Live rock from friends aquarium

[LukeTeeReef]

So a friend is going to be closing down his salt tank and going fresh water. He has a 150 gallon tank half full of live rock, says no pests but “Arisia” stars, he hasn’t had disease and has a leather growing on some of the rock, but says there is some brown algae.

I have a new tank just starting this hobby, I have live and and dr Tim’s one and only I was gonna cycle with dry rock.

My question is what do I have to do to the rock from my friend before putting it in my tank? Do I kill the algae first somehow ? Do I put it in and cycle it like I would dry rock, do I put it in a bucket close the lid with a heater and let it Cooke for some time?

Please let me know what the best process would be thanks!

 

[DSC reef]

If it were me I'd give the rocks a good scrub in saltwater and give a good examination of the rock before putting it in your DT. I'm not a fan of asterina starfish due to having ones that ate zoas but not all asterina are bad. Depending on how your friends tank was maintained and how his phosphate tested would determine if I would directly use the rock after.

 

[LukeTeeReef]

If it were me I'd give the rocks a good scrub in saltwater and give a good examination of the rock before putting it in your DT. I'm not a fan of asterina starfish due to having ones that ate zoas but not all asterina are bad. Depending on how your friends tank was maintained and how his phosphate tested would determine if I would directly use the rock after.

My tank is brand new no water in it yet do I toss them in and just cycle the way I would dry rock? After cleaning the stars I kinda like for now I want som harlequins

 

[NY_Caveman]

Algae would not scare me. You will get some anyway. @DSC reef gives good advice about Asterinas. In general I would always try to add at least some live rock to my system. The benefits are just too good. Unless your friend had a major problem, take some at least to seed your dry rock.

If it is free then definitely take a lot. LOL

 

[NY_Caveman]

I would cure the live rock in a bucket of saltwater as you said. If I did it in the tank with the dry rock, I would not add any ammonia. Preserve the beneficial life in that case.

 

[Toomnymods]

My tank is brand new no water in it yet do I toss them in and just cycle the way I would dry rock? After cleaning the stars I kinda like for now I want som harlequins

if you want harelquinn shrimp don't kill those stars they are free food for your harlequin's

as far as the liverock.. long as there is no Green hair algae or high phosphates in his tank I'd just do a good rinse in some fresh saltwater and transfer directly to your tank. your tank will cycle pretty fast this way using seeded liverock from another system.

 

[LukeTeeReef]

I would cure the live rock in a bucket of saltwater as you said. If I did it in the tank with the dry rock, I would not add any ammonia. Preserve the beneficial life in that case.

Is there a reason for in the bucket vs in tank? I would not be using any dry rock.

 

[emilios_reeftank]

In my opinion when I started my tank I wish I would have just used real reef rock (dry rock) because of the hitchhikers you can get from live rock. Live rock will make your tank cycle twice as fast but, your definitely going to get some kind of hitchhiker in your tank. Also DO NOT BOIL YOUR ROCKS OR SCRUB THEM! If the live rock has any type of coral on it the corals could release toxins that can make you very sick. Good luck on your new tank! Happy Reefing!

 

[LukeTeeReef]

In my opinion when I started my tank I wish I would have just used real reef rock (dry rock) because of the hitchhikers you can get from live rock. Live rock will make your tank cycle twice as fast but, your definitely going to get some kind of hitchhiker in your tank. Also DO NOT BOIL YOUR ROCKS OR SCRUB THEM! If the live rock has any type of coral on it the corals could release toxins that can make you very sick. Good luck on your new tank! Happy Reefing!

These rocks have been in a tank for a while with no pest problems from the rocks so I think I should be okay ! Free rock yay

 

[Braves Fan]

Unless the rock is covered with Aptasia ,, I would use it ,, if you decide you don't want it in your display tank ,, put all that rock into your sump tank don't even give those Star Fish a second thought ,,, buy you a long pair of tweezers ,, you can pick them out each morning ,, while you are doing this each day ,, you are spending time giving your tank a once over ,, that never hurts ,, you will be able to spot any problems in your system early ,,, at some point ,, you will get caught up with the star fish population and have them under control ,, I wouldn't buy one of those star fish eating shrimp ,, once the star fish are gone ,, so is the shrimp ,, its all they eat post in your local forum if you have one ,, I am sure someone will have one of those shrimp that would gladly take any of those star fish off your hands ,,,

