View Full Version : Suggestions a small BTA farm???
By no intentional means I have decided to start a small BTA farm. I'll be keeping them in a 40 breeder with a single pair of clowns to begin with and may expand either the tank size or number of tanks if it pans out.
I'm looking for feeding and substrate suggestions and PICTURES of existing or previous setups regardless of size.
PJtree23
05/25/2011, 10:19 AM
Count me in for this info too.
I am thinking about doing this as well. Any examples would help.
PJ
ATM I'm thinking I'll replicate what I saw in a much larger system where the BTAs were in a subtrateless tub. They're currently in a few flower pots having been removed from the rockwork last night.
I don't know how many I have total. Maybe 10-12?
dalilgriffith
05/25/2011, 07:22 PM
Are you thinking about cutting them or natural splitting?
zeeter
05/25/2011, 09:32 PM
as for feeding, strong lighting and some raw shrimp a couple of times a week.
If this isn't for appearance and you're going to have a sump you may want to consider a bare bottom tank. Easier to clean.
wfournier
05/26/2011, 06:19 AM
I'd skip the clowns depending on what type of propagation you are thinking.
jake levi
05/26/2011, 07:19 AM
A couple of very good threads on this on the propagation section, check it out.
Unless they are all one clone best to frag in different tanks, one tank per clone.
zeeter
05/26/2011, 07:25 AM
I had an interesting thing happen a couple of months ago. I had two green bta's in my tank and for whatever reason they decided to move right next to each other for a day. Then they separated, and a couple of days later one of them had cloned itself. Not saying they mated for that one day; just found it an odd coincidence.
Are you thinking about cutting them or natural splitting?
Probably cutting.
as for feeding, strong lighting and some raw shrimp a couple of times a week.
If this isn't for appearance and you're going to have a sump you may want to consider a bare bottom tank. Easier to clean.
I'm there as of yesterday. I had 11 BTAs (I think) of at least three different forms.
I'd skip the clowns depending on what type of propagation you are thinking.
It's the clowns' tank. They are the main focus. The BTAs are of secondary concern. I've had aptasia on my LR that was stinging my clowns and have been unsuccessful in erradicating them. So, the LR had to go. It's in the sump now.
A couple of very good threads on this on the propagation section, check it out.
Unless they are all one clone best to frag in different tanks, one tank per clone.
Thanks! I'm fairly familiar with the cutting part and feeding is fairly straight forward They seem to eat anything I put in there. I was hoping to see if anyone knew of foods that were particularly good over others and also wanted to look at pics of dedicated BTA prop systems. Separate tanks is not much of an option at present but I might be able to add a small basket for fresh cut nems.... Good thoughts.
I had an interesting thing happen a couple of months ago. I had two green bta's in my tank and for whatever reason they decided to move right next to each other for a day. Then they separated, and a couple of days later one of them had cloned itself. Not saying they mated for that one day; just found it an odd coincidence.
That's cool.
THANKS FOR AL THE REPLIES!
DeathWish302
05/26/2011, 12:47 PM
Walt,
You ever try MASSIVE WCs' once a week? A LFS I frequented in CA did this with their R/G/O BTA tank and had multiple splits a week. After a year some 20 anemones turned into somewhere in the 100's! If it weren't for the different colors, you would have thought it was the same anemone.
What the owner did was place eggcrate structures all over and this allowed for easu removal. Just an idea since it sounds like you will be cutting.
Yes I have. Just yesterday I got some Murotic acid and cleaned the 55 gallon drum I mix my SW in. It had horrible scaling. Now the SW in there looks clearer than the FW in the bin next to it. I think my FW (which I was drawing water from to mix the SW) was part of the problem. I used the hose to mix it. I think the FW I've been using has been sucking up all the nasties in the air and causing my makeup water to be contaminated and my NSW. This may make a huge difference.
Please no lectures on RODI. The best tank I ever ran was on tap water from this house... and Baltimore has some of the best water in the country.
BonsaiNut
05/26/2011, 04:08 PM
For a quasi-commercial setup you will want:
(1) The ability to completely drain the tank bone dry for cleaning/maintenance.
(2) The ability to control water movement; increase, decrease, redirect, etc.
(3) No hazards to anemone with intakes or overflows.
(4) A light fixture that is easy to move out of the way.
