dry out live rock?? (1 Viewer)

[G-reef]

well.. the time has come .
got the new tank and already im beating my head on the wall... I currently have two reef set ups and looking forward to moving both tanks into one...soon. but needless to say I do not want any of the problems I ran into in the first two set ups in my final super tank...lol.
yeah I know we all say that (a lot).
here's the deal..i have some really nice rock in both tanks and am going to aqua scape this stuff soon before moving it over... but I've been thinking ...I do not want any travelers..algae or anything hidden in the rock I have coming into my new set up... I've read a lot about drying the rock out for a month (dead rock) and so not to take anything over with it .

WANTING YOUR HELP... IS THIS TE BEST WAY TO GUARANTEE THAT I DO NOT MOVE IT OVER TO THE HILTON... AND IF SO PLEASE GIVE INSTRUCTIONS... HOW ..HOW LONG...WHAT DO I NEED TO DO WHEN I DO FINALLY PUT IT INTO THE SET UP..AND HOW DO I GET IT BACK TO LIVE....ROCK STATUS... PLEASE ANY ADVISE WILL DO ME GREAT HELP... THANKS AND WHEN I GET IT UP AND RUNNING ILL POST PICKS... ONE MORE THING ...

WHAT WORKS BEST TO GLUE THIS ROCK TOGETHER?????


THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!!!

 

[CBBSteve]

Hi G-reef
IMO zip ties work very well for holding rocks together

Good luck,
Steve

 

[neopterygii]

http://www.reefsmagazine.com/forum/reefs-magazine/119589-aesthetics-aquascaping-iii.html

 

[tektite]

Soak the rock in bleach or muriatic acid solutions (one or the other!), either should kill any living things on the rock. I'm sure there's plenty of instructions for proper techniques with a quick google search. Dry it out in the sun, nothing will survive.

 

[OceansX]

G-reef,

Before you go nuclear on your existing live rock, what are you trying to kill?

In my opinion, nuking live rock defeats the whole purpose of having live rock.
You are converting the live rock into some sort of dead rock.
It should NOT be a preventive measure. (Maybe the bacteria survive in the interior,
so it's not that drastic? BUT still NOT a preventative measure.)

I don't understand this trend as people are defeating the whole purpose of live rock.
Doesn't the dead surface become more easily colonized by problematic algae, etc.

My live rock has gone through a horrible dinoflagellate spell, and now a green bubble algae
infestation, and starting an aiptasia infestation, but nuking my rocks isn't the solution.
It's like never turning on your lights to prevent algae growth in a reef tank; it works, but misses the point.

If a reef-keeper wanted to start a tank with completely dead rock, then some sort of limestone is the way to go.


+1 on Paul Whitby aquascaping articles.

 

[rlpardue]

I don't think that killing potential pests is a good reason to nuke live rock (unless you're dealing with a specific problem like majanos or something). However, if the rock is old, and has been in aquariums for a decade, then nuking it with a muriatic acid bath is a great way to strip off the outer layer of rock, which holds phosphates. Phosphates leaching from old rock is a real problem. I acid-bathed half my rock before adding it to my tank, and now that half doesn't have algae problems while the old rock has bubble/GHA issues. However, fresh live rock doesn't have those algae issues (at least not to the same extent as rock that's been soaking up PO4 for a decade).

Just some food for thought.

 

[Reefkeeper]

Some good options above , and I have been fighting po4 for a while on basically the same principle as you , I merged a 3 year and 1 year reef into one and it is not so much the pests or die off that created the problem , it was the po4 that was leaching from the rock that created what seemed an endless challenge. After 5 months I'm still running gfo with zeo to keep po4 in check. Clean or live rock tends to absorb nitrate and po4 overtime... And this will be your challenge.....longer term.


Here is what I would do if I could start again. -----

I would nuke the live rock with one of the above methods, then I would Soak the rock in fresh water ( rodi) with Lanthanum commercial product changing the water every week for min 3 weeks . And keep testing for po4 until it's done ...when the rock has leached out and have zero for a week. You will see in the beginning of the week it would be zero and by the end of the week with the leaching you should have some po4. Then I would use saltwater with ZEOBAK ( or other starter culture depending on the method you will eventually use) this I would circulate heavily indoors and test to make sure I still have zero across the board. For two weeks min, dosing some ammonia to start the cycle. After hopefully 4-5 weeks it would be ready for aquascape, to your liking. Even if I started with clean new rock I would still use Lanthanum for a period to make 100 % sure .... Some reefers underestimate the effect of po4 but to me it's one of the most critical components to a healthy reef. Dieoff can be dealt with and also most pests po4 and nitrate to a lesser extent will be your challenge longer term. In my opinion good bacteria is easier to replace than fighting cyno or algae because of po4.

