Live rock question

[Fish_King_25]

My friends 75g FOWLR has been fishless for awhile..today we broke his tank down, and I acquired his entire setup. Including his live rock. I filled a couple of Rubbermaid containers with his SW, and then loaded all of his rock in so it was submerged. No heater, no flow, just the rock in saltwater. I want to use some of these pieces in my current 29g . (want to get rid of some of my old rock, do a little swap.) The containers are on my floor, I want to know what needs to be done with this rock to put into my current setup without having any I'll side effects. I obviously don't want a cycle, phosphates, die off, etc.

Please let me know what I have to do to make this rock usable in my reef tank..if anything. Can I just take it out of his water and toss it in??

[JoelA7]

Get aeration going ASAP or you'll have a lot of die off from lack of oxygen.

[Every1jockzjay]

It varies alot depending on if the roxk was previously cured and how fast u get it back into a working system, whether ots a bucket with a little bit of circulation and air or ur tank.... It its just a couple hours of fully cured rock i may take the chance and dump ot rite in...anything more then a couple hours ide leave it in the rubbermaid filled with water with a venturi pump...i use an old skimmer pump that provides flow and air...also a heater would help... It all depends on the condition on the rock if it was days out of water it will take longer then say 2 hrs out of water. Best to check ammonia levels im the rubbermaid

[Fish_King_25]

I'm on my way home from work now..its about 22 hours in the Rubbermaid container, I'm going to check ammonia when I get home, if ammonia is good I can get it in the tank??

[snorvich]

How long has it been not exposed to fish? My concern is parasites in the friends tank.

[Fish_King_25]

There hasn't been fish in the tank for like 2 months..it was a tank with just a sea urchin for awhile.. I just got home so if you've got any advice for me I'd love it! Just don't want to make a wrong move here

[Fish_King_25]

How long has it been not exposed to fish? My concern is parasites in the friends tank.

UPDATE:

I just got two powerheads hooked up in each Rubbermaid, and I'm not making a move until you say!

[JoelA7]

Yes check. Smell test will be important too. If it smells a bit off, it is.

Crossing fingers for you. A friend and I once transported 12 60 gallon drums of fresh live rock with aeration. Even so after 30 hours we lost 2 drums.

[Fish_King_25]

Well I just did two ammonia tests with two different kits and I'm getting a 0 reading from both..my water smells completely normal.... I wasn't planning on using all of the rock as I could never fit it all in my tank, but I was going to swap some pieces currently in my tank (that are 10+years old and leaching phosphates I believe) with some of his new rock that is basically algae free!

[Fish_King_25]

Do we think I'm safe?

[maddmaxx]

youve had 2 powerheads running for a couple hrs now. i would do a test again of the water, if all is well, i dont really see a problem...

[Fish_King_25]

Here's my previous scape...http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/28/masyhu3e.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/28/2a3ynybu.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/28/e7emedeq.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/28/zasydada.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/28/jyta7yne.jpg

And here's some after pics... Still clearing uphttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/28/uqygavu8.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/28/pemy6uzu.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/28/uve8a3yp.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/28/huhy6uja.jpg

[maddmaxx]

booooo. i cant see it cause its posted with tapatalk..theres a way to fix it, but i dont know how...

[Fish_King_25]

Oh man...yeah I never post them as attachments, they are on my end, wth! I'll repost them all as attachments for you!

[Fish_King_25]

Before...271217271218271219271220271221

[Fish_King_25]

Here's the after...honest feedback welcome!271222271223271224271225

[maddmaxx]

yea nice clean look now. rock looks better, and looks like more rock, which means more beneficial bacteria...

[Fish_King_25]

Yeah, Im really happy with the look..and the more LR is definitely an added bonus..before my frags and stuff basically had my tank looking packed I was running out of room..I was going to settle down and let stuff grow..I've got SO many more little nooks and crannies for coral placement now, I will definitely be picking up some more soon!

[StaySalty]

New scape looks really nice! Glad to hear adding that rock didn't cause a cycle or anything in your tank. Im way nervous about this sort of thing. I coudn't even bring myself to put cleaned dry rock in my established system. I cured it in seperate container for a month before I put any of it in my tank haha.

[Fish_King_25]

New scape looks really nice! Glad to hear adding that rock didn't cause a cycle or anything in your tank. Im way nervous about this sort of thing. I coudn't even bring myself to put cleaned dry rock in my established system. I cured it in seperate container for a month before I put any of it in my tank haha.

Thanks Salty! No I'll effects yet..I'll be doing a nice thorough testing session after work later to see what's going on in there..probably a water change as well