Used dry macro rock

[lyswag]

Hi everyone! This is my first post and I just bought my first salt water tank. When I bought the tank I was given 350 pounds of dry macro rock that was used in it previously and It’s been sitting in a brute trash can for about a year now. I’ve seen people talk about curing used rock and then other say not to? Should I just leave it and put it in whenever I cycle my tank? Throw it out? Any advice will be super helpful!

 

[Fish Fan]

Hello and welcome to Reef2Reef!

350 pounds is A LOT of rock lol! What size tank did you get?

You can absolutely reuse old rock that was previously used but has now dried out. You would need to thoroughly clean the rock of all the organic material that is left over from when the rock was last used. If you don't clean this material off your rocks and just place them in your new tank, all that organic stuff will start to decay in your tank and give you problems, I believe.

The fastest and easiest way I know of to clean up the rock is a bleach cure. This will oxidize organics and clean your rocks, and make them look new and white again. Do a search for bleach curing rock and I'm sure you'll find lots of info about it.

You can also put your rock in something like a Brute trash can with saltwater and a circ pump. You add beneficial bacterial, and let the whole thing "cook" until the bacteria breakdown all the organics. This is super easy, but takes weeks to months to complete.

And whatever you do with your old rocks, when you set up your new tank you can definitely do it all with dried, base rock, but arguably it's better to add at least a little, if not use all, real live rock. Using live rock brings a myriad of beneficial micro and even macro organisms to your tank, and gets it going more quickly.

You can buy good live rock at a quality Local Fish Store (LFS). Or, arguably "the best" live rock you can get is the maricultured live rock from places like Tampa Bay Saltwater. TBS takes dry base rock and sinks it down in the ocean off the coast of Florida, where it sits for many months. In this time, the rock becomes completely populated with all kinds of ocean life, most of which is very beneficial to your tank. They then pull the rock up out of the ocean and package and ship it to you. This all comes at a premium cost, but you get ocean-direct live rock just teaming with microbes, as well as a wide variety of critters like snails, crabs, macro algae, etc. You may also get some pests to deal with, but in my opinion it's worth it for the rock you get. They also have live sand.

https://tbsaltwater.com/

You can start your tank with all dead rock, or if it's affordable you could go with all live rock, or you can do like 90% dry base rock, and just 10% live rock. The little bit of live rock will "seed" the dry rock and in time all the rock will be thriving and "alive".

Whatever you choose, best of luck with your new tank! Please let us know if you have further questions.

 

[lyswag]

Hello and welcome to Reef2Reef!

350 pounds is A LOT of rock lol! What size tank did you get?

You can absolutely reuse old rock that was previously used but has now dried out. You would need to thoroughly clean the rock of all the organic material that is left over from when the rock was last used. If you don't clean this material off your rocks and just place them in your new tank, all that organic stuff will start to decay in your tank and give you problems, I believe.

The fastest and easiest way I know of to clean up the rock is a bleach cure. This will oxidize organics and clean your rocks, and make them look new and white again. Do a search for bleach curing rock and I'm sure you'll find lots of info about it.

You can also put your rock in something like a Brute trash can with saltwater and a circ pump. You add beneficial bacterial, and let the whole thing "cook" until the bacteria breakdown all the organics. This is super easy, but takes weeks to months to complete.

And whatever you do with your old rocks, when you set up your new tank you can definitely do it all with dried, base rock, but arguably it's better to add at least a little, if not use all, real live rock. Using live rock brings a myriad of beneficial micro and even macro organisms to your tank, and gets it going more quickly.

You can buy good live rock at a quality Local Fish Store (LFS). Or, arguably "the best" live rock you can get is the maricultured live rock from places like Tampa Bay Saltwater. TBS takes dry base rock and sinks it down in the ocean off the coast of Florida, where it sits for many months. In this time, the rock becomes completely populated with all kinds of ocean life, most of which is very beneficial to your tank. They then pull the rock up out of the ocean and package and ship it to you. This all comes at a premium cost, but you get ocean-direct live rock just teaming with microbes, as well as a wide variety of critters like snails, crabs, macro algae, etc. You may also get some pests to deal with, but in my opinion it's worth it for the rock you get. They also have live sand.

https://tbsaltwater.com/

You can start your tank with all dead rock, or if it's affordable you could go with all live rock, or you can do like 90% dry base rock, and just 10% live rock. The little bit of live rock will "seed" the dry rock and in time all the rock will be thriving and "alive".

Whatever you choose, best of luck with your new tank! Please let us know if you have further questions.

My friends uncle practically gave me his partners 230.6 platinum pro waterbox with all the equipment! Was not planning to go that big but he sold me everything and delivered for $300. His partner has passed and it was all sitting in the garage for a year. Since previous owner passed, I don’t really have anyone to ask the simple little questions so I’m beyond thankful for this form and FB groups.

 

[PharmrJohn]

As stated above, yes, you can use it and it's best to include some live rock (from TBS for example). I'll be launching a 197g tank next spring with 150# of cured dry rock and 50# of live rock. You just need to make sure all of that embedded PO4 has leached out before putting the rock in the tank.

 

[19Mateo83]

The bleach cure is the easiest and fastest method. Just be sure NOT to buy “splashless” bleach, it has other detergents in it. I have found that you can buy pool essentials chlorinating liquid from Walmart in the pool chemical area that works fine, it is only sodium hypochlorite, which is bleach.

https://images.thdstatic.com/catalog/pdfImages/5c/5c4dde9a-e72f-4c17-93af-4a08f5c56727.pdf

 

[twentyleagues]

Since you probably dont know the actual history on the rock I would do the bleach and let them dry out for a week. Then put them in the cleaned out bins with saltwater heat and flow and give them a week. After that test phosphates, leave them like this for a few weeks testing periodically. If you get higher than low phosphate readings do some 100% water changes or look up the use of lanthanum chloride to reduce phosphate levels.

