How to cure live rock that is now dry?

[jacqueline1989]

I got a large amount of live rock over a year ago. Only some of it went into my tank cause I suck at aquascaping and I already had my tank running with fish and a small amount of live rock for over a year which makes it difficult to move stuff around. I ended up putting the rest into buckets and it's completely dried and it's been over a year now, but I want to use the rest of the rock now. I've had some of it in a bucket filled with saltwater with a heater and powerhead for about 4 weeks now (with 3 water changes), but I'm not sure if there's something else I need to do considering its been out of water for so long. I did ammonia test and it's at .50ppm so obviously it's not ready to put in the tank. I know people will use bleach or vinegar, but I'm hesitant to use it, especially the bleach. The rock is still red and I want to try and keep the coloring and I'm pretty sure that will be stripped off the rock if I use bleach. Is there something else I can put in the water to help this process or changes I should make?

 

[Spare time]

You can add a bottle of microbacter 7 which should finish things off. It will help break things down as well as add some bacteria to deal with ammonia. I like to have gfo in with a rock that is curing as it helps get rid off the phosphates from the rotting crud

 

[bushdoc]

Was it Live rock sold to you wet or life rock sold dry?
It is basically dry, dead rock with some dead organisms on it I suppose. If it was genuine live, porous rock, that it might be worth saving it, otherwise you could also consider buying fresh, dry rock and skip all the hustle of cleaning it.

 

[mfinn]

Use a bacteria product like Dr. Tim's One and Only

 

[vokrey09]

I would check the above video out. I came across it the other day and plan on using this method when I upgrade my current setup and buy used dry rock

 

[jacqueline1989]

You can add a bottle of microbacter 7 which should finish things off. It will help break things down as well as add some bacteria to deal with ammonia. I like to have gfo in with a rock that is curing as it helps get rid off the phosphates from the rotting crud

I just ordered the MicroBacter Clean which I believe does the same thing as mircobacter 7, but also targets cleaning live rock and other surfaces. I've used mircobacter 7 in my tank before but I felt like it didn't do much, but I guess we'll see!

 

[doubleshot00]

I just ordered the MicroBacter Clean which I believe does the same thing as mircobacter 7, but also targets cleaning live rock and other surfaces. I've used mircobacter 7 in my tank before but I felt like it didn't do much, but I guess we'll see!

Hope you cleaned the rock before just soaking it in saltwater.

Is it just soaking in fresh saltwater and nothing else?