Curing Rock

[ricenoodle]

Starting up my tank again after 4 years so i need a sanity check guys if you don't mind. live rock & live sand came with the setup that i just bought. Rock is 4 years old and had hair algae and aptasia all over it so i decide to just start fresh with it so save me the headaches later. I've always transferred live rock from an established tank over with every setup (4 successful reef tanks now) and this is my first time having to cure from scratch since there was so many nuisance on this rock. I already scrubbed off all the algae and as much gunk as i can and sprayed with garden hose. My plan is to let dry for 3 days, then 1:1 vinegar/ro for 24-48 hours, then soak in ro for about a week with 100% water changes everyday. Then switch to rodi salt and keep temp around 80/no light and with power head with 50% water change. Anything you would do different? I plan on using Dr. Tim's all in one so at what point would i put the rock in the DT and proceed. The sand i already rinse and will soak in salt water for about 3 water changes prior to adding. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[charleslotz]

To start fresh ,... I would suggest... ( 4 year old rock will have absorbed significant po4)

A stronger acid like muriatic acid ... Give it a good Long bath ... Until the rock is clean ...
Then I would bath the rock in rodi water with pool LI and test phosphates until I hit zero changing the water several times....... And a final soak in rodi once all LI is gone... This should take you 3 weeks ... But you can be sure it will be clean then and limited phosphates leaching....

thats the basic idea ,... There are several good posts detailing this process,... This will give you a clean start.

I would also buy new clean sand ....