Curing "live rock" that was in fresh water

[sean112280]

I have just acquired a 8gal BioCube from a buddy. He used to have it as salt but has been running it as freshwater. I took it and added saltwater to it, and have it running. What do I need to do to get the rock to be live again. it is in there in heated flowing water. What do I need to do to cure the rock?


Thanks for the help.

 

[neilanh]

It's probably pretty well cured at this point, but it's not "live" anymore. It will become live once you cycle the tank with the rock in there.

 

[Gti_Leo]

just get a few pieces of live rubble and put it in, eventually the rock will become all live again

 

[sean112280]

cycle the tank how? do i have to use shrimp or is there another way. I like the live rubble idea.

 

[Gti_Leo]

cycling the tank means let it run with nothing but the rock and sand or other substate in it.

 

[neilanh]

Technically cycling means adding an ammonia source and building up the bacteria required to run the full rings of the nitrogen cycle.

Yes, you need an ammonia source. Raw shrimp or pure ammonia are the preferred methods. There's a link in my signature about fishless cycling, have a read at that.

 

[sean112280]

thanks guys