free live rock

[Vin7250]

So i just acquired about 200lbs of live rock for free from a friend. He said the tank can remain up in his basement for 1 year then he is dumping it. I currently have a 90 gallon with about 60lbs of fiji LR with one small hippo tang and a few corals. I have no need to add anymore livestock right now until I get about 50 to 75 lbs more LR in the tank.

I cannot move all of the 200lbs to my apartment but thought of a plan. Tell me if this will work.

I want to take about 20 - 30 lbs at a clip to my apartment and put it in a rubbermaid tub with fresh saltwater a heater and powerhead. Let it sit for a few days and then scrub it down. Take all the rock out breifly while i drain the tub and fill it again with fresh made saltwater then put rocks back in and wait a few days and scrub and drain again. Continue to do this for maybe a month or two until all levels are normal. The reason I have to do this is because the tank sat at my buddy's house with no lights and filled with tap water for over a year. Im sure there are plenty of phosphates and nitrates in the water.

So if I am going to "fix" about 20 - 30 lbs of rock using this method do you think I will be successful? My LFS told me to just dump it all in the garbage if it sat in a tank with no waterchanges and tap water. I think that is plain stupid seeing that this stuff is Fiji as well and I have seen it sold up to 10$ a pound. If I am willing to change 100% once a week or so and scrub these rocks down and keep a powerhead and heater in this tub will this cure these rocks??

Any help would be great because I want to start this project tonight.

PS i know if i do this the rocks will probably smell bad but its ok Ill deal with that to have all of this LR.

Thanks guys

Vinny

[KafudaFish]

1. I would change LFS.
2. Test the water to see the levels.
3. If it sat in the dark for a year it may already be cooked.
4. Change LFS.

[KeMo]

+1 on changing LFS
thats some money grubbers their.

[KeMo]

I would smell it what does it smell like. Is their any visable life? worms or anything?
I would run it in the tub like you said and then test the water on the third day or so . see were everything is at.

[Canadian Reefer]

Do it all at once 200lbs should fit in a garbage pail. Do weekly WC and put it in your aquarium slowly. +1 on new lfs tell him to, well you know what to tell them lol. Nice find on the rock btw

[Absentmind8868]

Or you could (this being my devil side ) sell it on the internet to some bloke and buy new live rock without having to deal with it. JKJKJK I would change lfs and +1 to canadian reefer do it all at once in a garbage bucket.

[Vin7250]

My LFS (or former LFS) is crap, they are too expensive and only want my money. I was sure of that and that is why I came on here to post. Funny thing is, as he was telling me this I saw an employee take about 50lbs of dryed out rock and put it into their curing tub....hmmmm tell me to throw it away and then use basically old LR in your own tub.... The jerk even said if i dont want to put it in my trash because it will smell horrible I could bring it to them and they will dispose of it for me!! hahahahahaha you mean you will cook it and cure it and sell it!!!!!!

I wish I could do all 200 but my lady would probably stop....... well you know!! But the guy who gave it to me is a very good friend so he said just to leave the tank there and take about 25% at a time. Do you think this process is going to SMELL really bad?? this is why my girl is concerned but once i told her how much this stuff costs and that I got it all for free she said she wouldnt mind me doing small bunches at a time. Although it would be way easier I really have no where to put a full garbage bucket full. But a rubbermaid tub could easily be stored in one of my two walkins.

thanks for the help guys.

[KafudaFish]

A single trash will work as said.

Honestly the rock should not smell other than like normal rock. If you wanted to throw a skimmer on it too.

One thing you could do is mix up some SW as a bath, swish the rock around then put it into the trash can. When finished take a look at the bath bucket to see how clean or dirty the rock has been during this time.

[Canadian Reefer]

Its not going to smell!!!! If you bring it direct from his tank to yours there should be none or minimal die off. If his tank has been sitting for a long period everything is gone anyways.

[Vin7250]

update:

I just went to my buddy's place on lunch to look at the rock. I opened the tp of the tank it really has no bad odor to it what-so-ever. In fact it smelled fine. Does that mean this rock may not be in as bad shape as I originally thought?

