Does this used live rock look ok?

[Rebelwithoutaclue]

I’m wanting to setup a tank and someone on Craigslist is selling the sand and live rock with mushrooms from an older tank. Would this be a good idea?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Impossible to answer. It depends on what you want to end up with, how much effort and money you want to put into it and how good the tank and other hardware really is. Not to mention how much they are asking for the tank.

Sorry for the non-answer, but there just isn't nearly enough information here to make any kind of rational comment.

 

[Rebelwithoutaclue]

Impossible to answer. It depends on what you want to end up with, how much effort and money you want to put into it and how good the tank and other hardware really is. Not to mention how much they are asking for the tank.

Sorry for the non-answer, but there just isn't nearly enough information here to make any kind of rational comment.

Sorry. I’m not wanting their tank. Just possibly the sand and live rock that has these corals growing on half the rocks.
I was wanting to do a simple 20 gallon long setup with some soft flowy corals and a couple of fish and shrimp. I didn’t know if there was issues I couldn’t see right off the bat since I’m brand new, like if those mushroom corals would be a problem or not. I was going to start with live sand and dry rock but I didn’t know if this would be a better option or too risky to buy.

 

[fish farmer]

I'd probably ditch most of the sand, maybe keep a cup to seed the new sand. From the picture it doesn't look like a lot of sand so not worth much.

As for the mushrooms. If these are going into a 20 long you will more than likely have a tank full of mushrooms eventually seeing how they have completely covered the rock. I'd isolate them on one side of the tank so they don't completely take over.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Mushrooms are USUALLY quite hardy and should do OK with the move to a new tank. I'd clean the sand before I'd re-use it. Put it in a BIG bucket and put it out in the yard. Take your garden hose with no nozzle and stuff it down into the sand and fill the bucket until it overflows. Now move the hose up and down into different places in the sand. This will take a while but eventually the water will start to run MUCH clearer than at first. Stop the water and wait 2 minutes. If the water sitting on top of the sand is clear, it should be OK to use. If it's still dirty, keep washing it.

I just did this with three 5g buckets of sand from a tank I just tore down and put it into my new tank. That washed sand with live rock had no cycle issues. Ammonia has been zero from day one to day 7 with nitrates rising slightly.