(5) Minimal / no substrate. Better to have a sump with live rock than sand or rock in the frag tank.
(6) Artificial "rocks" for anemones to attach to that they can be easily removed from. Some mentioned the classic terracotta clay pot which typically works well in clown breeder setups.
(7) No other mechanical stuff in the tank - no heaters, skimmers, etc.
For a quasi-commercial setup you will want:
(1) The ability to completely drain the tank bone dry for cleaning/maintenance.
(2) The ability to control water movement; increase, decrease, redirect, etc.
(3) No hazards to anemone with intakes or overflows.
(4) A light fixture that is easy to move out of the way.
(5) Minimal / no substrate. Better to have a sump with live rock than sand or rock in the frag tank.
(6) Artificial "rocks" for anemones to attach to that they can be easily removed from. Some mentioned the classic terracotta clay pot which typically works well in clown breeder setups.
(7) No other mechanical stuff in the tank - no heaters, skimmers, etc.
Thanks!
That's pretty much what I'm working with.
BB
Lumenarc reflectors.
LR, heater, chiller, skimmer in Sump
PHs have screens
Might have to use the pots. I have plenty small and large.
This is where I am now.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/walterlaroque/2011-05/IMG00847-20110527-1910.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/walterlaroque/2011-05/IMG00848-20110527-1910.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/walterlaroque/2011-05/IMG00849-20110527-1916.jpg
Looks good! Just some thoughts to maybe help you brainstorm:
High PAR bulbs
Chemical warfare
Irritation while healing
sterile cutting environment
GAC usage
Foot in crevice
Proper feeding
Following along!
Looks good! Just some thoughts to maybe help you brainstorm:
High PAR bulbs
Chemical warfare
Irritation while healing
sterile cutting environment
GAC usage
Foot in crevice
Proper feeding
Following along!
All good thoughts and I will touch on each briefly to try and stick with my full disclosure philosophy.
Bulbs are 250W MH x 2 on a 40 breeder. They're low quality but certainly ought to be adequate.
Chemical warfare and GAC are related. I'm terrible about GAC replacement. I am removing as many corals as I can as fast as I can. I'm not concerned about them stinging each other but am aware about gastric juices post cutting.
Hadn't thought too hard about STERILE vs clean cutting environment.
A decent place to put their feet is on my mind and I am coming to realize that they won't let me get around it. I am thinking of some options....
Proper feeding is on my mind as well and is one of two primary reasons for starting this thread. Not sure what the best high nutrition foods are that they will also take....
One thing I hate is a pompous reefer telling me what to do, I hope you aren't getting that vibe from me! Just trying to help you out.
For feeding, I was told from a knowledgeable source that If I insisted on spot feeding, small slivers/chunks of salmon the size of my pinky nail would be the way to go as it is highly nutritious.
I only started feeding mine recently so I will let you know how it goes. I've heard many horror stories of feeding BTAs larger pieces and things going awry - it's something I take into consideration even though I want them to grow and split!
Tell me something I know... No biggie. Tell me something I don't know or forgot... That's why were here.
NirvanaFan
05/27/2011, 08:27 PM
The smaller the food the better. Think brine shrimp size. Throw raw seafood in the blender. Shrimp, squid, fish, scallop, clam, it's all good. Don't be afraid to use selco/selcon either.
Get rid of the other coral in the system. You don't want ANY chemical warfare going on. And with softies in the system, you're going to get chemical warfare, especially if you cut the nems.
I tried this for a while. They were cut with a 6" fillet knife that was sterilized before use. I don't have any pictures of my setup, but it was a custom 60ish gallon homemade tank. 4'x2'x12" tall. It was plywood with a pond liner in it. I had a straight standpipe going to a remote 55g sump. This was loaded with live rock and an oversized skimmer. The return pump was a good size to provide lots of flow.
If you are really going to give this a go, think about replacing your powerheads with an airlift system. You don't want anemones getting sucked up onto the guards.
You said not to lecture you about RODI, but I'm going to anyways... You want to have sterile water with no chance of anything wrong in it. You can't guarantee that with tap water, even if it comes from a good quality source. With a 40 breeder, you're not going to go through too much water, I suggest an RODI. Lecture over!