[RcToners]

Okay well basically you should simply disregard what everyone has told you so far besides changing your LFS. If the rock sat in a tank for 1 year with fresh water then its no longer live rock and it is basically base dead rock at this point. With sitting in a tank for 1 year with fresh water the rock is already pretty much cooked and I can assure you that after one year in fresh water there is not going to be any life that would be benificial to your tank. You might have a little bit of algea at most but thats about it. You should just take the rock home, scrub it off with fresh water and throw it wherever you can to let it become live again. If your main tank is already up and running throwing this rock in there shouldnt even cause a cycle because like I said sitting in fresh water for a year with nothing going on will not sustain life and there shouldnt really be any thing left to die off.

[Vin7250]

RC it has been sitting in a tank with SW with no waterchanges and only top off water from the tap. So the salt level remained at 1.025. There is no foul odor coming from the tank which is a good thing right?

[Vin7250]

sorry for the confusion

[jeff@zina.com]

Originally Posted by Vin7250

There is no foul odor coming from the tank which is a good thing right?

Right. In fact, you shouldn't have to do any curing, the rock is ready to use. I would still put in in a container and aerate it or use a power head to get water moving, then test the water in a few days, but basically it should be good to go.

This doesn't take into account what may hitchike in on the rock, and whether you want it or not. Check carefully.

Jeff

[Vin7250]

jeff, is this because there is no foul odor? Because remember it has been sitting in tap water mixed with salt at 1.025 for a year. I would rather not go through this cooking process if it is unnecessary

[jeff@zina.com]

Just because the rock sat in a tank doesn't mean it is bad/dead/whatever. But if the rock is dead, it won't make a difference to add it to a tank. It will need to reseed of course. If the rock is still live, there may be some die off, but I would think it would still be reasonably acceptable. The key is that there's no smell, meaning there is no currently decomposing material in there. And that's always good.

And the real test is to take some, put it in new salt water and wait, then test that water.

Jeff

[RcToners]

Originally Posted by Vin7250

jeff, is this because there is no foul odor? Because remember it has been sitting in tap water mixed with salt at 1.025 for a year. I would rather not go through this cooking process if it is unnecessary

Vin my apologies, I must have misread and thought it was sitting in fresh water for a year. If its been sitting in a running tank it should be okay. I would check the tanks levels before you pull the rock and if evey thing appeas stable you should be able to just bring it home and toss it in your tank.

[Vin7250]

if phosphates and nitrates are rediculous i guess i would have to cook the rock like the other posters suggested right?

[Palting]

That is actually an excellent find, otherwise. Just have to figure out what to do with it. Definitely run away from that LFS.

It may still be live if it has been sitting in saltwater, AND has had powerheads running or some circulation. If it has been sitting there with no circulaton, I would then call it dead rock, and will need to be cured/cooked.

The other issue has to do with the use of tap water. Phoshates, silicates, hard metals, etc may have been adsorbed on those rocks, and can leach into your system once you get them in. If you yourself have been using tap water all along, then it won't be a NEW problem for you, just adds to an old problem.

Good luck!!

[Vin7250]

no my tank i use all RO/DI water for. So did this guy until last year when he got married and just basically kept the sump running and 2 powerheads and would top off with tap water.

[Palting]

Ok, so the rock is live, but tap water cooked.

I don't believe there will be a problem with die off. I don't know how long it will take for all that phophate and what not to completely leach out. I don't believe all that rinsing, scrubbing and cooking over several weeks will do it. If it were me, I would just go ahead and put the rocks I take home directly into my tank with nothing more than a rinsing in fresh saltwater. I would then make sure I had a system of taking care of the phosphates and silicates and whatnot that may leach out. This may be in the form of reactors, or just diligent water changes.

[jeff@zina.com]

Originally Posted by Vin7250

if phosphates and nitrates are rediculous i guess i would have to cook the rock like the other posters suggested right?

Not necessarily, but it would be a good idea.

Jeff

[Vin7250]

if i test the water in his tank and it has minimal phos and nitrate does that mean im over reacting and this rock is probably ready to roll?

[Palting]

I think your rocks are ready to roll regardless. But, that's just IMO.

[Vin7250]

sounds good, thanks for all the advice guys