help a newbie with old live rock?

[harmonic]

Hi!

A friend has given me about 100lbs of live rock, only it's not live anymore. The rock has been piled in a corner of her deck for nearly a year, and looks and smells awfull. How should I go about cleaning and re-constituting this stuff? It will probably be quicker than it would for me to save up enough $$$ to buy new ones.

thanks, Rob

[Daniel Schubert]

Since the rock is dead anyway you could scrub it in fresh water and then use it as base rock. Just pile new live rock ontop of it and eventually it would reseed the rock

[afss]

As daniel suggested i would scrub it with a wire brush and water to clean the outside as much as possible. If you are starting a new tank you could just place this rock in the new tank. If you are placing it in an existing tank then i would place all of the rock from your friend in buckets of fresh water so that the rest of whatever is dead on the inside can rot out. Before you go through all of this you should also decide if you are setting up a fish only tank or a reef tank. If you are setting up or have a reef tank then make SURE that the rock has never been in a tank that has been treated with copper or other such medications that could leach into the rock. If it has been treated with copper etc and you are setting up a reef tank i would suggest not using the rock.
Scott

[ian cooper]

Rock that has been outdoors on a deck doesn't sound like such a good idea to me. It might have been exposed to fertilizers or worse perticides used to treat the lawn and shrubs. The latter compounds are extremely toxic to invertebrates and fishes. I would make absolutely sure that the rock has never been exposed to chemicals because due to the porous nature of the rock, once exposed it is impossible to remove the chemicals by "washing". If you must, I would test one of the rocks in a small tank with a damsel or shrimp and a few mushrooms to make sure. Good luck.

[harmonic]

Hey, thanks!

Hmmm... well, i'm sure she never treated her reef with copper, but there's no telling what it may have been exposed to while it sat outside. I do know she had a wasp problem out there last summer, so the rock could have come into contact with pesticides.

As for my tank, it is up and cycling on its 5th day. I have 80lbs of live sand in there but no other livestock yet. I'm having to do this in stages because of the extreme cost. My budget is about $600 quaterly, and this first quater's buget was blown on the live sand, salt, and a $479 lifereef skimmer and rio3100 pump.

My plan for livestock is, as budget allows, to add these live rock soon as possible, then keep cycling for 3 months with a cleanup crew living in there. With next quater's budget I was planning on adding a few fish and upgrading my lighting to a 4x100w halide system. (I'm pretty sure I can do this for $600 if I build my own hood, which I do have some experience with.) After this point, I would be free to add corals and inverts at will. (one at a time to let the system catch up.)

I have enough knowledge of fish, corals and inverts to know they have major compatibillity issues, and I will certainly research thouroghly before choosing livestock.

So you see, if I can't use this rock, it will push everything back 3 more months. I realize I must have patience in this hobby, but mine will be worn thin by that time. Live rock is usually 7-8 dollars a pound around here. I will try Ian's suggestion of a test tank. I have an empty 5g and equipment around here somewhere....

Thanks again, Rob

[mouse6196]

Do the cleaning, then place rock in a large (clean) garbage can or similar container. Nwo fill the container with fresh water. let these rocks sit for a week or two. Now take them out and scrub again with a wire or very stiff platic scrubber. Now place the rocks back into the empty garbage can again. Fill with salt water and place a powerhead or pump in there for circulation. Let these rocks sit for a caouple weeks again. Test the water for ammonia. High ammonia will indicate there is crud still dying off on the rocks. Do large water changes for another week, and one more week after that. Test the water periodically and use a copper test just to be sure there is none leaching from the rock. Now cure the rock as described in many articles. Place the rock in your tank, and test the system after yet a few more weeks with damsels, or a shrimp as expalined above. it's worth the effort as 100 pounds of rock is a shame to waste. $$$$$$$$$$$$$

If the rock is OK....use it as base rock, and place good live rock on top (20-30 pounds). Keep up the circulation. Add calcium, strontium, iodine as directed, and soo enough the base rock will be seeded and be somewhat live again.

good Luck:thumbsup:

[Daniel Schubert]

Rob

How big is your tank, you stated that you will use 4X100 watt metal halide, these are an odd wattage bulb ???. You may consider going with two 250 or 400 Watts instead. Two bulbs is cheaper then 4 whem it comes time for bulb changes

[harmonic]

The tank is a 55g. I plan on 4-5 fish, and far later on another 4-5 inverts or corals. I didn't realise 100w was an odd size... as you know the 55 is very slim front to back, and I want my light hood to sit on the tank. I just need a slim design is all- My thinking is that one row of halides would provide more light and be slimmer than two rows of PC's. I'm not going to skimp on the light, so thanks for the advice.

I hadn't even thought about the cost of replacing the bulbs. Thanks for the tip!

I haven't found any good use for this 55. I keep cichlids and plecos on the FW side, and the 55 isn't well suited for those fish. I figure it should be in use, so... after a while with the FW guys I think I'm ready to handle SW.

[mouse6196]

You could get away with a single 400 Watt or go two 175 watt in a custom hood above this tank. I can send you pictures of my hood design I have on my 90. A single 400 over a 48" tank will do the trick if it's about 10-14 inches above center. I have SPS and many corals growing like crazy under mine.

:cheers:

[Daniel Schubert]

Rob

Is your 55 gallon drilled for an overflow. You may want to consider this before filling it with water. Are you going to using a sump/Refugium etc. If it were me I'd start wit a bigger tank and use the 55 gallon for a sump/refugium. The tank cost will be small compared to the lights, skimmer, live rocks, sand etc. I have a 75 gallon and wish, I would have gone a little bigger. For a reef tank the 55 gallon is a little narrow once you add the rocks