salvaging some live/dead rock

[Ynotme4886]

Well I bought a setup and it had 100lbs of mixed live rock that looked like crap. The previous owner had let the tank run into a state that was truly disgusting.

They hadnt maintained the tank in over 7 months and had killed off about $1000 worth of coral in it during that time.

So I took the rock and vigorously scrubbed it off and threw it in a tank with a skimmer and 2 small powerheads and 2 weeks later this it what it looks like.

I am still getting black **** in my skimmer from it and am due for a water change again.

How long should I soak this stuff and what can I do to promote new growth again. All the smell is gone but it really looks dead to me.

 

[returnofsid]

All the smell being gone is a good sign. Test for Ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. Chances are it's safe to start using, but wanna be sure. All the dying material on it helps a lot to cycle and get the good bacteria growing on it. You can also put a couple pieces of well established rock in with it to help promote growth.

 

[trillyen]

All the smell being gone is a good sign. Test for Ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. Chances are it's safe to start using, but wanna be sure. All the dying material on it helps a lot to cycle and get the good bacteria growing on it. You can also put a couple pieces of well established rock in with it to help promote growth.

Great advice return I would of never thought to test for aml and trates and trites.

But yeah the smell of live rock is a good indicator that its once again cured. So what did you scrub it with.

The live rock was doing its job acting as a filter trying to filter out all the bad stuff happening and going on in the tank. Actually I don't think you scrubbing it was necessary as a uv sterilizer would of maybe did the job but probably took a little longer.

What did you scrub it with ???

 

[Ynotme4886]

I scrubbed it with used salt water I had from a water change in my current tank and a new scrubber pad that you would attach to a tank wall scrubber. Scrubbed it by hand in a rubbermaid tote and rinsed with fresh salt water before throwing into a 20 gal tank as pictured.

The red spots in the pics wouldnt come off when scrubbed....they were either shrooms or some other type of coral that melted around the rock when it died in the tank.

The tank it came from was nasty and smelled and the nitrates were well over 80 ppm. The only thing left living in the tank was a clarkii clown and a sea cucumber

 

[returnofsid]

UV won't do anything that the scrubbing would do. UV will only effect what's free floating in the water. UV only effects what flows past the light. Stuff growing on the rock is usually attached and won't flow past the light.

I've used a similar technique but usually use a toothbrush and a larger hand held brush. I use water from a water change, then I also do a couple water changes throughout the process. I currently have a couple large pieces curing outside. Some run skimmers and it's probably a good idea but I don't have any extra skimmers laying around...lol. The rock I'm curing is pretty much cured, I just don't have anywhere to put it as of yet. It'll go in my next project.

 

[Ynotme4886]

I had an extra seaclone skimmer laying around and this is the 1st time it actually worked. I figured using it is better than nothing. Worst case if it didnt pull anything out it would give me some more flow.

Will check the water parameters when I get home from work. Will do my water change as well.

 

[MikeS]

If you are not sure about the rock, you could always boil it and start all over. If you do that, do it outside (I use a turkey fryer) and then let the rocks dry out completely in the sun....then you'll have dead base rock, but you can re-cure them in a tank by adding a few pieces of good LR and then just wait...