Cooking Previously Used Live Rock

J

JOSEPHLB

Member
Well.. a while back the 65g crashed from excessive nutrients and my lack of care for the tank, after we moved.

Had large amounts of hair algea all throughout the tank.. all fish died.. so I got rid of the 65g. But you better believe I learned from my mishaps and not going to quit the hobby.

Going to setup a 20L and if possible would like to reuse my previous rock. I had a mix of about 40 lbs of Fiji.. and 40 lbs of CaribSea base/reef rock. Its been sitting in my basement, out of water for almost two months now.

What would be the proper way to prepare this rock for potential use again?
 
Octoman

Octoman

Well-Known Member
Boiling won't remove nutrients from in the rock that can leach back out into the water over time. If you want to "cook" the rock properly, there is a procedure to remove the nutrients over time that involves keeping the rock in ASW in a dark area, rinsing/shaking it periodically and putting it in new ASW.

If you do a google search for "cooking live rock", it should point you in the right direction...
 
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
lcstorc said:
Here is a thread with good instructions.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...ion/28271-thinking-about-cooking-my-rock.html
Click to expand...


That was the thread I had just found also.

Since I have plenty of time, this should work out well.

Since my rock has been sitting dry for almost two months now.. I assume pretty much nothing is alive in it. From what I've read, the bacteria consume the excess nutrients, during the "cooking" process...

Since my rock is dead.. I assume I'll need to "seed" it with a shrimp or pure ammonia to get the bacteria generating process, going again?
 
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