You don't hear many success stories from people running BTA farms, but I wish you the best. Keep us updated on your progress though.
DeathWish302
05/31/2011, 03:40 PM
....You don't hear many success stories from people running BTA farms, but I wish you the best. Keep us updated on your progress though.
Sure you do, but it depends on your personal measure of 'success' (i.e. qty). Low expectations = higher than expected results:thumbsup:
I wouldn't quit my day job for the 1-3 anemones I have cloned in the last 8 months. Especially since GBTA with tan foot is not all the rage.
So Walt, is this a hobbyist level farm your planning? Or just a ' I told you so' type experiment? I prefer the latter in by case...
Just wondered.
Just for gits and shiggles.
MM WI
05/31/2011, 09:44 PM
On the small food suggestion i see in here often, i think the suggestion of salmon bits is better. I feed small chunks of fish to my BTAs for growth and natural splits, and large chunks to my gigantia to keep them happy. Seems to work by my own antedotal observations.
- mark
So that which would be true with fish would not be true of fish would not be true of anemones; in that the oilier fish like mackerel are better? I know fish like salmon and tuna seen like they would have a good amount of antathaxathin (spelling?)
Sadly I have lost all my GBTAs as a result of this transition. I expect to lose one of my RBTAs. This will leave me with three to work with. :(
So I have a 6" flower pot in there and two 3" flower pots. They prefer the 3" flower pot. WTH??? I hope I don't lose any more anemones. If I do, I'll probably go for the sterile-style breeder setup for a while. I have some old, dried out LR that I may bleach and use in the sump. I was thinking of adding it to a milk crate so the whole lot of it could be removed and the sump could be scrubbed and syphoned regularly.
I have resigned to the realization that I probably need to get a RODI unit. I do have old galvanized pipe in my house and I think it's causing the diatom blooms I've been having. I always seem to get a bloom right after a water change. I typically do 50 gallons at a time on what is probably a 115 gallon system after LR and unused vessel volume are factored in. Not including my skimmer which holds probably 25 gallons.
traveller7
06/13/2011, 03:29 PM
Hi Walt. Hope you have been well.
I'd raise the light fixtures quite a bit until they really settle in happily. I'd also keep an eye out for a low pH/crash right after the water change. Have that happen on this side of the river quite a bit. Dripping any Kalk, etc.?
fwiw: I'd expect them to stay in 3" or even smaller flower pots until they grow out quite a bit. Personally, I'd shoot for taller 2" size pots if I could find them.
All the best :)
Thanks Scott. Epic fail on this one. I've lost 10 of the 12 BTAs and the other two will be dead within the week. I'm setting up a sterile style breeding setup. I have paired the lone thiellei with a small sandaracinos... Which did work out. Ill set up another reef in time. I've never had this level of trouble with BTAs. :(
traveller7
06/13/2011, 08:11 PM
Sorry to hear that, I feel the pain. I have wacked a few BTA strains that I thought were bullet proof. Some in new projects and some in well established tanks/systems. I have one batch a Mod sent me a few years back, I am going to keep the existing tank running until I get two more tanks well established with clones. I be so bummed to kill the line off in an upcoming tank move :(
Good luck with the pairing :)
hypnoj
06/14/2011, 08:48 AM
I recommend anyone even thinking about starting a bta farm or small scale to go to marinedepot's forum and search for anthony calfo's threads on bta propagation. He and many other's have been doing this for several years now and have kept running posts on do's and don'ts. I imagine there is well over 100 hours of reading to do before I'd even attempt to begin this. You might not agree with everything they preach, but it will give you some enormous insights.
This wasn't something I really wanted to do but because of Aptasia and other problems stemming from a failing system, I decided to try this.
Over the weekend I got a couple gallons of HCl and cleaned my pumps, sump and skimmer. I had needed to choke the gate valve to my skimmer input pump almost completely while opening the gate valve on the output almost completely. When I broke everything down I discovered that the 1.5" output was almost completely choked with feather duster worms, and old flaked off corraline. After the acid rinse, my newly cleaned input pump is blowing into the skimmer with the gate valve wide open and I''m having to restrict the flow just a little on the output gate valve. It's made a huge difference. I think I will tie some of my LR into the system but it will be in an old 40 breeder with no fish just to add to the biofiltration. It may or may not house corals.
