How do you put the 'live' in 'live rock'??

[lanman]

I have some rock I just purchased. Only a little - maybe 250 pounds!! It has been sitting in tubs in a basement, about half-covered with tank water for maybe 6 months. No water movement, heat, or light. Doesn't look like any of it got completely dry - porous rock sucking up water from below.

 

How do you suggest I go about restoring this rock to usable condition??

 

Most of it is Fiji rock; a couple of pieces look like 'manufactured' rock (aragonite and cement).

 

 

bob

Edited December 17, 2007 by lanman

[Guest D.Randle]

depends on what you're doing.... If you're setting up a completely new tank, I'd just dump it in and let it cycle....

After a few weeks / months of being in a setup, it'll start to regain life..

 

hth

Edited December 17, 2007 by D.Randle

[lanman]

depends on what you're doing.... If you're setting up a completely new tank, I'd just dump it in and let it cycle....

After a few weeks / months of being in a setup, it'll start to regain life..

 

hth

 

My tank is running just fine - don't want to take a chance on spiking ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, etc. I have a spare 45-gallon tank, and a spare 40-gallon tank; but no spare skimmers... Well - there is a SeaClone; but that's barely a skimmer.

 

bob

[Guest D.Randle]

My tank is running just fine - don't want to take a chance on spiking ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, etc. I have a spare 45-gallon tank, and a spare 40-gallon tank; but no spare skimmers... Well - there is a SeaClone; but that's barely a skimmer.

 

bob

 

Oh okay. Gotcha.. Just read your build log..... Good stuff..

What I did when I was building my 260 was take my water change water and add to the 100g tubs that was keeping my spare rock.. I did this for about a month or so but - I also had a coralife superskimmer and a mag pump keeping the water circulating as well as a light. After about 2 months, I started slowly adding the rock to my main setup (and sump).. I think the best course of action would be get some water circulating and do a few water changes over the next month or two....

[lanman]

Oh okay. Gotcha.. Just read your build log..... Good stuff..

What I did when I was building my 260 was take my water change water and add to the 100g tubs that was keeping my spare rock.. I did this for about a month or so but - I also had a coralife superskimmer and a mag pump keeping the water circulating as well as a light. After about 2 months, I started slowly adding the rock to my main setup (and sump).. I think the best course of action would be get some water circulating and do a few water changes over the next month or two....

 

Pretty close to my original plan - rinse the rock well in water change water; maybe a little scrubbing of the ugly spots. Then fill the 45 up with rock, add water change water, heater, powerhead; and maybe a light of some sort. Water changes when I do water changes - drop in a few bristleworms. Then after a month or so, start putting the nicest pieces into the 240, one at a time. I bought it because there are some really nice pieces.

 

bob

[steveoutlaw]

Bob - You'd be surprised at how well a seaclone can work. Do a google search for "seaclone mods" and there are a few little upgrades you can make to it.

[lanman]

Bob - You'd be surprised at how well a seaclone can work. Do a google search for "seaclone mods" and there are a few little upgrades you can make to it.

 

It's a SeaClone 150, so at least it's not the nano version I had before.

 

I got a TON of junk from this guy... going to take me a few days to sort through it all. A 20-gallon tank set up as a sump, a 40-gallon tank and stand (rough stand). A 72" 4x96@ PC light. His wife just wanted it all GONE!! Even the 5 rubbermaid tubs along with the rock, and the bigger tub with 150 pounds on sand in it. And all I really wanted was the rock

 

Any more suggestions on cycling this rock??

 

bob

[davelin315]

No circulation? Just treat it like dead rock and start over. I have no idea what being in stagnant water will do to rock... does it smell or does it have a "fresh" smell (at least to a reefer!)? If it stinks, I would assume that it has no aerobic bacteria in it and has to be colonized. If this was outside, I would say that it's probably in better shape, but it was in a dark basement, so it probably is more or less dead. Do you see any life in it by any chance? That's a good indicator of how ready it is for introduction. Your plan sounds OK to me, by the way. There is bacteria in the air to colonize it, though, so you really don't need to add anything to it from your tank, but this will certainly save money.

 

One other possible test is to get your circulation going and dump some ammonia in there. See what happens to it after a couple of days and you'll know if you have aerobic bacteria in the tank.

[johnnybv]

Bob, get it in a tanked enviornment ie heated, skimmed and even some light will help. Then add a few pieces of true "live" rock to help seed the dead stuff. Let it cook for a few weeks or longer, you should then have lots of life throughout.

john

[lanman]

Thanks for all the suggestions - I'm about due for my first water change in the 240... I don't even HAVE a 25-gallon bucket to put it in! Going to have to use one of the tanks, anyhow - might as well put the rock in it!

 

It doesn't smell as bad as I had expected, even though I know a lot of stuff died; one rock has 'slime' all over it - don't want to think about what that used to be; probably GSP or something. I'll rinse it off well before I even try to start cooking it. Among the 'stuff' I got from this guy was 3-4 tank heaters, some kind of a little light, a big light, the seaclone skimmer, and a Fluval 404 (plus a broken 404 for parts). I ought to be able to rig something up. Good stuff - I got two SEIO powerheads - one of them is brand new. I can not only move the water in that 45, I can CHURN it!

 

bob

[lanman]

Here is what I have set up now for trying to liven up that probably dead 'live rock':

 

Do you think these 'stains' will ever go away? The bottom half was under water - the top half was out of the water in the rubbermaid container:

 

This rock was in better shape than I had anticipated - really very clean. This is about half of what I picked up. One of the remaining tubs is kind of gross looking - lots of dead stuff - but otherwise the rock is nice and clean. I put this system together completely with items I have been given, or that came with the purchase of the rock (his wife said 'everything must go'). The 45-gallon tank came from my daughter-in-law (someone heard I was doing aquariums and gave it to her out of their basement). There are three 20-watt aquarium lights, a Seio powerhead, heater, and that SeaClone skimmer actually WORKS! I figure I'll do water changes with my water-change water from my more lively tanks. I'd bet after a week, I can put one or two pieces in the 'live' tanks to speed up the process.

 

Any further suggestions?

 

bob

[lancer99]

Keep an eye on your skimmer! I'm cycling a mixture of Marco rocks and Fiji, and have to empty the skimmer cup 2-3 x per day.

 

-R

[lanman]

Keep an eye on your skimmer! I'm cycling a mixture of Marco rocks and Fiji, and have to empty the skimmer cup 2-3 x per day.

 

-R

I doubt I could get a full cup a day of skimmate out of this little skimmer if I poured organic waste straight into the tank. But I'm watching it. But it IS at least pulling some stuff out of the water!

 

bob