Hope this help in making an informed decision.

 

[G-reef]

thank you all so much... i do not have a pest problem..just want to start a new tank with nice new rock....so if you could tell me ...if i just move everything over to the new tank without changing anything just the aquascape...how long do i need to wait after adding new sand ...(tropic eden) and the same live rock i have ...how long do i have to wait to add my coral..and fish .thank you from my reef to yours...lee

 

[notmyname]

I agree with OceansX. This coming from the dry rock lady... If there is nothing wrong with your live rock, don't kill it off.

Live rock, and also sand, act as a kind of sponge for stuff like phosphates and nitrates. If you kill off your live rock, you are not likely removing the phosphates and nitrates that have collected in them over the years. All you'd have done is kill off the good stuff.

Doing it right is a lot of work! If your live rock is consumed by bubble algae or hair algae or hasn't recovered from a flat worm (planara) outbreak, then maybe killing it would be worth the effort. Please don't say you consider bristle worms to be a true pest lol <-- was looking for a pest emotion, but all I found was this stinking spider lol

Think of the rock I sell that comes from Fiji, never been in a tank. It has no defense against nuisance algae, but it also hasn't soaked up the nitrates or phosphates from a tank... Dry rock needs to build up good algae on its surface as protection against the likes of hair algae. You have to move more slowly with a tank started solely on dry rock for this reason. If you kill off your current live rock, run the risk of having both a breeding ground for troublesome algae-which feed on phosphates and nitrates that have built up in your rock.. and no good algae on the rock to keep the nuisance stuff from gaining a foothold.

If you are going to kill off your rock, do all you can to get it back to what I call "virgin" rock... Besides using either bleach or muriatic acid to kill off the marine life, probably put it through several soaking of fresh water too to allow the other unwanted stuff to leach out of the rock. Let it soak each time for a couple of weeks. It is a lot of work, but infinitely cheaper than buying new rock.

As an alternative, one thing I like to do with aged systems, is introduce new life to my tank when it seems to have lost some of its biological diversity... I might do by purchasing bacteria or live pods, by trading a rock with a friend (if we trust each other's tanks!), or by adding a small bit of uncured live rubble from an LFS' new shipment. These will allow a bug bloom without really introducing pests like rock crabs and pistol shrimp...

I hope you found something useful in THAT novel! Good luck with your new tank!

 

[Diesel]

Lee, all above are good info to use.
You're are a diehard reefer after talking to you at my place.
You saw my tank and aqua scape.
I started with 95% dry-rock to aqua scape my tank but before I washed and cleaned the dry-rock over and over.
Than I soaked it in RO/DI water for two weeks and did WC four times.
After that I had it run in salt water with ZEObak for two weeks and dose it with ZEOfood and ZEOstart3 but you can use any other startup culture.
I just went with ZEO as I have a full ZEO system from the beginning.
Than I put the aqua scape back together and.........................TADAAA!
The result......well, you saw my tank.
Still after a cycling process of 4 weeks before moving in corals I lost some nice SPS colonies, I blame it on the new tank syndrome.
Some SPS are sensitive for a lot of factors, I couldn't keep SBS or RP alive and kept trying and trying now finally after 1 year they starting to thrive and the colors are starting to look good on them.
On the moment I have a hard time to keep my po4 are levels I want, with a day of skipping halve of the food cycle for the fish due to work my po4 is down to 0 or 0.01.
On my regular schedule I run it at 0.04, have the most color and PE on this but that range is different in every tank setup.
I heard that sometimes SPS look awesome at 0.08.
Just keep your po4 in the same range for a long time and you do good. but that's with all of the # as in ALK, CAL, MAG, Potassium (many ppl forget about this, I think it's a important factor to for SPS)

Good luck Bro, You got a lot of info here from many member. use it wisely and if you think you taking it slow, slow down even more.
Time is a major key in a healthy thriving tank.

 

[BlackSS]

If anything, I would "cook" the live rock. But, for best results it is going to take quite a bit of time.

Unless you are fighting some major infestation, you are better off just moving things IMO. If you nuke the rock you are going to have to let things re-cycle, and will essentially be starting with a new system - and all of the instability that comes along with that.