What to do with old live rock?

[InvaderJim]

My tank is in need of a reset. Some early decisions saw me adding hairy mushrooms and green paly's which I thought were cool at the time but are virtually impossible to get rid of now. I am going to have to tear out a bunch of live rock that's 3+ years old I hate to throw it out in the yard and let it dry out, but it's time to take drastic measures. Would cooking it in a brute container eventually kill off any corals on it or is drying out my only course of action here?

 

[Jekyl]

My tank is in need of a reset. Some early decisions saw me adding hairy mushrooms and green paly's which I thought were cool at the time but are virtually impossible to get rid of now. I am going to have to tear out a bunch of live rock that's 3+ years old I hate to throw it out in the yard and let it dry out, but it's time to take drastic measures. Would cooking it in a brute container eventually kill off any corals on it or is drying out my only course of action here?

Just remove the light and keep parameters good. Eventually the coral will die and the rock will still be usable.

 

[exnisstech]

I've had palys survive six months in a dark brute container. Green and paly grandis

 

[Solo McReefer]

Put it in a bucket or Brute and keep it alive

Killing real live rock these days is a true sin

I would use a wire brush to scrape off what I didn't want. Wearing PPE and keeping it all under salt water while doing ao

 

[BeanAnimal]

What makes it any less real if starts dry? Allowing to dry in the yard is. It the end of the world, it will be live again next time it is put into a system and allowed to mature for a few months or years.

As for curing in a dark bin? I have mushrooms that have been in a dark sump for a year, still there. They need to be scrubbed off of the rock. Of course with zoanthids or palythoa this could be dangerous.

 

[ca1ore]

Green hairy mushrooms are a scourge …. I never found anything that would eat or control them. I just baked the rock in the sun. Once the shrooms are gone, give it a quick scrub, put it back in the tank and it will be ‘live’ again soon enough.

 

[InvaderJim]

What makes it any less real if starts dry? Allowing to dry in the yard is. It the end of the world, it will be live again next time it is put into a system and allowed to mature for a few months or years.

As for curing in a dark bin? I have mushrooms that have been in a dark sump for a year, still there. They need to be scrubbed off of the rock. Of course with zoanthids or palythoa this could be dangerous.

It was just a moral struggle of killing off perfectly good live rock to get rid of nuisance corals. But at the end of the day you are right. It will be live again.

Green hairy mushrooms are a scourge …. I never found anything that would eat or control them. I just baked the rock in the sun. Once the shrooms are gone, give it a quick scrub, put it back in the tank and it will be ‘live’ again soon enough.

Sounds like baking and reseeding is my best option here.

 

[BeanAnimal]

if you have a use for it, then scrub it and put it in a a dark bin. You may need to rinse (literal) and repeat a few times over a month or more. A skimmer would help. If not dry it out and save it for another day.

 

[BCSreef]

Soak the rock in kalkwasser for a few hours. That kills just about everything on the surface but leaves bacteria below the surface alive. Thats what I do to kill Palys on my rock. I rinse, scrape dead stuff off and add back to system.

 

[InvaderJim]

Soak the rock in kalkwasser for a few hours. That kills just about everything on the surface but leaves bacteria below the surface alive. Thats what I do to kill Palys on my rock. I rinse, scrape dead stuff off and add back to system.

Interesting idea. Like a saturated kalk solution? Or dumping a bunch in a bin with saltwater?

 

[BCSreef]

Interesting idea. Like a saturated kalk solution? Or dumping a bunch in a bin with saltwater?

Saturated kalk solution. The osmotic shock plus the kalk seems to get the job done.

Also, as another poster does, and if I have time, the rock goes out in the yard for a few months then back into the tank.