TRENT Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I bought a neglected used tank the other day (28 Nano). Rock looks terrible. What should I do with it? All parameters are good except Phosphate. I'm in the process of setting up a 40B but it may be a month or so. should I take it all out, power wash it and set it in the sun? Here are a few pictures. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 boil it for at least an hour then let it dry out, and when your ready, should be good to go as nice dry base rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I agree... I do the same when the rock is in bad condition. Just find a nice clean piece of live rock plenty of coralline to put with the dry rock when you start the tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianB Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I would save what you can as far as life goes. There looks to be some good stuff on that rock but alot of aptasia too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRENT Posted July 23, 2010 Author Share Posted July 23, 2010 Man you guys are fast. What do you mean "boil it"? Like on the stove? My wife will kill me.(threaten) Can I just Power wash it and put it in a tub of FW for a few days then power wash it again? Also do you think the sand in this tank is ok to reseed or should I just throw it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 rinse the sand real good, and boiling it is the best way, but if your PW can get the super high temps, go with it, just make sure to use NO soap :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Man you guys are fast. What do you mean "boil it"? Like on the stove? My wife will kill me.(threaten) Can I just Power wash it and put it in a tub of FW for a few days then power wash it again? Also do you think the sand in this tank is ok to reseed or should I just throw it? Your wife will get over it.....LOL I just made food for the fish in my kitchen last week. That smells just as bad as cooking rock on the stove. Good luck. Ask for forgiveness not for permission...(whistle) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 The reasoning behind boiling it then letting it completely dry out is that way you kill EVERYTHING. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I'd just let it dry out completely, the cycle it. I can't believe people actually boil live rock -- that started out as a misinterpretation of "cooking" freshly harvested live rock, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I've actually been told to boil rock that's covered in pest nems or what-not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Re: Is this rock usable? +1 on everything Andy just said.....especially the boiling part. Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 With boiling you are sure to get rid of algae and bacteria that can live dry. For instance some spores of Valonia can survive weeks outside the water with the humidity of the air. The process of "cooking" live rock it is mostly used for getting rid of accumulated phosphates in the porosity of the live rock. Soak the live rock in some ro/di water after boiling and check the phosphates levels after a day. If the live rock is leaking phosphates you might have to cook your base rock. A few ppm are normal. You can do it in the tank, lights off, cover the walls and do water changes. Add light slowly. You can find a lot of infos about the dark cycling of a tank in the german literature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 the phosphate things makes sense....also makes sense on why when my buddies did it, for different reasons, it didn't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefSafari Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Just a rookie question here....But what is exactly wrong with that rock? Just the aptasia? Is the rock being blamed for high phosphates? Couldn't the high phosphates come from using tap water, excess food and waste.ect..? Once the rock is boiled/cooked and dried out, it no longer contains the beneficial bacterial and things that make it live correct? You would have to cure the rock all over again and it basically would be base rock...I am just not understanding why the need to Boil/Cook the rock? Just to rid the aptasia? If it where me I would let a couple of peppermint shrimp have a go at them, or target snipe them with some AptasiaX products....And to me, my gut instinct would be the high phosphates would be due to not using RODI water.....is it really the live rock that is causing the high Phosphates? The pictures to me show nice rock with some coraline algea, sponges?, ect....Other than the aptasia which to me is not the end of the world, a hassle maybe...The rock seems nice...at least to me...but then again I am a rookie... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRENT Posted July 23, 2010 Author Share Posted July 23, 2010 I'm also a rookie at this. Here are a few more pictures. I use RO/DI water from the LFS. Yes, I have tested it. Their is also some Algae ball looking things. I have been doing 20% WC once a week trying to clear the tank up a little at a time. So I don't disturb the good bacteria to much. so should I start over or give it some time? I do have some AptasiaX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 honestly, i think it looks fine. you just need to beef up your cleanup crew. it looks like all kinds of good stuff for them to eat. you need a tiny bit of phosphates for your tank to thrive anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Sometimes in our hobby there are some "new trends". One is to start with base rock instead of live rock. I always started my tanks with LR, but I recently gave a try to the base rock way. I will keep you posted. If the rock has all the good stuff (aiptasia, green algae, some unwanted corals, bubble algae and so on) I think the base rock way make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I may be wrong but it looks like some aptasia needs to be dealt with however otherwise this appears to be well established live rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I may be wrong but it looks like some aptasia needs to be dealt with however otherwise this appears to be well established live rock. i agree with you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kendaroo Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 That's about what our rock looked like when we "adopted" our first tank earlier this year. We did regular water changes with RO/DI water, added to the cleanup crew, and everything started looking much better within a couple of weeks. We are newbies, too, but if it were me, I wouldn't do anything drastic. Gillian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayTheSavageFraser Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 The rock looks still a little young. Your puffer is my concern in that tank. To bad he was there I would just put a few peppermint shrimp in there and let them take care of the aptasia. I just aquired a new 90 gallon tank that was neglected and full of algae and aptasia. I put 3 emerald crabs, a tiger cowry, and 4 peppermint shrimp in there shut off the lights and it is beautiful!! Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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