rock dead or alive

[frank the knife]

HI, a friend of mine shut down his tank about a year ago, the tank has been sitting with no power or no lighting. Is the rock that has been soaking in this water useable, the water does not stink and there is no alge growth on the rock, If I put the rock in some fresh saltwater with a power head and a heater and no light for 30 days will it be ok to use in a new tank.

 

[the_elvish_misfit]

Just rinse it good, if it was made for a fish tank, it shouldn't be unusable.

 

[GhostKnife]

It will be dead or considered "dry". It will not provide any beneficial bacteria thus not being a good filter. You could use it a little for base rock. I would suggest not doing so. I would suggest getting live rock. If you do use it put it all in a large waste can with a powerhead on it for a couple to few weeks. Then you can use it however like I said it will not play any beneficial role in your aquarium whatsoever.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Just treat it as "dead" rock, and you'll be just fine using it. Cycle it as you would normally and at the end of the cycle your dead rock will be live again!

 

[ezy33]

IMO I would dry it in the sun for a week or two. Then add 10 to 25% cured live rock, in 3 to 6 months it will all be alive.

 

[roka64]

Merged threads. Please only post once on the same topic, it helps to keep the forum cleaner.

 

[GhostKnife]

Just treat it as "dead" rock, and you'll be just fine using it. Cycle it as you would normally and at the end of the cycle your dead rock will be live again!

I have to disagree. Just "curing" the live rock however you want to go about doing it will not do anything. If the rock is dead living organisms/bacteria can not and will not just present themselves. If you take this dry rock and put it in a tank with live rock, living bacteria and other small organisms will attach to the rock and grow on it. However it will never be live rock that we refer to as coming straight from the ocean.

 

[roka64]

I have to agree with Kurt, once you add an ammonia source the beneficial bacteria will start to host the "dead" rock.
Ghost, you would be very surprised what will grow off of dead rock. Some critters are able to go many years in "stasis" (for a lack of better words) and be "reborn" off old dead rock.

 

[divedeep1689]

its about the same principal of wat i do i buy bags of dead coral rock it comes dry and white andd it to my tank and within a few months i cant tell a difference between it and my fiji live rock. Also a world famous aquarium the Atlanta or Georgia aquarium does somethin simillar as well they make tons of concrete rocks and place them on a reef in fiji for a year its on their web site kinda the same principle. So want i am saying is if you have a good place to seed the rock it will become very close to live rock.

 

[nickbme06]

I would personally boil the rock. Then start over with a tank and cycle with shrimp for a month or 2 until you can add 2 whole shrimps to a 55g and get 0 ammonia in 1 week. At that point, you can use/sell the live rock as it once was before.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I have to disagree. Just "curing" the live rock however you want to go about doing it will not do anything. If the rock is dead living organisms/bacteria can not and will not just present themselves. If you take this dry rock and put it in a tank with live rock, living bacteria and other small organisms will attach to the rock and grow on it. However it will never be live rock that we refer to as coming straight from the ocean.

"Live" rock does not refer to the critters... it refers to the bacteria. By definition, any rock that has been cycled will be hosting nitrifying bacteria, making it "live." I can take a rock that's never been in the ocean before, put it in my tank, and make "live" rock. Would I do that? No... but just pointing out the "live" rock has nothing to do with hitchikers.

 

[nickbme06]

Correct, the "live" part of Live Rock comes formt he benificial bacteria that either is on the rock naturally or from when we cycle and it goes on the rock, again naturally, just man feed ammonia, not naturally out in the sea. It does NOT refer to the living critters on the rock. Half the time you dont want all that crap, thats why id boil the rock to kill whatever is left over that you may not want, or has accumulated over time not being in a running tank. Some people have problems years down the road with rock with stuff coming out of that has been dormant for a long time.

 

[GhostKnife]

I know it is there for bacteria and nitrifying purposes. I was not saying critters would grow. I guess I dont fully disagree. In that what I meant was it will never have as much bacteria and as much bio filtering capacity as it did straight out of the ocean its not possible in a man made ecosystem. Over time it will build up good nitrifying bacteria. But as far as short term a cycle or curing process will not initiate the kind of bacteria you will need for tank with a medium bio-load. Id say the quickest way to "bring this rock back" would be to cure it with whatever method you choose. Then to place in tank with actual live live rock.

 

[nickbme06]

Or just get a big ol scoop of sand from a friends established tank, or a few pieces of rock to put in the overflow in the sump. That will help spread the bacteria colonies across the rest of the, what is now, base rock your trying to re-cure. No it will never be as good for say denitrification, but it will work for our kind of application, in any size tank you want to fit in your home. Not to mention you wont have any unwanted friends that hitchhiked on from the sea that will give you nightmares in your sleep for a year before they finally decide to have a party in your tank..

 

[thincat]

i know it is there for bacteria and nitrifying purposes. I was not saying critters would grow. I guess i dont fully disagree. In that what i meant was it will never have as much bacteria and as much bio filtering capacity as it did straight out of the ocean its not possible in a man made ecosystem. Over time it will build up good nitrifying bacteria. But as far as short term a cycle or curing process will not initiate the kind of bacteria you will need for tank with a medium bio-load. Id say the quickest way to "bring this rock back" would be to cure it with whatever method you choose. Then to place in tank with actual live live rock.

what?