Live Rock mishaps all around

[Laura Kelsey]

Hi
So I had bought some live rock from someone for very cheap and got about 50+ lbs. He gave it to me cheap as he had put it in buckets of saltwater and when we got there the water was practically frozen as it was in his garage and it got to be -14 here. It still was very colorful and I was going to cure it anyways so I bought it.

I didn’t have a big curling tub set up yet so I wrapped the rock in saltwater soaked paper towel and put it in trash bags. Less than 24 hrs later I had it all in a tub of saltwater with a pump running. I thought I was good to go... well little did I know my pump was so strong that it warmed up the water extremely. I went downstairs this am and the water was a little over 100 degrees . I grabbed some water to test it and ammonia was sky high (duh). I drained almost all the water and dumped new saltwater in, put a power head in there instead and now the temp is 80.

How bad did I *** up the rock and what do I need to do to save it/get it to a point to use it in my tank. My 75g already has about 60+ lbs and I wanted to put a few more pieces in.

Thanks!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

100 degrees ? Wow what pump was that?

Dump some DR Tim’s in there. It’ll be fine. You will have to wait of course.
While it’s in the bin, I would test the Po4. And in a few weeks the no3.

On the bright side , the abuse may well have killed a lot of bad stuff.

 

[Laura Kelsey]

100 degrees ? Wow what pump was that?

Dump some DR Tim’s in there. It’ll be fine. You will have to wait of course.
While it’s in the bin, I would test the Po4. And in a few weeks the no3.

On the bright side , the abuse may well have killed a lot of bad stuff.

It is a pump we use to drain our hot tub... I didn’t realize it itself would get hot after 12 hrs of running... hence changing it to a power head .

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It is a pump we use to drain our hot tub... I didn’t realize it itself would get hot after 12 hrs of running... hence changing it to a power head .

Haha. Nice. Been there.

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

It’s just rock at the end of the day.
I agree with salty. Dr Tim’s and time.

 

[Laura Kelsey]

What is Dr. Tim’s? Is that like Bio-Spira?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It is. Bottled bacteria. Dr Tim’s contains several strains. Bio spira has one. Both were formulated by the same guy I fact.

 

[Laura Kelsey]

So once ammonia and nitrites are zero can I add the live rock to my actual tank?

 

[mjlash22]

So once ammonia and nitrites are zero can I add the live rock to my actual tank?

I would assume you're planning on adding to a already up and running tank, so yes, you would want to keep testing the water levels in the tub you are curing the rock and wait for levels to match that of your tank (nitrate/PO4/ammonia).

 

[Laura Kelsey]

I would assume you're planning on adding to a already up and running tank, so yes, you would want to keep testing the water levels in the tub you are curing the rock and wait for levels to match that of your tank (nitrate/PO4/ammonia).

Yes it is up and running... it has only been up and running for about a week but I used bio Spira to rapid cycle it and while I just have damsels and a couple clowns, I don’t want to add it till it is ready enough to not recycle my tank... my tank has zero ammonia and nitrites and currently 10-20ppm for nitrate.