New reefer here, question about my live rock

[bpalmer94]

Hello all,

New reefer here in the process of setting up my first saltwater tank. I recently got lucky and was given a 90 gal bow with a good amount of the needed accessories with it( stand sump skimmer led light) . I was also given about 60lbs of live rock that had been sitting out of water for a while and also found a good deal locally on 90lbs that had been also out of water for over a week(guys tank cracked). I am noticing on the live rock i purchased separate alot of it has these short white root like things sticking out of it. I am currently in the process of bleaching the rock and figured that would fall off but i am still seeing a good ammount of it. is it normal for live rock to have these root like things sticking out? Sorry for the low quality picture i will try to get some clearer ones. any input is greatly appreciated. I am trying to do my homework thoroughly before rushing into setting up this tank as i would like to give myself the best odds/ least trouble to establishing a beautiful tank!


Thanks in advance for any input

 

[BairCorals]

Yeah those are normal. They won't fall off as they're a skeleton that is hard attached to the rock. There's a snail that builds them and there's also small filter feeders that build them. Once you bleach the rock, the stuff inside them will be dead so all you gotta do is break them off but don't need to. Wish I had more scientific names for you but I can say they aren't dangerous and are removable after bleaching.

 

[bblumberg]

Vermetid snails. While those skeletons are not dangerous in the sense of being propagated in your tank after bleaching them, I have gotten jabbed by those plenty of times so it is best to break them off.

 

[bpalmer94]

Yes i found out quickly that they are sharp, is it beneficial to have those (live) in a tank? Or can i assume that the previous owner of these had some pests in his rock

 

[bblumberg]

I think that most would agree that vermetid snails are a pest.

 

[Pistondog]

Hey bpalmer,
Welcome to reef2reef, keep asking questions here.
Already great advice.

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Welcome aboard~

 

[bpalmer94]

Welp i took the rock out after a 4 day soak and the results are not what i was expecting/hoping for. still alot of discoloration and alot of organic material. Im also noticing a weird clear jello like substance on some of the rock? I guess at this point i need to either do a vinegar bath or muriatic acid? The vinegar appeals more as it seems far less dangerous and i can do it in my basement but will the vinegar be strong enough to really eat that outer layer? I am totally ok with losing some rock i have more than enough, and id like more porosity as well.

 

[bblumberg]

Are you soaking in the sink or was that just after rinsing? If you are going to treat the rock, I think that a large container such as a Brut trash can is needed.

If you want clean rock, I'd give it a muriatic acid bath for at least a few hours, then neutralize the acid with sodium bicarbonate. It is probably best to do this outside. The container will be VERY messy with lots of foamy stuff. Rinse the rock and the Brut well, refill the Brut with tap or RO water, then add a gallon or so of bleach. Just plain bleach with no added detergents or anything like that. Let it soak overnight, rinse very well and add sodium thiosulfate to get rid of the bleach. When you don't smell bleach in the rock any more, it is neutralized. I'd give it a soak in tap water for another day. AT this point you can put it out in the sun to dry and remove any remaining bleach, or just put it back in the (clean) Brut with fresh salt water and let it stay there a few days with a pump or powerhead to keep the water circulating.

At this point, you have a choice. If you are not in a hurry, I'd add a piece of real live rock from a trusted tank or LFS to the Brut and let it circulate a few weeks more to seed your existing rock with bacteria from the new rock. Then go ahead and aquascape your tank. If you are in a hurry, aquascape your tank and add the real live rock to it. You could also get several types of bacteria (Dr. Tims, Microbacter 7, etc to get the cycle started in your tank.

No matter which of these approaches you take, you will need to add an ammonia source to feed the bacteria. Could be a piece of shrimp, a few ppm of ammonium chloride, etc. Lots of info on cycling on this board.

 

[littlefoxx]

Welp i took the rock out after a 4 day soak and the results are not what i was expecting/hoping for. still alot of discoloration and alot of organic material. Im also noticing a weird clear jello like substance on some of the rock? I guess at this point i need to either do a vinegar bath or muriatic acid? The vinegar appeals more as it seems far less dangerous and i can do it in my basement but will the vinegar be strong enough to really eat that outer layer? I am totally ok with losing some rock i have more than enough, and id like more porosity as well.

Thats a nope for me, I would get new rock. I got a tank with those all over (both live and not the snails I mean) and I discarded the rock. Didnt want to risk it

 

[exnisstech]

I'm with @bblumberg and would also do a muriatic acid bath. It will actually dissolve layers of rock so it's not something you want to soak in for days like bleach. If you decide to go that route read up and be carful. I've done it with some rock that I bleached but wasn't happy with. It was squeaky clean after the acid bath.

 

[bpalmer94]

Are you soaking in the sink or was that just after rinsing? If you are going to treat the rock, I think that a large container such as a Brut trash can is needed.

