Recharging Live Rock?

[DbleG]

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Here's my angle: I know that Live Rock has a limited lifespan, AKA rock that is ten+ years old isn't as effective as freshly "cured" liverock.

I know that some people "cook" their rock in ovens to kill off unwanted bacteria/hitchikers, and I know that you can soak your rock in RO/DI water doing frequent water changes in order to help the sponge-like effect of LR's phosphate/nitrate absorbing capabilities reverse themselves.

So, having said this, is there a way to "refresh" the rock that I have in my tank, without pulling it out 5 lbs at a time and doing the above mentioned techniques? I'd like to impact the wild reef as little as possible, but at the same time I don't want to spend the next year "subbing" out rock. How could I ever get a stable environment doing this? I just don't see it.

Thoughts and opinions are welcome at this point.

[Darryl_V]

I dont think rock has an expiry date at all.

Rock can get loaded with organics and nutrients though. In the past when I couldnt control nutrients as well I have taken out rock and just cleaned it with brush (for algae) and swished it in the water I was taking out of the tank from a water change. You wont believe the crap that comes out of dirty rock...even clean looking rock has a lot of build-up. I would usually see a nice bouce with the tank after.

Though I dont think you would want to do this to all your rock at once.......maybe I would do half the tank at a time or less. Dont leave the rock out of the water and dont let it get too hot or too cold and most of the bacteria should be fine.

[DbleG]

Darryl- I already do that twice a year :)

[J_T]

Smash it up one piece at a time. Then attach frags to it. Sell the frags. Then use the money to buy new rock.

Been doing that for awhile now with my rock. Or, I pass smaller pieces off ot friends when they are setting up their tanks. Gives them some coraline, and me one less piece of rock.

I do believe that rock will "fill up" and need some sort of "cleaning" I have seen the "grunge" that can come out of the rock as it is being broken up for frag mounts. It is like a fine silt.

I blow the rocks in my tank off now and then with a Koralia 4 pump. That fine silt is visible as it comes out all the little holes in the rock. I am sure that it is still deep down inside.

I also feel that adding some new rock now and then helps introduce new bacteria (good and bad :( ) and new life. The food chain is what it is. It is possible to end up with a tank that isn't diverse. The top of the chain has eaten everything. Then new rock will help replenish the life, and keep a true bio system.

Just my thoughts and opinions.

[rayjay]

A lot of the rock I have I've had now for 17 years and have done nothing to it in that time and see no problem with it in my tanks. The remainder of my rock was purchased dry, bought from others who left the hobby, so I don't know how old it is, but I haven't bought any in the last ten years at least so it's pretty old now also.
The only rock I've done anything to is the seahorse tanks where I boiled the rock in preserving kettles on the barbecue and then recycled it using ammonium chloride.

[DbleG]

How do you apply ammonium chloride to live rock?

[rayjay]

You don't apply it to the rock you put the ammonium chloride in the tank water to provide the source for the beneficial bacteria to feed on.
I as amounts specific to the loading (number of and size of fish to be put in at end of cycle) so that I can stock heavy or light on completion of the cycle.
For heavy loading I will add enough ammonium chloride to get 6 to 8ppm ammonia and once the nitrite starts to show I add small amounts to keep feeding the bacteria that have developed.
One the nitrites have gone to zero then I again add enough to get 6 to 8 ppm ammonia and see how fast it clears.
Once it clears within 8 to 12 hours, then I can place in the full load of fish and not have any problem with overloading the biological filter.
For light loading you can work with just 1 to 2ppm ammonia and it cycles faster obviously, but you can't put a lot of fish in right off.

[vaporize]

Here's my angle: I know that Live Rock has a limited lifespan, AKA rock that is ten+ years old isn't as effective as freshly "cured" liverock.


I do not agreed with that, I regularly start new nano tanks with existing LR & LS and water and noticed that it stabilize alot faster than using "freshly cured" LR. LR especially 2-3 yrs old+ are especially more efficient when comparing to 'freshly cured' LR.

That being said, not everybody's LR are created equal. Some hobbyist's used LR might be from poorly managed tanks and soaked up alot of phosphate and that can create a big negative impact as suppose to use 'new'

[Darryl_V]

Darryl- I already do that twice a year :)

And you still feel your rock is releasing nutrients or not processing any nutrients?

If your nutrient import/export was in balance than you really only need minimum maintenance on the rock (turkey baste) and it should be fine pretty much indefinately as long as there is a balance. Seems like you are adding more nutrients than your removing and/or the bacteria in the system can handle.

If I were you I would be looking into the why you have problems with your rock.

[DbleG]

Not the case Darryl. I'm thinking purely as a preventative measure, so that I don't get to the point of having my liverock exhausted and THEN having a problem.

Hubert- I have no problem with 2-3 yr old liverock, but I was led to believe that after ten or so more years that the LR might be "done" as a filter.

Of course thinking about this now, the ocean doesn't have an expiry date does it? lol

Thanks for the input folks!