Do I need to clean these deadrocks?

[Eel Steve]

So I bought a tank today, and it came with like 200 lbs of dead rock. The rock has some green algae on some of the rocks, and the majority of it has these dead worm things. Are they bad? Indifferent? Can I just start cycling and let their matter decay to help the nitrogen cycle or something? How should I clean the rocks, if necessary?

 

[saltyphish]

If they are covered in algae then they may be saturated in nitrates and phosphates. Might be best to just start over not sure how bad off your rocks are.

 

[Eel Steve]

If they are covered in algae then they may be saturated in nitrates and phosphates. Might be best to just start over not sure how bad off your rocks are.

The ones without algae on it though, and it also might be just mold....

Anyways the ones with just the wormy things on them, are they okay?!??

 

[mr.reeferman]

pics would help

 

[Eckolancer]

Just take all the rock and give it an acid bath. Then soak it in RODI water for a day rinse and do another day of RODI soak. Rinse then let it start cycling your tank will completely kill anything bad and you will not have any pest. Done this a lot of times over the 15 years in the hobby.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Your fine using the dead dry rock. Nothing on it will harm the tank, if its been used in the past. There won't be any die off, as its just plain old dry rock at this point. You'll need to give your tank a source of ammonia for the cycle.
You could just give the give a quick rinsing off, but I'd not worry about anything on them.

 

[Eel Steve]

Your fine using the dead dry rock. Nothing on it will harm the tank, if its been used in the past. There won't be any die off, as its just plain old dry rock at this point. You'll need to give your tank a source of ammonia for the cycle.
You could just give the give a quick rinsing off, but I'd not worry about anything on them.

And tapwater is acceptable for my initial cleaning of my filter media too? (Guy threw me a bunch of bio balls)