How to get my rock ready???

[henrystyle]

I recently broke down my 90 gallon freshwater tank. I took the rocks out of there and Im going to reuse them in my new reef setup....
I put the rocks in a rubbermaid bin, filled it with tap water and added some bleach. The rocks were covered with green algae and crap. The next day the rocks looked just like when I first bought them. CLEAN!

My question is what should be my next step to get the rocks ready to go into my new reef setup?

I was planning on rinsing them good then letting them sit in saltwater with a heater and powerhead going... Should I cover the rubbermaid while doing this??
Really concerned about getting the phosphates out of the rock. I have coraline covered live rock from my 30 gallon reef that I can seed this freshwater rock with...
Let me know what you think I should do.......

[o Panama o]

I would have thought you would be better soaking them in RO water for a while to leach all the bleach out of the rocks, changing the water a couple of times and then put them in salt water as you described, just my thoughts....

[Lightsluvr]

Bleach, eh?

The only surefire way I know to get rid of bleach(soaking) is to completely dry the rock... it's dead anyway, so you're not losing anything by drying it out completely.

After the drying process, place it in to salt water, circulating vigorously with powerheads for several weeks. Then add a piece of real live rock to seed the dead rock. The rock will have to cycle, in or out of your new display tank.

JMHO.

LL

[henrystyle]

Bleach, eh?

The only surefire way I know to get rid of bleach(soaking) is to completely dry the rock... it's dead anyway, so you're not losing anything by drying it out completely.

After the drying process, place it in to salt water, circulating vigorously with powerheads for several weeks. Then add a piece of real live rock to seed the dead rock. The rock will have to cycle, in or out of your new display tank.

JMHO.

LL
Makes sense.. Thats what Im doing now drying it out.....Im guessing I need a heater along with those powerheads correct?

[cody6766]

it would help to have one if your room gets too cold. Bacteria will only 'work' (read: live and function normally) within certain temperature thresholds. I did some digging on the bacteria that colonize live rock and assist in the nitrogen cycle and they seem to function best around 75-85* and begin to have trouble much below or above that. 95* seemed to be the approximate upper threshold before they die off. I didn't find a clear lower (or I've forgotten it) but I'd assume it'd be around 65'ish. I wouldn't buy a heater until you run your rock for a while and see if it's really needed. If you have one, why not toss it in?

[henrystyle]

it would help to have one if your room gets too cold. Bacteria will only 'work' (read: live and function normally) within certain temperature thresholds. I did some digging on the bacteria that colonize live rock and assist in the nitrogen cycle and they seem to function best around 75-85* and begin to have trouble much below or above that. 95* seemed to be the approximate upper threshold before they die off. I didn't find a clear lower (or I've forgotten it) but I'd assume it'd be around 65'ish. I wouldn't buy a heater until you run your rock for a while and see if it's really needed. If you have one, why not toss it in?
ok, thx for the good advice...I have plenty heaters laying around..
3 last time I checked...