Cycling rock question

[Therinx]

Greetings all,

I have a piece of dry rock that is in my cycling tank (in week 3 - Nitrites starting to decline) that i've decided is too big and needs to be chiseled down into 2 smaller pieces. Would it disturb my cycle if i took it out, hammered it into two, washed off the debris and then put the pieces back in the tank?

Thanks in advance!

 

[NotFishyFishGuy]

When you wash off the debris from the rock you might also wash off the bacteria

 

[Wayne P.]

Shouldn't be a problem as long as you don't let it dry out. The bacteria count will remain essentially the same except for what you lose in your rock debris. Depending how it breaks up you can add the other smaller pieces back in as rubble. Washing off the debris with light mist, don't soak it, and use salt water to wash the debris. But you don't even need to do that, because there are bacteria on the debris. Brush off the unsightly bits.

 

[Therinx]

Shouldn't be a problem as long as you don't let it dry out. The bacteria count will remain essentially the same except for what you lose in your rock debris. Depending how it breaks up you can add the other smaller pieces back in as rubble. Washing off the debris with light mist, don't soak it, and use salt water to wash the debris. But you don't even need to do that, because there are bacteria on the debris. Brush off the unsightly bits.

I was going to dunk it in a bucket of RODI saltwater and rub the dust/debris off with my fingers gently.

 

[lapin]

As long as its wet the bacteria will be fine. You cant really wash off very much of the bacteria. It likes to live deep in the rocks.

 

[Double monti 61]

Do a water change and use the waste water to rinse the rock.