breaking up live/dry rock

cmac23 · 03/10/2010, 08:45 PM

i have 15lbs live rock, 10 lbs dry rock in my 29gallon biocube. the rock has been in the tank for about 5 days, is it ok to take it out and break it up. i have some big pieces that i may wanna break up. can i just use a hammer to break it up? should i out in a bucket and break it up so that i can have water in there? also i have 2 aiptaisa on my big rock, i have read several methods of getting rid of it, should i just use the cehmical solution for now, being that nothing is in my tank. any suggestions would be appreciated. this is my second tank, my other tank was a 75 gallon so plenty of room for rock, and no bad anemones, so this is a first

SINY_reef_lover · 03/10/2010, 08:53 PM

You will be fine breaking up the rock, as long as its only out of the tank for a little while and not hours you will have little to no die off. No need for water when breaking up the rock, I broke up some rock by slamming it on my concrete floor and then putting the pieces back in the tank and everything was fine.

dg3147 · 03/11/2010, 10:38 AM

stick a screwdriver in it and pound it with a hammer; that'll bust it up nicely! no problem pulling it out of water for a bit.

Fizz71 · 03/11/2010, 12:56 PM

Take it out and break it up!

One thing though...expect it to cloud your tank up a bit when you return it because of the fine peices breaking will make. You could "dip" the rock in some saltwater to avoid some of it. When I was drilling my rock I drained water from the tank to dip the rock, then put fresh salt water into my tank when I was all done....like a mini water change.

You could also buy a brand new chisel (rinse it first) to have better control of your breaking.

And IMO...chisel off that aptasia to a small rock and toss it....or let it dry off completely and kill those buggers. Once they start to spread they are a b*tch to get rid of. I had 3 come on a rock I bought with mini-carpets on it. I broke that puppy up and got that crap out of my tank. If you have the means to remove the aptasia it's always better then a chemical solution.

IslandCrow · 03/11/2010, 03:08 PM

Quote:

And IMO...chisel off that aptasia to a small rock and toss it....

Good suggestion from Fizz. Chances are, you're going to end up with aiptasia again somewhere down the road, but if you can irrevocably get rid of what you have now, that's certainly best. Chemicals can work well, but are not always 100% effective. The other thing I've done is keeping my rock in complete darkness for a couple weeks. Aiptasia is amazingly resilient, though, and I'm not so sure I didn't just get lucky eliminating it this way.

03/10/2010, 08:45 PM	#1
cmac23 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 425	breaking up live/dry rock i have 15lbs live rock, 10 lbs dry rock in my 29gallon biocube. the rock has been in the tank for about 5 days, is it ok to take it out and break it up. i have some big pieces that i may wanna break up. can i just use a hammer to break it up? should i out in a bucket and break it up so that i can have water in there? also i have 2 aiptaisa on my big rock, i have read several methods of getting rid of it, should i just use the cehmical solution for now, being that nothing is in my tank. any suggestions would be appreciated. this is my second tank, my other tank was a 75 gallon so plenty of room for rock, and no bad anemones, so this is a first

03/11/2010, 10:38 AM	#3
dg3147 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Pasadena, CA Posts: 1,178	stick a screwdriver in it and pound it with a hammer; that'll bust it up nicely! no problem pulling it out of water for a bit. __________________ Elos 160XL \| Powermodule LED/T5 \| BK Double cone 200 \| Pasadena, CA Home page: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23482778#post23482778

03/10/2010, 08:53 PM	#2
SINY_reef_lover Moved On Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Staten Island NYC Posts: 20	You will be fine breaking up the rock, as long as its only out of the tank for a little while and not hours you will have little to no die off. No need for water when breaking up the rock, I broke up some rock by slamming it on my concrete floor and then putting the pieces back in the tank and everything was fine.

03/11/2010, 12:56 PM	#4
Fizz71 FragSwapper Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: West Lawn, PA Posts: 5,800	Take it out and break it up! One thing though...expect it to cloud your tank up a bit when you return it because of the fine peices breaking will make. You could "dip" the rock in some saltwater to avoid some of it. When I was drilling my rock I drained water from the tank to dip the rock, then put fresh salt water into my tank when I was all done....like a mini water change. You could also buy a brand new chisel (rinse it first) to have better control of your breaking. And IMO...chisel off that aptasia to a small rock and toss it....or let it dry off completely and kill those buggers. Once they start to spread they are a b*tch to get rid of. I had 3 come on a rock I bought with mini-carpets on it. I broke that puppy up and got that crap out of my tank. If you have the means to remove the aptasia it's always better then a chemical solution.