Scooterman
Well-known member
Do you replace your live rock after a few years? Is it necessary, can you cook it an start all over? Do you think no it is a total waste of money?
Live Rock Replacement Poll?
- Thread starter Scooterman
- Start date
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spongebob lover
flea whisperer
i didn't know that we are suppose to replace the live rock 
Woodstock
I <3 clown fish!
I chose "every 4-5 years". I am coming up on 5 yrs now and this will be my first replacement. Woohoo~~~
I plan on keeping my old rock and cooking it then using it for my next replacement.
I plan on keeping my old rock and cooking it then using it for my next replacement.
spongebob lover
flea whisperer
ok i have a question why do we need to replace the live rock?
Gabriela the concept is that Natural LR filtration never truely keeps up with the amount of nutrients it is subjected to. LR unlike sand beds does have the ability to shed detritus through bacterial action, but the amount of nutrients we load onto it exceeds the amount being shed in moast cases. It kind of makes it a loosing battle as time goes by. ow long before the LR becomes saturated changes for each tank based on its bioload and husbandry.
This does not mean the rock is dead or can not be used any more by any means. It just means its kind of clogged up. What folks normally do is to remove the rock from the tank and put it into a dark container (garbage can) with no light, a ph and a heater and then leave it thier for a period of time. What this does is allow the bacteria to continue to shed its detritus with out any input..so kinda lets it catch back up again. This process can take a few months and its called cooking your rock.
Another way is to take the rock out one peice at a time and just biol the hell out of it for a few hours in a boiling pot of water. Through vapor transmission it will remove all the detritus, BUT it will also kill everything in the rock, BUT once back into the tank it will quickly rebuild its population and the corraline algae just loves it.
Other folks just replace place it and start over. Again this is something you mght have to look at a long time down the road. Myself, my rock went for around 8 years before I boiled some of it.
Mike
This does not mean the rock is dead or can not be used any more by any means. It just means its kind of clogged up. What folks normally do is to remove the rock from the tank and put it into a dark container (garbage can) with no light, a ph and a heater and then leave it thier for a period of time. What this does is allow the bacteria to continue to shed its detritus with out any input..so kinda lets it catch back up again. This process can take a few months and its called cooking your rock.
Another way is to take the rock out one peice at a time and just biol the hell out of it for a few hours in a boiling pot of water. Through vapor transmission it will remove all the detritus, BUT it will also kill everything in the rock, BUT once back into the tank it will quickly rebuild its population and the corraline algae just loves it.
Other folks just replace place it and start over. Again this is something you mght have to look at a long time down the road. Myself, my rock went for around 8 years before I boiled some of it.
Mike
spongebob lover
flea whisperer
wwouu Mike thank you very much for explaining me that, because i really didn't know that we were suppose to do that.
my rock has been in my tank for three years so for sure i will cook it at some point
my rock has been in my tank for three years so for sure i will cook it at some point
