Crumbling dry rock/ Rock left out in sun.

[Jay_M]

Hello All,

I am in the process of starting up a reef tank again and have a quick question. I have had a pile (100+ pounds) of live rock sitting outside in the sun for some time now and I'm wondering what kind of negative results this will have on the rock. My first observation is that the petco Fiji rock is literally crumbling and can be snapped in half.. Would this be deemed unusable to most? Should I just purchase new rock?

I have half of the rock in heated saltwater in an attempt to start the cure, but just in case, I thought I'd ask before getting 2 months into a cure and find out its pointless.

Thanks,

-Jay

 

[Diesel]

I would go for new rock.
The fact that it is crumbling will say enough that the strength is gone.
Not sure why this is happening but maybe it wasn't real LR.

 

[ksc]

Acid rain....

 

[Jay_M]

So i spoke to the guy at my LFS and he suggests that there was a chemical reaction with the sun that basically compromised the strength of the rock. Also, the acid rain point i did not even consider!

I was initially thinking that maybe i can still use the rock, just not in a structurally important location meaning, not as the base or holding much weight, but I'm starting to think now that this rock is toast.

Thank you both very much for your responses!

-Jay

 

[Jay_M]

I guess as a side note, this is the 7.99 purple petco rock for anyone wondering what rock this is. The one that comes in Small, Medium, Large variants.