 

[Spare time]

I personally would just let them sit in a bin full of saltwater with a heater and an internal filter that contains carbon and gfo. You can bleach them or soak them in some water with a strong hydrogen peroxide beforehand. The peroxide is nice if you are worried about the bleach fumes.

 

[Solo McReefer]

Grow it out

And culture it yourself. since you have it

Put it in a rubbermade stock tanks with live rock, out in the back yard

Give it good temp. Some sun. Lots of flow. Give it clean salt water

Put a bunch of marine life in it. Macros. Sponges. CUC. Put a bunch of damsels in it

 

[Solo McReefer]

As stated above, yes, you can use it and it's best to include some live rock (from TBS for example). I'll be launching a 197g tank next spring with 150# of cured dry rock and 50# of live rock. You just need to make sure all of that embedded PO4 has leached out before putting the rock in the tank.

Exactly

Pull all that out you can before it's even around your corals and fish

GFO or LC

And then get all of that of your rock before you aqua culture it

 

[Fish Fan]

My friends uncle practically gave me his partners 230.6 platinum pro waterbox with all the equipment! Was not planning to go that big but he sold me everything and delivered for $300. His partner has passed and it was all sitting in the garage for a year. Since previous owner passed, I don’t really have anyone to ask the simple little questions so I’m beyond thankful for this form and FB groups.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your uncle's partner. There's all the help you need right here on R2R, just keep asking questions and someone undoubtably will do their best to help you out.

The bleach cure is the easiest and fastest method. Just be sure NOT to buy “splashless” bleach, it has other detergents in it. I have found that you can buy pool essentials chlorinating liquid from Walmart in the pool chemical area that works fine, it is only sodium hypochlorite, which is bleach.

https://images.thdstatic.com/catalog/pdfImages/5c/5c4dde9a-e72f-4c17-93af-4a08f5c56727.pdf

I second using swimming pool liquid chlorine since it is the same active ingredient as bleach, but at a stronger concentration, so you'll need less of it. Just make sure it's plain liquid chlorine and does not contain any kind of algaecide or any other pool chemicals that might be an issue later. And if you do use regular bleach, don't use the splashless, but also don't use anything with any added scents either.

You'll be using bleach and in a way that isn't what it's typically used for. Be careful. It would be wise to wear eye protection, gloves, long sleeves, etc. Beware of the fumes, do this in a very well ventilated space like outside or in your garage with the garage door wide open.

When the bleach cure is over, rinse the rocks well, then let them dry out completely, as another member mentioned above. Bleach is degraded by sunlight and bleach is fully neutralized once it's dry.

I personally would just let them sit in a bin full of saltwater with a heater and an internal filter that contains carbon and gfo. You can bleach them or soak them in some water with a strong hydrogen peroxide beforehand. The peroxide is nice if you are worried about the bleach fumes.

I'm not a chemist, I don't claim to be, but I believe Randy Holms-Farley once said that hydrogen peroxide is not a strong enough oxidizer to cure rock this way, even if you use the very strong concentrations of hydrogen peroxide sold for horticulture, etc. But you're correct that it's quite a bit safer to work with than the bleach.

 

[Spare time]

Grow it out

And culture it yourself. since you have it

Put it in a rubbermade stock tanks with live rock, out in the back yard

Give it good temp. Some sun. Lots of flow. Give it clean salt water

Put a bunch of marine life in it. Macros. Sponges. CUC. Put a bunch of damsels in it

Sorry to hear about the loss of your uncle's partner. There's all the help you need right here on R2R, just keep asking questions and someone undoubtably will do their best to help you out.



I second using swimming pool liquid chlorine since it is the same active ingredient as bleach, but at a stronger concentration, so you'll need less of it. Just make sure it's plain liquid chlorine and does not contain any kind of algaecide or any other pool chemicals that might be an issue later. And if you do use regular bleach, don't use the splashless, but also don't use anything with any added scents either.

You'll be using bleach and in a way that isn't what it's typically used for. Be careful. It would be wise to wear eye protection, gloves, long sleeves, etc. Beware of the fumes, do this in a very well ventilated space like outside or in your garage with the garage door wide open.

When the bleach cure is over, rinse the rocks well, then let them dry out completely, as another member mentioned about. Bleach is degraded by sunlight and bleach is fully neutralized once it's dry.


I'm not a chemist, I don't claim to be, but I believe Randy Holms-Farley once said that hydrogen peroxide is not a strong enough oxidizer to cure rock this way, even if you use the very strong concentrations of hydrogen peroxide sold for horticulture, etc. But you're correct that it's quite a bit safer to work with than the bleach.

I was thinking 12% hydrogen peroxide or similar to just start breaking down the gunk before curing

 

[Fish Fan]

I was thinking 12% hydrogen peroxide or similar to just start breaking down the gunk before curing

I believe it comes in a 17% for horticultural use. I'm not disagreeing with you, I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure I remember Randy Holmes-Farley saying that even with the higher concentration it's not strong enough to break down those organics. But, even without an oxydent, time will get the job done safely and easily ;-)

 

[SomeHappyFish]

Wow 300$ you got lucky ! Send us pictures

 

[Reef.]

Definitely bleach it as marco rock can hold a lot of po4.

Maybe worth trying to only bleach the rock you need for your scape, if you can sort your scape out now, rather than bleaching the full 350lbs if you don't plan on using all of it.