Truth be told, I hate sterile type systems and think that in the long run a reef is always the best possible setup for fish or cnidarians but for breeder setups, you can save a lot of headaches going the sterile route and for someone maintaining a large number of systems they are optimal. That said, I'm gonna try the thiellei pairs in sterile setups just to see if I can get them to spawn. They're in quarrantine now. More for convenience than anything else. I have one BTA left. If he survives, I'll put him in a invert-only nano.
Here's the A. thiellei pair and the A. thiellei/A. sandaracinos pair that are my current focus.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/walterlaroque/2011-06/IMG00872-20110612-0924.jpg
FragFarm
06/21/2011, 05:15 PM
Sad about the Btas. I have been trying on and off for 18 months now and its tough going. Very tough. Allot of the "sums" we see that say take 1 in Jan and have 2000 in December are not true at all....for me anyways. I have tried it all. I have 30-35 RBTA's and 10 GBTA's. It took me a very long time to find brood stock to begin with. I would get one. Feed for 3 months and if happy split. Just getting to the 3 months was an issue. Most bigish btas landed on deaths door.
After a long time and many changes (not to mention money) I have what I call decent brood stock. My feeding regime is ocean nutrition lance fish chopped up in a blender very small. Then target fed to each one. I feed for 2 days then skip the next. Then feed for 2 days and so on.
I have some in mixed systems, some in dedicated systems and sum under 250w MH, 54w T5’s and some in the sun. Sun seems to be the best bet for me so far.
I have some on BB tanks, ceramic rock, egg crate and baskets – I prefer the baskets as it’s easier to keep count. Still leave some small rubble in there as they seem happier with some natural substance to anchor onto.
I can’t call on the cutting cycle but I plan on sticking to a split every 3 months. A few are ready sooner but I still wait it out. I am over the “make lots of money fast” mentality and I’m more in it to show all the friends and family that I am not crazy it will work eventually.
I too am yet to find someone doing this and getting it right. For me right is 500 in stock and being able to sell/trade 100 a month. Anyone have links or numbers I would give my left nut to speak to them and trade stories, advice ECT.
traveller7
06/21/2011, 10:23 PM
That said, I'm gonna try the thiellei pairs in sterile setups just to see if I can get them to spawn.IME, the trick has always been more food than they can eat and provide them greater safety than they can imagine. Breeding space appears to be a limit in the system as depicted, not a problem for established breeders, but in my humble experience a leap for first time breeders. Give them much more space.
GL.
traveller7
06/21/2011, 10:32 PM
I too am yet to find someone doing this and getting it right. For me right is 500 in stock and being able to sell/trade 100 a month. Anyone have links or numbers I would give my left nut to speak to them and trade stories, advice ECT.I am not quite sure your post captures the raw questions in the thread. Are you describing your farm with baskets, minus substrate, manually divided, high output lighting, and heavilty fed as successful?
FragFarm
06/22/2011, 01:12 AM
I am not quite sure your post captures the raw questions in the thread. Are you describing your farm with baskets, minus substrate, manually divided, high output lighting, and heavilty fed as successful?
NO not at all. I feel I am getting nowhere!
Sad about the Btas. I have been trying on and off for 18 months now and its tough going. Very tough. Allot of the "sums" we see that say take 1 in Jan and have 2000 in December are not true at all....for me anyways. I have tried it all. I have 30-35 RBTA's and 10 GBTA's. It took me a very long time to find brood stock to begin with. I would get one. Feed for 3 months and if happy split. Just getting to the 3 months was an issue. Most bigish btas landed on deaths door.
After a long time and many changes (not to mention money) I have what I call decent brood stock. My feeding regime is ocean nutrition lance fish chopped up in a blender very small. Then target fed to each one. I feed for 2 days then skip the next. Then feed for 2 days and so on.
I have some in mixed systems, some in dedicated systems and sum under 250w MH, 54w T5’s and some in the sun. Sun seems to be the best bet for me so far.
I have some on BB tanks, ceramic rock, egg crate and baskets – I prefer the baskets as it’s easier to keep count. Still leave some small rubble in there as they seem happier with some natural substance to anchor onto.
I can’t call on the cutting cycle but I plan on sticking to a split every 3 months. A few are ready sooner but I still wait it out. I am over the “make lots of money fast” mentality and I’m more in it to show all the friends and family that I am not crazy it will work eventually.
