Pre-cycling LR

[eww]

We have a bunch of LR we want to cycle and get ready for the new 180 that we will be setting up in the coming months. There is about 75% of it that was existing LR in another tank but it had been out of the water for several days. I washed this off in the driveway with a pressure nozzle on the garden hose, blowing off and lightly scrubbing off all the nastiest, before putting it back in SW. The other 25% was dead dry Marco Rock. Right now it all in a 55 gal barrel with a Rio 2100 pump sitting on top of the rock shooting the flow downward through the rock. There is also a heater to keep it all cozy and warm. There is no light over it and I have been keeping the lid on the barrel to reduce the evaporation. Now I am wondering if this is a good thing as there would be a greatly reduced oxygen exchange, right? The rock has been there for a few weeks and will probably soak for another month or two. What, if anything, should I change to get this ready for transfer the the new tank when it's ready?

 

[mojoreef]

Well it depends on what you are trying to have survive from it. You want to keep it dark to kill off any macro algae, the bacteria will survive either way. Personally when I go this route I usually try to kill everything in the rock and then start fresh. So what I do is to soak it in a bucket with bleach for a couple of days, then boil the rock ro remove the ammonia, and then from their sit it in garbage cans like you have it now. This way when I re add it its like a brand new apartment building for bugs/bacteria and so on to move into. It also get most of the end product detritus out of the rock and makes it better for filtration

but thats just me


Mojo

 

[Krish]

I like the idea too of killing it all especially if you have already gone so far as to pressure wash it and it has been out of the water for some time. Alot is probably already dead so I'd just turn it back into base rock. I did this one time using the boiling method in a big pot which I boiled the heck out of the rock! Really nasty fumes so if you do it, don't do it in your house. I did mine outside with using a gas burner to boil the pot of water. Just my thoughts on it though. You don't have to go this route, but I think it is a good direction to go in.

 

[Katchupoy]

When i did mine a long time ago, I put in plastic container, similar to 55 gallon containers. The taller the better, because I used air bubbles (air stones?) located at the bottom of the container. Filled it fresh water, put bleach, cover it and run the air pump. The water will become black, and the smell will be intolerable. Dont touch it for a week, then drain. Refill and do the same thing over and over again every week until you cannot smell (ammonia) anything.

Now in your case, maybe two weeks at a time, then pressure wash them. Then do it again.

Boiling is a very good idea, but if you dont have the means, or you have a lot of rocks to work on, then its not end of the world.

 

[eww]

So it sounds like it just not as simple as letting it soak as is then. Darn.

Sent from my Eris using Tapatalk

 

[eww]

Can someone give an example of what might happen if we left it as is and just moved it over to the new tank in 6-8 weeks? Is killing it all really necessary or is it more just precautionary? Will killing the rock lengthen the cycle when we place it in the new tank? Sorry for all the questions. I am really just trying to justify the extra work in my own mind and I'm relatively new to all this and need some hand holding... or B**** slapping, whatever works better...

 

[mcoomer]

I would do exactly what you're doing now. Since you're 6-8 weeks from needing to move the rock into your new tank time is on your side. Every week pull everything out of the tub, pressure wash or scrub off as much dead/dying stuff as you can, dump the old water, and put the rock back into the tub with fresh saltwater. Keep the lid on it, keep the pump and heater in there, and just top off the saltwater as necessary. When it's time to add it to the tank dip it in a bucket of fresh saltwater to rinse it off and then into the tank it goes. Yes, it's labor intensive but it will ensure that you're starting off with rocks that are fully cured and free of nuisance algae.

Mike

 

[ReefLogic]

I would at least boil it. That should kill or remove any undesirables.

 

[mojoreef]

Eww thats why I started off by saying it depends on what you want to do with it, or what you want to surive. So what I discribed is kind of the totally done type of course of action.

Here is the concept. Live Rock operates the same way as Live Sand it just does not have the ammount of surface area that sand has. When the rock is pulled from the wild it has been operating for eons and contains not only bacteria and assorted bugs, but a lot of sponge and algaes to. What we call cureing is allowing these things to basicaly die off and then rot away. Also the rocks pathways are usually clogged up with remains and end product detritus, which over time will shed naturally through the actions of the bacteria themselves. That can take a while, so from their you have a couple choices (this is for new and old LR) you can go the route that I explained above, which is a way to remove everything and then allow critters/sponges/bacteria and so on from other sources to repopulate after its back in the tank. This repopulation wont take that long and should have no effect on the time of your cycle.
The second option is what you are doing now, In this method you are just waiting for things that are dieding to finish that process and then for the bacteria to complete whateve reduction they are going to do. This is a longer process and does not opten up all the pathways or get rid of much of the end product. BUT in saying that it will also allow a lot of the life to recoup and re function and thus you will not have to wait for it to repopulate.

So its just a call, not a wrong or right thing. Once you have done the pressure wash and scrubbing and so on that you have done I would not go back to that. From this point you are going to be allowing the bacteria to process/reduce the crap inside. Through this action it will push out the endproduct (stuff it cant reduce) and it will simple shed (so you will see detritus build up on the bottom of the container). From here I will suggest to simply lift a rock up in the container and run a PH over it to remove what is now sitting on the surface of the rocks. No need to remove it again until its time to introduce it to your new tank.
With in the rock their is a lot of species of sponge and most of them can not deal with air pockets (screws up their filter respiration) so if some sponge survives you dont want to send it into a death spiral again because you will once again have to wait for the reduction process.

so anyway sorry for the long winded, but I figured it would be best for you to understand what is going on.

Mojo

 

[eww]

Thanks Mike. Not long winded at all. You made it crystal clear with that explanation. I really appreciate the experience and knowledge you guys supply and the time you take to give it.

 

[TJL]

Hey Eric, I also think and agree with Mike (Mojo) on this and is why I'm just letting all my additional LR cycle in the can with a PH for circ. I believe it has pretty much gone through cycle as there is hardly any odor at all remaining so in another month should be pristine.

Todd