is floating had to cut it down to 3 1/2" for more weight. Defiantly test your wall to see if it will float or not.

 

[tmz]

I've used the brs dry rock after a freshwater soak for a few days. Nice selection of sizes and shapes. Unfortunately, lots of macroalgae grew on it even in a low nutrient system. It took months for it to stop. If I use it again, I'll go the bleach /rinse,acid bath/rinse route.

 

[tank o tang]

Drop it in a rubbermaid tote with saltwater, a heater and a pump. Throw in some fish food and wait for it to cycle then add it to your tank. If your tank itself isn't setup/cycled then just throw it in the tank and it will be part of the cycle.

 

[holdendaniel]

can you do that with ANY rock (go to driveway cause the rock looks good and cure it?)

 

[Allmost]

when I started my new tank, I went with 50 lbs of live rock and 50 lbs of dry

didnt do anything. just cycled them all together took about a week

SPS tank is doing excellent now 6 months passed./

 

[Allmost]

can you do that with ANY rock (go to driveway cause the rock looks good and cure it?)

well you COULD, as long as the rock doesnt leack out metals and such.

also, rocks that weight alot or dont have much pores and opening are capable of less biological filteration abilities.

you can buy ecorocks for prety cheap though.