How long would you need to let live rock dry out to be parasite free? I am picking up 300 pounds of it from a Craigslist deal and he did not qt any of the fish he made it with and it’s cheaper than the cost of dry rock so I’m not worried about it losing all the life and beneficial bacteria.
Drying time to make live rock sterile
- Thread starter ARGYGANG
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Benefits of leaving it wet outweigh the negative imo. Just my 2 cents though.
To start fresh, needs to soak in a bleach solution, then rinse, then a vinegar solution, then rinse, dry, add to tank.
To start fresh, needs to soak in a bleach solution, then rinse, then a vinegar solution, then rinse, dry, add to tank.
Awesome ty, I would just fallow it for 4 months and feed the bacteria but it’s a time crunched back up plan, I’m gonna get this rock and clean it and dry it because I’m moving 1200 miles away and if my glass tank breaks in transport I have three of the gallon bottles of fritz 9 and a stock tank at the location as back up already so I’ll just add all this dry rock all the fritz and some prime to quick cycle the stock tank with sterile rock if the worst happens and my tank breaks in transport. I just put in more work than I’d like to tell you about getting my entire fish room through qt at the same time since when I started the hobby I didn’t qt so this is the only way to keep them clean if I have to restart a new tank.
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Don't add Prime with bacteria. If you mean that you'll need to dechlorinate the water first, do that with Prime, but wait 48 hours before adding bottled bacteria... There are quite a few bacteria products that don't do well with dechlorinators. I will try to find the links to the research...
*And if you were planning on adding Prime for ammonia "detoxification", don't bother. Several of the resident scientists here have threads about how products like Prime DO NOT work for that purpose.
Okay tysm for that info, this is just a backup plan the goal is for nothing to break and I can just use my current rock work. If I have to put the fish in a uncycled tank with dry rock ( the backup plan) I’ll add the fritz and then add the fish, I’ll dose the fritz by the bottle and add a ton more on day one directly on the rocks before I turn the pumps on. Then I’ll just feed extremely small amounts for like two weeks. Edit:misspoke about my rockwork I’m getting rid of it because it’s covered in pest coral and has a gha problem I can’t fix no matter what I do. I’m taking 50 pounds of ceramic biorings that are a year old to add in with the new dry rock.
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So, the backup plan is the real plan? Regardless, be prepared to test ammonia (with a test that measures free ammonia, not total) and to do water changes as needed if ammo is present.
The biomedia will definitely help with the new cycle, just be sure to keep them in saltwater during the move.
Good luck!
Yeah sorry for weird wording I’m actively working at the moment so I’m doing a lot of typos and jumbling my thoughts together and typing it out wrong. Plan a is for my glass tank not to break and just be able to add the biorings that are cycled and the dry rock with a little bit of fritz, the reason there is a plan b for if the tank breaks is because if they break a half inch thick glass tank wrapped in bubble wrap it’s a heck of a lot easier to pop a plastic bag filled with saltwater and biorings (hired a moving company was almost the same price as a uhaul for such a long distance) so if they break the tank chances are the bags with biorings are also popped and dry by the time I get them I’m preparing for the worst hoping for the best. If it does all break then I’ll have the three gallons of fritz and a ton of salt pre mixed at the location in this stock tank + 3 55 gallon brute trash cans so I’ll be able to do 10% daily’s on it to keep ammonia down while the rock cycles and the bottles bacteria starts to procreate and do it’s thing. Thoughts on this backup plan Incase the rings do end up dry and I’m left with no cycled media? Anything I could do differently than described?
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How big is the tank? I'd crate it rather than rely on bubble wrap alone...
It can aerosolize toxins in corals which is worse lol
a 6x2x2 crates just are not in the budget for a tank I’m throwing out in the next 6 months anyways, the stock tank is actually going to be used for the fish in the glass tank currently but I’m hoping to not rush it and add fish in correct order do observations etc etc as I add them slowly over months
Nope. Legit. I've actually never heard of this but doing a bit of research ya I guess they can explode. My bad. Thought that would be a good way to sterilize them without using chemicals
Yeah I honestly could see how you drew that conclusion haha, my significant other was trying to convince me that freezing the wet live rock was a good way to sterilize it…that’s also a good way to make it explode/crack haha.
I've heard it can crack. That makes sense to me. I didn't realize it could straight up explode
Ask the guy who almost killed himself, his wife and the dogs by boiling live rock how that works out…. Bleach it, way safer.
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