Old rock and sand. Cook? Throw away?

[CJonesAU83]

Hello all! I've got about 75 lbs or so of previous live rock, now dry rock that has been sitting around for over a year now. Also included is a large amount of aragonite sand also now dry and unused. My question is am i better off starting from scratch and completely ridding myself of this rock, or can it be "cooked" as i've heard and reused as base "dry" rock. If so, can someone please elude to the "cooking" process? What about the sand? My intent is to purchase about 50 more lbs of live rock to add to this, and of course cycle everything for a couple of months. Will the old rock become flourishing live rock after the new live rock is purchased and added? What ya'll think?

[chogendoorn]

If the sand is unused, rinse it well and it can be used. I'd cook the rock just to make sure that all the dead organic matter is gone, but both items are usable. Here's a link to a thread on cooking rock.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...t=cooking+rock
Check out SeanT's post #11
Chris

[zues2006]

Don't throw it out. You can use the rock and sand.
I'm not 100% on best practice, but there are threads that discuss how to treat dry rock and sand and re-use it.
The Rock, some people scrub it with toothbrush, some people do other quite extreme measures. I guess it depends what it looks like and what kind of environment it was in before you received it. I imagine any algae on the rock is dead by now, but I'm not 100% if it would regenerate it introduced into a new system.
Yes, dry rock will become live rock again, once introduced into a new system and with enough time. Adding current live rock will aid in the process. But I'm not sure as to proper timing of adding current live rock to a cycling system.
Seems like for the sand, some people put the sand in a bucket, and rinse the sand a bunch of times in the tub. I'm not sure how they don't clog up their drain with sand overflowing into the tub though. Maybe just keep the water pressure low enough to keep the sand on the bottom of the bucket? I donno. Haven't tried it yet.
I do know one thing, you WILL have to cycle the tank if you use that stuff. But, you have to cycle the tank 100% of the time when starting off, so this is just one of many steps required for a healthy system.
Read the sticky threads. And come back for a couple weeks. By then, you should have read enough to at least get started.

[CJonesAU83]

Perfect! Thanks ya'll! Cooking and seeding with new LR it is!

[briankmarsh1980]

I would keep the rock but trash the sand.....

if you rock is totally dried out perfect scrub all the debris off it,
get a big tub/bin mix 1 gallon clear vinegar to 25gallons of RO soak the rock in that about 45 min no longer then an hr, or your rocks will start to break down..... this will pull out phosphates from the rock.

you can cycle the rock in the same bin with freshly made salt water for a couple weeks or put it in the tank and let everything cycle there.