New Rock

[Pdetevis]

I have a question about adding/starting new rock in a new tank. I have had this rock I purchased a year and a half ago at a LFS. it was all dry and didn't look like it had ever been used or they did a hell of a job cleaning it. I put it in a 55 gallon tank with heater and power head. it's been in the tank for over a year, I recently have started over and am fixing up a 65 gallon tank with sump, will this rock cycle in the new tank? I did have a fish living with the rock for a few months until I gave it away. how do I go about testing this rock to see if it has beneficial bacteria. all the nitrates ammonia and nitrites read 0ppm.

[thegrun]

The easiest way to see if the rock still has any bacteria on it would be to dose the tank with pure ammonia to a 2ppm level. If the rock still can convert the ammonia and subsequent nitrites to nitrate within 48 hours you are good to go. If not, I would cycle the rock before using it (the added ammonia will in essence start the cycle for you).
Use pure ammonia without surfactants (available at most hardware stores). To be sure the ammonia does not contain surfactants shake the bottle and if it bubbles up like dish soap it has surfactants in it, pure ammonia will not have bubbles. To raise 100 gallons of water from 0 to 3 ppm ammonia you would need to add 1.2grams (12 ml) of standard 10% pure ammonia.