 

[LukeTeeReef]

Unless the rock is covered with Aptasia ,, I would use it ,, if you decide you don't want it in your display tank ,, put all that rock into your sump tank don't even give those Star Fish a second thought ,,, buy you a long pair of tweezers ,, you can pick them out each morning ,, while you are doing this each day ,, you are spending time giving your tank a once over ,, that never hurts ,, you will be able to spot any problems in your system early ,,, at some point ,, you will get caught up with the star fish population and have them under control ,, I wouldn't buy one of those star fish eating shrimp ,, once the star fish are gone ,, so is the shrimp ,, its all they eat post in your local forum if you have one ,, I am sure someone will have one of those shrimp that would gladly take any of those star fish off your hands ,,,

The plan was to get a shrimp and a few stars I could harvest limbs from to feed, sadistic though

 

[LukeTeeReef]

Got a picture from my friends tank he’s shutting down this is the rock looks a bit more then just some brown algae,

Here is the leather that’s close up atm

Thoughts so I don’t start off with problems lols

 

[LukeTeeReef]

His gf fed a whole bottle of food while he was gone for a week and that’s started his problems lol

 

[emilios_reeftank]

I forgot to mention as well just like Braves Fan pointed out those star fish are nothing. I had them in my system and not once did they bother my corals at all. I had a ton of them (at least over 100 in my system) and everything was fine . I see that the rock is covered in some hair algae, definitely use your hands and pull off as much as possible and try to dip those rocks in some coral solution to kill it. HA will definitely take over your system in about 3 months and you will be fighting it out of your system for at least over a year (from experience).

Unless the rock is covered with Aptasia ,, I would use it ,, if you decide you don't want it in your display tank ,, put all that rock into your sump tank don't even give those Star Fish a second thought ,,, buy you a long pair of tweezers ,, you can pick them out each morning ,, while you are doing this each day ,, you are spending time giving your tank a once over ,, that never hurts ,, you will be able to spot any problems in your system early ,,, at some point ,, you will get caught up with the star fish population and have them under control ,, I wouldn't buy one of those star fish eating shrimp ,, once the star fish are gone ,, so is the shrimp ,, its all they eat post in your local forum if you have one ,, I am sure someone will have one of those shrimp that would gladly take any of those star fish off your hands ,,,

 

[LukeTeeReef]

Well this is not something I want to deal with, I don’t want nasty hair algae problem from the get go lol, think I may pass on this free rock lol thoughts ?

 

[emilios_reeftank]

Yes I say pass on the free rocks man haha. Not worth the time or money man, you can get Real Reef live rock that looks just like real rock for like half the price of real rock and theirs a 100% guarantee of no hitchhikers. Trust me I put over $100 in my 24g just to treat hair algae and that still wasn't enough.

 

[LukeTeeReef]

Yes I say pass on the free rocks man haha. Not worth the time or money man, you can get Real Reef live rock that looks just like real rock for like half the price of real rock and theirs a 100% guarantee of no hitchhikers. Trust me I put over $100 in my 24g just to treat hair algae and that still wasn't enough.

Ya but in your tank you created that problem right?

 

[RtomKinMad]

My tank is brand new no water in it yet do I toss them in and just cycle the way I would dry rock? After cleaning the stars I kinda like for now I want som harlequins

The harlequins are awesome and so cute but when the star fish run out they will die unless you feed then more star fish.

 

[emilios_reeftank]

Yes I had an extreme problem with Hair Algae in my tank. Like I said I spent over $100 dollars in livestock and products trying to rid of it. Definitely worth it to buy the, Real Reef Rock if you want more rock in your system. It looks real and it still grows coraline algae on it nicely.

 

[Toomnymods]

Well this is not something I want to deal with, I don’t want nasty hair algae problem from the get go lol, think I may pass on this free rock lol thoughts ?

the rock is still worth having but it'd take a few weeks to restore it back to something useable.. get a 44 gallon brute trashcan and put all the rock in there.. fill it up with some ro/di water and dump in 2 gallons of muratic acid. this will cook everything off of the rocks and within 20-30 mins will be totally clean useable rock. Then you need to basically restore it by putting it into clean ro/di water and curing it with some bacteria and ammonia. its a lot of work but with how expensive liverock is i'd give it a try..