Live rock questions

[eldrad1267]

I recently bought an aquarium which came with the original tank’s water and live rock in buckets. The buckets of live rock have been in my garage without circulation for about 2 months now. What should I do in order to use these rocks in the aquarium? Can I rinse them in saltwater and then try and cycle with them or should I dry them and buy new live rock?

The tank is a Red Sea reefer 250 G1 (gray pipes).

It’s taken 2 months to set up due to work and family, but I finally have free time to dedicate to getting it started.

Thoughts?

 

[Fish Fan]

Do they smell horrible? If they have that "death-like" stench, I might bleach cure them, which gets rid of all organics that could rot and cause you issues.

But if they don't smell that bad, I would try to keep them. I'd give them a good rinse in saltwater, and then put them in your tank or something like a Brute garbage pail and definitely add circulation and heat. If they are not too far gone, you may see a small rise in ammonia that will come down soon, and everything should be fine. If the organics on the rock are well rotted, you may see A LOT of ammonia, which can take a very long time to come down (at which point it's faster and easier to do a bleach cure).

I would try to preserve the rocks, try to keep them 'live' rather than nuke them with bleach, but if you think you have to, here's a good article on bleach curing old rock:
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cont...KOoMAdKN1HKOKp72AUl0MyLaoTRXMalHpTU8kEMqBX5b8

Good luck!