Moving Live Rock from the Sump to the display

[GregOyeah]

Ive been thinking about making some changes to my aquascape and im thinking i might want to utilize this nice piece of branching liverock thats been buried in my sump for probably close to 3 years, maybe even 4.

this rock has been buried under the huge continuous ball of chaeto in my sump, it sees no light from my fuge light, so the rock really doesnt have a lot of color to it. Its has a ton of tiny white tube worms all over it, but thats not really a problem.

I guess my concern is that this rock has been in a part of the tank which was being used as a breeding ground for nuisance algae for years now, I guess Im worried about potentially seeding the display with something I dont want growing up there.

Can anyone put my mind at ease about this?? Anyone done something like this without a problem?

 

[brandon429]

for sure id add it. agreed the low coralline/bright reflective area makes for good algae ground but it will teach hand guiding independent from parameters, other rocks, this is critical to system management over years and decades...doing what it takes to control the real estate in your tank vs letting a plant or moneran mat win, and wreck your setup sprig by sprig

it should be moved up front because its likely to require gardening solely due to the new lighting, its been in contact with same water/flow and if fragmentation was a concern its already been contributing. the practice of forcing it to comply is worth the move up.

as the rock sits up top taking on light and new colonizers and coralline, that hand guiding will become less to the point it functions like normal live rock.

as algae grows, lift it up and scrape algae off, or use a blue jet flame lighter to burn the spot, accept no algae. plant corals, they exclude algae (nobody in history ever got algae on the mouth of a candy cane or lobo coral, algae must adhere on the hard surfaces, exlude /reduce open hardscapes by planting corals and fostering room for coralline)