If you want clean rock, I'd give it a muriatic acid bath for at least a few hours, then neutralize the acid with sodium bicarbonate. It is probably best to do this outside. The container will be VERY messy with lots of foamy stuff. Rinse the rock and the Brut well, refill the Brut with tap or RO water, then add a gallon or so of bleach. Just plain bleach with no added detergents or anything like that. Let it soak overnight, rinse very well and add sodium thiosulfate to get rid of the bleach. When you don't smell bleach in the rock any more, it is neutralized. I'd give it a soak in tap water for another day. AT this point you can put it out in the sun to dry and remove any remaining bleach, or just put it back in the (clean) Brut with fresh salt water and let it stay there a few days with a pump or powerhead to keep the water circulating.

At this point, you have a choice. If you are not in a hurry, I'd add a piece of real live rock from a trusted tank or LFS to the Brut and let it circulate a few weeks more to seed your existing rock with bacteria from the new rock. Then go ahead and aquascape your tank. If you are in a hurry, aquascape your tank and add the real live rock to it. You could also get several types of bacteria (Dr. Tims, Microbacter 7, etc to get the cycle started in your tank.

No matter which of these approaches you take, you will need to add an ammonia source to feed the bacteria. Could be a piece of shrimp, a few ppm of ammonium chloride, etc. Lots of info on cycling on this board.

Ive been soaking it in a 32 gal brute, 18ish gallons of water to one gallon of unscented bleach. I am not in much rush would rather take the time now to get things right. My plan once i get all this stripped down was to do what you were saying with adding actual live rock to seed but i was going to just start that all in the tank, would it seed better in the brute? Do you have a recommended ratio for the muriatic bath?

 

[bpalmer94]

Are you soaking in the sink or was that just after rinsing? If you are going to treat the rock, I think that a large container such as a Brut trash can is needed.

If you want clean rock, I'd give it a muriatic acid bath for at least a few hours, then neutralize the acid with sodium bicarbonate. It is probably best to do this outside. The container will be VERY messy with lots of foamy stuff. Rinse the rock and the Brut well, refill the Brut with tap or RO water, then add a gallon or so of bleach. Just plain bleach with no added detergents or anything like that. Let it soak overnight, rinse very well and add sodium thiosulfate to get rid of the bleach. When you don't smell bleach in the rock any more, it is neutralized. I'd give it a soak in tap water for another day. AT this point you can put it out in the sun to dry and remove any remaining bleach, or just put it back in the (clean) Brut with fresh salt water and let it stay there a few days with a pump or powerhead to keep the water circulating.

At this point, you have a choice. If you are not in a hurry, I'd add a piece of real live rock from a trusted tank or LFS to the Brut and let it circulate a few weeks more to seed your existing rock with bacteria from the new rock. Then go ahead and aquascape your tank. If you are in a hurry, aquascape your tank and add the real live rock to it. You could also get several types of bacteria (Dr. Tims, Microbacter 7, etc to get the cycle started in your tank.

No matter which of these approaches you take, you will need to add an ammonia source to feed the bacteria. Could be a piece of shrimp, a few ppm of ammonium chloride, etc. Lots of info on cycling on this board.

Also for the acid bath, once i add baking soda is it safe to just dump out or do i have to worry about it killing grass plants etc

 

[MabuyaQ]

These answers are bizarre to me. Why turn live rock into dead rock. All I see are the skeletons of featherdusters and the jello is nothing but a sponge. Thuis is clearly rock that was kept in a sump as cryptic zone. There could be some vermitids as well but when alive can be easily identified by the mucus web they use and can be removed with brute force and injecting them l.

 

[cilyjr]

I always give rock that I have sourced from other tanks, a muriatic acid bath.
If you are soaking the rock for several hours in muriatic acid and still have rock, then you are not using a strong enough solution to have much of an effect on any bound phosphate.

If you go to bulk reef Supply and search for instructions on how to do it, You will find a very good source. I usually do my rock about 20 to 1:00 dilution ratio.

 

[cilyjr]

Also for the acid bath, once i add baking soda is it safe to just dump out or do i have to worry about it killing grass plants etc

Dump it in a place where it's mostly just mulch or something like that. It will make a spot in the grass

 

[bblumberg]

HCl (muriatic acid) plus NaHCO3 (sodium bicarbonate) produces NaCl (salt), H2O and CO2, plus whatever stuff you dissolved from the rock. I don't expect it is terribly toxic but will definitely not make plants happy. When I did this, I put 2 liters of concentrated muriatic acid in a 40g Brut full of water and rock for 2 hours (if I recall well). Then add bicarbonate until pH is around neutral. Sodium carbonate (Na2CO3 aka washing soda) will also work.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

You said it had been sitting out of water for a while. The rock isn't live...its dry rock "dead rock I guess you could say"

 

[Mikeltee]

I recently killed off my live rock. 10 days in 5-1 bleach didn't do much. I added 2gal every other day in a 55g Brute. Pressure washed and 3 days in 1-1 vinegar and pressure washed again. It still wasn't white. It's been in a Brute for 10 days and I have to change the water out every other day because the ammonia is over 8ppm. I'd go with muratic acid next time. Hopefully there won't be a next time! This rock was harvested from the ocean and in my tank for over 14 years. It was thick coraline.

I'm finally 10 days in and under 1ppm ammonia. I added Tims One and Only.