I too am yet to find someone doing this and getting it right. For me right is 500 in stock and being able to sell/trade 100 a month. Anyone have links or numbers I would give my left nut to speak to them and trade stories, advice ECT.
I have one tiny RBTA left and it seems to be improving.
IME, the trick has always been more food than they can eat and provide them greater safety than they can imagine. Breeding space appears to be a limit in the system as depicted, not a problem for established breeders, but in my humble experience a leap for first time breeders. Give them much more space.
GL.
Not sure I follow you.... My plan is to use 30 breeders with just a tile or a 6" flower pot and three sides plus the bottom painted. Are you saying that you think they need more swimming space or more surface area?
DeathWish302
06/22/2011, 11:34 AM
Nevermind...caught in the moment on the wrong thread walt.
I thought it was a legit post.
---Quote (Originally by traveller7)---
Breeding space appears to be a limit in the system as depicted, not a problem for established breeders, but in my humble experience a leap for first time breeders. Give them much more space.
GL.---End Quote---
First off, just picking your brain and not disputing your experience...
What do you mean when you say 'more space'? I've only kept clowns (except for the occassional yellow tail damsel) for the past 11 yrs and have species dedicated tanks. Currently I house one my main two breeding pairs in a 58gal and the other in a 50gal Rubbermaid stock tank.
Is that the kind of space your talking about? I'm a little reluctant on offer much advice to Walt on the skunk complex, as I sold off my Pinky's after waiting out a spawn for what seemed eternity.
I'm really asking b/c the guy I bought my GSM pair from had documented his breeding experience while the pair was in a 29gal. That would be considered absurd for most when considering that large of species, but he pulled it off. I prefer the natural tank style (=MUCH larger than the normal breeder) and just can't get into the 'puppy mill' type BB w/ clay pot breeder setup.
I don't like those setups either but it seems to be what my situation has boiled down to.
DeathWish302
06/22/2011, 03:18 PM
I thought it was a legit post.
Ok, all is good. :o
I have been lately trying to stick to the OP's original content and not trailing off with other's. By the time I wrote that and noticed it was on your BTA thread, I decided to purge.:headwally:
:beer:
The point of the thread is moot at this point for anything but discussion. I just finished a mod to the sump. I installed a 3' long 14" diameter pvc pipe then filled it with about 2' of branch and rubbel rock. The skimmer output is pouring over it. I figure I'd should serve well as a biofilter.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/walterlaroque/2011-06/IMG00896-20110622-1739.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/walterlaroque/2011-06/IMG00895-20110622-1739.jpg
steve9
06/25/2011, 12:22 AM
You must think of a bta and sps as one of the same.
High blue par light with orp near 400.
You never add any food but some fresh black worms if you like
and they are just about the easyest thing to cut and sell
that we have.
I have sold tons of them walt to many cmas and wamas members.
The rbtas are like roaches to most cmas/wamas members but the
purple tipped rainbow rbta i have is something to behold.
You can split a 40 breeder in half with a divider.a simple piece of plex with holes...one half will hold up
to 30 bta's and rock/skimmer on the other side.
RUN the skimmer out flow into the rbta side.
Simple cheap and works great.
Remember to add carbon and keep ph up just like
a reef tank.
Thanks Steve. Ill have to hit you up when I'm ready to try again.
traveller7
07/12/2011, 06:43 AM
Sorry for getting lost in the ether Walt.
Not sure I follow you.... My plan is to use 30 breeders with just a tile or a 6" flower pot and three sides plus the bottom painted. Are you saying that you think they need more swimming space or more surface area?Not swimming space for them, for dither fish and suitable cover. In my experience first time breeders are more comfortable with dither fish visible and lots of available cover/breeding areas. IMO getting them started is the goal, then on tiles, flower pots, suitable substrate, species only, etc.
It’s not that it won’t eventually happen in small spaces, just that I have found the larger tanks in non-sterile build expeditious.
hypnoj
07/12/2011, 04:46 PM
what's a dither fish?
traveller7
07/12/2011, 05:28 PM
Dither fish tend to be small schooling fish that stay in the open until predators arrive in the area driving even the dither fish into hiding. Other fish key off their behavior... the dither fish hide, the skittish fish hide. Dither fish out swimming, the skittish fish are more comfortable.
