How to clean rocks?

[Jedi1199]

Ok, so my currently running tank is just 18 gallons with 2 live rocks (gonna add a few more lol) I was planning on moving 1 of the rocks, some of the filer media, a bit of sand, and my water from water changes over to the new tank. With this approach what would you recommend to do with the new rocks?

Ok, so this clears things up a bit.

Do you plan to keep the 18g tank running?

Do you want to skip-cycle the new tank?

When do you plan the new build to begin?

If you want to keep the 18g up and running, I would advise as before, scrub the new rocks completely of all dead matter and add them to the tank for a couple weeks. This will allow you to move them to the new tank and skip-cycle.

If you want to start the new tank and wait out the cycle, put the new rocks in "AS IS" and wait out the few weeks for the cycle.

If you have time, waiting for new tank to arrive, time to get the build ready to get wet, toss the rocks in a 32g brute can with a small powerhead and fresh salt water. this will start the cycle same as in the tank itself and give you a jumpstart for the actual tank.

If you have everything on hand, and want to start the new tank build immediately, I would use everything from the small tank. Wash the sand completely, and put it in the new tank. The new build is an upgrade and NOT a new tank in that scenario and will skip-cycle just fine as long as you do NOT add to the bio-load.

 

[User 28262454]

Well I have pretty much everything ready to go for the ne so I guess my choices are:

Keep the small tank running, clean out the new rocks and just wait out the cycle on the new tank.

Add new rocks to old tank then skip cycle the new tank.

I think I may be leaning towards option 1 just because I pretty much already have everything for a new cycle( ammonia cloride, nitrifying bacteria)
Plus, would adding tge rocks to my current running tank cause an ammonia spike hurting the stock in there?

 

[Jedi1199]

Well I have pretty much everything ready to go for the ne so I guess my choices are:

Keep the small tank running, clean out the new rocks and just wait out the cycle on the new tank.

Add new rocks to old tank then skip cycle the new tank.

I think I may be leaning towards option 1 just because I pretty much already have everything for a new cycle( ammonia cloride, nitrifying bacteria)
Plus, would adding tge rocks to my current running tank cause an ammonia spike hurting the stock in there?

As long as you scrub off as much of the old dead organic material as possible, then no, you should not have an ammonia spike in the current tank.

You didn't say if you want to keep the 18g running?

How about this option? Transfer everything from the 18G to the new one (make sure you wash the sand thoroughly) Put in your new scrubbed rocks. Let the new tank settle, and then you can return the original rocks to the 18G later?

Same scenario here... instantly skip-cycle new tank, give the stock in the small tank a nice new home and still have the option of keeping the small tank going?

Would you rather wait out the cycle on the new build or start the new tank from day 1, have the old tank empty for a bit and then instantly skip-cycle the old one agan once you are ready?