Old, Dried out live rock

[lsmizay]

I just got some base rock from a friend. Some pieces where stored in his garage in an old tank. The others were stored in a covered bucket of saltwater in the garage. The ones in the bucket sat on his porch for about 2 weeks while he was cleaning his garage. Somehow the top went missing during this time and algae grew on the rock. There wasn't much algea and I was able to scrub most of it off after I boiled the rock. I am wondering if I should attempt to seed the "bucket" rock with live rock or just trash it and start again with new base rock?

 

[atte]

I think you would be fine using it as base rock. It will turn into live rock eventually, as you stated.

 

[jft]

give it a few good washes in saltwater then use with good carbon filtration it should be fine and seed with some new rock to get it going again

 

[thominil]

Just scrub it down with fresh or saltwater and stick it either in a bucket or a rubbermaid container filled with saltwater for a few weeks. This should cure it and make it become live rock. The dead things on the rock will provide an ammonia source. DO NOT stick it into your main tank until you have cured it or it will cause problems with you parameters.

 

[cmor1701d]

I would also run a copper test on the rock to make sure it was not in a tank that was dosed.