At least that is the concept and something about a well-populated 300gal tank worked magic with a few of my stubborn clown pairs. I'd try such a strategy with stubborn or skittish clowns again.
MM WI
07/12/2011, 11:53 PM
I think this project failed because of the sterile tank ideas. Bare bottom, bleached dead rock in the sump, IMO not ever good practices most particularly in a nem tank. These are a couple of my least favorite RC trends. Also the pots which i also have in my clown tanks for other reasons but for this tank gave the stressed nems a low current place to retreat into at a time when this would be more likely to be a problem. I know sounds like captain hind sight to the rescue, but these are the thoughts that occurred to me on my initial read. I add nems to established tanks with lots of support critters - a well established diverse ecosytem. The ideas that you can opperate a tank without lots of surface area for bacteria and lots of hiding places for small sea critters like stars, snails, pods etc. are responsible for lots of tank failures.
BonsaiNut
07/13/2011, 10:06 AM
I think this project failed because of the sterile tank ideas. Bare bottom, bleached dead rock in the sump, IMO not ever good practices most particularly in a nem tank.
I didn't see where he was trying to do a sterile setup. I think you need to have a well-balanced system (sump with live-rock, lighting, refugium, etc) and run clean tanks off this system that are easy to clean and maintain.
Just because you are running an anemone farm does not mean you should try to bend any of the standard rules of maintaining a high quality captive reef environment.
MM WI
07/13/2011, 07:56 PM
OK, does this look more likely to succeed. Why waste the floor of the tank? it could hold tons of live reef animals. Why bleach live rock, that makes it dead rock? i did read that in this thread didn't i? why do you think established tanks do better at keeping delicate animals like clams and anemones if it is not the plancton and slightly larger critters that live in the mini habitats that are created with substrate and plants? There are concepts that are fashionalbe on RC now that are completely crazy. I have even heard many, many posters on RC claim that having area for nitrogen cycle bacteria is outdated and nitrate factories. This can only be said if you have no idea about what makes a tank robust. In fact i can say with complete confidence that the tanks i ran 30 years ago where more robust than some systems i see on RC today.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=4743&pictureid=32872
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=4743&pictureid=32872
MM WI
07/13/2011, 07:57 PM
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=4743&pictureid=32872
why is this not working?
BonsaiNut
07/14/2011, 04:49 PM
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=4743&pictureid=32872
why is this not working?
I'm not so sure but I can see the photo when I click on the link.
MMWI,
Bleaching LR gets rid of the aptasia. Dead rock doesn't take long to become live rock again.
I agree about biodiversity. This was my most successful system and had no skimmer or a poorly adjusted skimmer for most of it's life. No doubt in my mind that a coral-filled system absorbs nutrients and eats marine snow.
http://www.clowntank.com/images/44.jpg
That said, for breeding fish reproducability and predictability (for the fish and aquarist) are beneficial. This is well documented.
At present, I have moved several large pieces of LR into the sump pending a decision on what to do with it. I will probably just leave it for now. I have added a baserock filled tube ~36" x 14" diameter to the output of the skimmer to act as an additional biofilter.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/walterlaroque/2011-06/IMG00895-20110622-1739.jpg
I also rebuilt my breeder stand to a configuration that is more maintenance friendly over the weekend and plan to buy and drilland paint a 30 breeder to replace my old 40 breeder and drill and paint several 10 gallons to be added to the system. Pics will follow on completion of the project.
MM WI
07/15/2011, 03:56 PM
Nice looking tank Walt! Yeah I get the idea about getting rid of things but you also need some route for the diversity to get into you system in the first place and live rock is a good way to get the critters into the tank. If you are going to bleach it or set it out in the sun I'd rather see people use the fake stuff and not do this to rock that was collected.
Actually the tank pictured was started with rock that was 80% bleached. It was indistinguishable from the LR after 6 months. I would not bleach it without a means of reseeding it. LR can be recycled. Most of the rock I've owned was from other aquarists tanks. Much of it was unusable on aquisition. Baserock makes an excellent foundation. The rock I'm contemplating bleaching is covered in aptasia. This will be a good way to restore the rock over the next year or so before my next big system.
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