Re-aquascaping question

bennycbenny · May 4, 2022

Hi,

I removed a large rock from my tank (was in there for about a year). It probably consisted of half of my aqua scape. I then broke it into pieces and re scaped it. It was out of my tank for about a week so I’m assuming the beneficial bacteria died? Can I just add that rock back in? Should I rinse it or anything first? (With tap water or RO)

Just want to make sure I’m not missing anything (like nitrite spike or something) from adding that rock back in.

Thanks!!

SPS2020 · May 4, 2022

I'd think you have some die off in there. You might want to bleach, rinse and soak in Seachem Prime or similar. I would still be cautious and add back a piece or so at a time depending upon how big to be sure nothing gets shocked.

Lost in the Sauce · May 4, 2022

How big is the tank? Sounds small if one rock was a majority.

I would be soaking it for a week and taking a scrub brush to it daily with a water change.. I've hit rock with a power washer as well to remove old external die off.

bennycbenny · May 4, 2022

Lost in the Sauce said:
How big is the tank? Sounds small if one rock was a majority.

I would be soaking it for a week and taking a scrub brush to it daily with a water change.. I've hit rock with a power washer as well to remove old external die off.

It was a pretty large piece all glued together. The tank is 55 gal with 15 gal sump. What should I soak it in? RO water? And scrub the rock daily and then do a water change on it at the end? Or water change on the rock water daily?

also it’s a pretty long piece now, so might be tricky to find a bucket that will hold it…. Thanks for the response!!

bennycbenny · May 4, 2022

SPS2020 said:
I'd think you have some die off in there. You might want to bleach, rinse and soak in Seachem Prime or similar. I would still be cautious and add back a piece or so at a time depending upon how big to be sure nothing gets shocked.

Got it. Thanks! What’s the point of the bleach? To kill the die off?

Lost in the Sauce · May 4, 2022

bennycbenny said:
It was a pretty large piece all glued together. The tank is 55 gal with 15 gal sump. What should I soak it in? RO water? And scrub the rock daily and then do a water change on it at the end? Or water change on the rock water daily?

also it’s a pretty long piece now, so might be tricky to find a bucket that will hold it…. Thanks for the response!!

In my opinion it's already dead so no real use in soaking in salt initially. The soaking is really just a soften the organics you were then going to be trying to scrub away. There is going to be a lot caught inside.

That's a pretty decent water volume, So long as you have enough active bacteria in the tank to deal with the ammonia from the die off.