Reusing (Dead)Liverock procedure

[BackwerdsMan]

I know if I just drop this now dead, once alive, rock into my tank it's going to cause a cycle.

So what's the standard procedure to get this stuff ready for my tank? I know some bleach, and I've heard some just put it in a bucket of SW for a while. What's the best way to do this?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

 

[DonW]

I dont know about best but I'd clean it. Pressure wash and blow out with compressed air.

Don

 

[BackwerdsMan]

My plan was to give them a boil to loosen up any organic material, pressure rinse, and maybe a couple nights in a bucket of my old WC water with a heater and a powerhead blowing on it.

I'm pretty sure these things are old coral skeletons that are now moderately encrusted, so there aren't even any holes in them big enough for larger pods to reside in. I doubt anything other than some tube worms, spaghetti worms, etc. would have been housed in it.

It's only two pieces that weigh maybe 4lbs.

 

[mcoomer]

Dude...for that amount of rock I wouldn't get too worried or carried away trying to clean it. I'd knock off any loose stuff on the outside and stick it in the tank. I reused some old rock in my 180 back in August. I just brushed it off and stuck it in the tank.

Mike

 

[BackwerdsMan]

It's also just a 20g tank. If it were a bigger tank i would have just dropped them in already.

I talked to some other nano guys, and after that, I'm just going to give them a good rinse.

 

[jrgilles]

Yea, I'd just rinse them of loose debris and drop them in. Are they really dirty or something?

I would NOT boil them. If you do boil them, raise the temperature of the boiling water very very slowly.

If you heat them up fast, the air inside the rock won't be able to escape, and will expand and blow your rock up (fragment it into pieces.)

 

[BackwerdsMan]

No not really that dirty.

I wont be boiling, just a good rinse, thats it.

 

[justforfun]

well what about using sand that was alive...now dead......and wanting to put in tank that is already going....same method rinse well let dry....

 

[justforfun]

sorry to hi-jack i been bad about that lately lol

 

[Krish]

well what about using sand that was alive...now dead......and wanting to put in tank that is already going....same method rinse well let dry....

Pretty much. Rinse it really really well and let it dry out (would be my suggestion) and then your old sand in your tank will seed it.

 

[justforfun]

The sand that is being rinsed is all of the sand I.had in tank....bare bottom now going to bigger tank....contemplating going with sand or just rock bottom