live rock

[Kimmy Su]

I'm not sure if I'm in the right discussion area... My question is, I have taken my live rock out and set them into RO water for a short time to clean the tank. I did gently clean off some of the red algae on them. The morning after, I noticed that it looks like white web like stuff on a couple of them. Looks like cob webs. What might this be and is there away to take care of it?
I would post a pic but I misplaced my camera cord. Thanks for any input.

 

[Mike Johnson]

By placing your rocks in RO water you have killed everything on them. You should have placed them in saltwater with a powerhead.

 

[Newjack]

Yeah I agree. They can become live rock again so its not junk but there dead now.

 

[puffermike]

Remember to treat chemolithotrophs (nitrifying bacteria) similar to a fish... Otherwise you'll kill it like so. You should have put it in saltwater, preferably the same SG as your DT and matched the general temperature. As Mike said they also need water movement to be safe. Some chemolithotrophs can live without oxygen and food for months but it's better to not risk it.

Easiest thing to do next time is just do a water change while you're cleaning. Empty your waste water from the DT into a bin and put your rock inside of that very bin. You can't go wrong there.

 

[Kimmy Su]

oh. so how will they become live again, if they're dead?

 

[Mike Johnson]

I went back and refreshed myself on your situation. Are you still using a 20 gallon tank? How many fish do you have now? Do you still have your anemone?

Your rock is going to have a lot of dead matter on it. If you just put it back in a tank you'll have a high ammonia reading for sure.

You have a couple of choices. You can clean the rocks the best you can, let them dry out, clean them again. And start a new tank with the rock.

Or you can rinse the rocks off and put them in a tank and start all over again from day one. The rocks will create ammonia for the start of the nitrogen cycle. I'd personally do choice #2.

 

[Newjack]

oh. so how will they become live again, if they're dead?

The live rock is one of the major organic mechanisms of a reef tank. They help keep everything you want alive!
If I were you I would try and restart. Maybe sell the fish to a store or friends and get a clean start. Next time you do something you never done I would google it real quick. If its not there, start a thread here and have some patients. It will save you time, money and mostly disappointment.

When I was going to start my nano tank the first thing I wanted to do was get rock, sand, water and a few coral and fish. I came to this site and learned about cycling the tank first.

Just research before you leap into an idea.

 

[Kimmy Su]

Ok...I now understand that what I did was a big mistake...guess I'll have someone hold my fish, til I can get more rock and cycle it. Learn from mistakes...I think I am going to go to another reef dealer. The other one is going under new management.
I will make sure to ask a lot more questions on this en devour.
Thanks again.
P.S. I gave the anemone to a friend that has a tank set up. Not getting another one for quite a while.

 

[BigAl07]

I wouldn't have too much of a knee-jerk reaction. You will have at least "some" beneficial bacteria in the tank which will re-seed the rock as soon as you put it back into the tank. Just stay on top of water testing and be prepared to do water changes if the parameters start plunging and putting the fish in danger.