live rock now dead rock?

[KevC150]

hey guys, my bro bought 15 pounds of live rock rubble for my refugium tank, and unfortunatly, my fuge wasnt completed and my brother came home with the 15 pounds of rubble..... anyways, it ended up sitting in a 5 gallon bucket for over 2 days,with a lid on it and the 3rd day i filled it with tank water. is all of this rubble now ruined? it smells like hell but i dont know what that means. the rubble is now on its 5th day not in the fuge.

please tell me if i have ruined this rubble or if it can be put in the fuge and rejuvinate itself.

kevin

[tim_coville_]

well, right now you probably have a large amount of die off, if your tank is emtpy, put it in your refugium and let it just cycle cuz you do have die off, but it shouldnt be 100% dead

if you just let it cycle with water moving thru it at good temp and the good salinity it should come back into shape no prob

[MikeS]

well, really, it's the bacteria that make a live rock "live"....I wouldn't put it in your tank or fuge....cure it out the rest of the way in a seperate tank....

Mike

[tim_coville_]

well, really, it's the bacteria that make a live rock "live"....I wouldn't put it in your tank or fuge....cure it out the rest of the way in a seperate tank....

Mike

his info says his 150 gallon reef is empty, why not, he still has to cycle his tank, right? he could cure it in a bin, but i dont see doing it if your tank still has to cycle you know?

[MikeS]

I hear ya...but all that nasty waste ends up in the main tank, where lots of it will be recycled over and over...better off to cure stinking rock like that in a seperate container IMO....

Mike

[Condiman]

Thats what I would do.

[Doctor_Reef]

Definitely agree here with Mike....Cure that stuff before you put it in the display!!!

[MikeS]

The reason this is wise is this...

We all know the basics of the nitrogen cycle...but many operate under the mistaken premise that these wastes ( ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) are actually removed from the tank by the biological process...in reality they are simply either bound up by bacteria and other organisims or converted into a different form. Even in denitrification, some of the nutrients are recycled back into the tank in the form of ammonium, among other things...so unless these nutrients are exported by other other means, like skimming, water changes, ect, they tend to begin to build up. The lower the levels you have in the tank in the first place ( or at any given time for that matter) the better off you'll be. By curing the rock in a seperate container to reduce the amounts of nitrients, you avoid adding them to your tank to start with. In addtion, you get rock with a healthy, viable population of bacteria, ready for you to slowly introduce bioload...

Mike

You mean it's not always Ammonia, to Nitrite, to Nitrate?

Why do I sense this thread will be moved to a different forum. :)

[CZ]

If it smells like hell then my bet is its dead. LR is rank when dead. Throw it away. The risk of ruining your water quality is not worth the price paid. Sorry.

Next time, put New Salt Water in the bucket and a power head blowing in air. That will keep it alive indeffinately

[2639]

I wouldn't throw it away personally. That rock will become 'live' once again in no time when introduced to rock that IS alive.
IMO, it a hard call whether or not to cure it first. Think about it, it's ONLY 15 pounds in a 150 gallon tank..that's a tenth of the volume and if his tank is empty....fill in the blank here..
What I'm reading though is that he is building a refugium which tells me that he DOES have livestock SOMEWHERE...hard call indeed..

Kev, can you give us an update? It's been 11 days since your first post on this thread. Anything interesting happen with the tank?

[whateverwrx]

Dude its simple leave the rock in the bucket..add a powerhead for flow and change the water everyother day until sulfer smell is gone :rockon: