OMG The Stench!

[thomygirl]

I bought 70# aquaculture live rock from ARC and it arrived yesterday. Triple plastic bagged with a wet towel inside to keep it moist, I guess, a few bottles of water that were once probably ice, and this stuff stinks to high heaven!!! I mean, not like rotten fish....but like raw sewage! My house now smells like a ports potty! Ugh. This can't be normal! Has anybody ever had this happen before? I'm in the green zone and they say I can supposedly put this stuff right into my tank....No Way, not in a million years! These are going to take some serious cleaning and curing.

 

[cromag27]

Acid bathe it.

 

[pugcrush]

Are you putting this in an established tank? I would cure it first before doing so.

 

[cromag27]

Do this: http://reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-clean-old-rock-before-put-in-the-tank.209008/#post-2392229

 

[Ike]

Live rock smells bad and has die-off when shipped... Ideally you should be curing it in a separate container/tank

 

[Ike]

Do this: http://reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-clean-old-rock-before-put-in-the-tank.209008/#post-2392229

That makes buying live rock pointless.... That's for dry rock or questionable rock from an old system.

 

[Joey waid]

That makes buying live rock pointless.... That's for dry rock or questionable rock from an old system.

Really, why buy live rock just to kill it? Unless thats normal?

 

[cromag27]

If the rock smells like a sewer then bathing it in acid would be more beneficial. live rock doesn't always smell bad and the die off can be minimal. but the op said the rock is stinking up the place which tells me it's full of dead matter. the best way to get rid of the dead matter is to bathe in acid and pressure wash.

 

[thomygirl]

Are you putting this in an established tank? I would cure it first before doing so.

Omg no. I'm going to cure it but holy cow, I want to get rid of some of this gross smell real quick. It smells like they pulled it out of the septic tank. Any suggestions?

 

[dragon99]

Get it into saltwater and start the curing. The longer it's out of water the more it will die off and smell.

 

[sc8kv123]

While you are curing maybe use some high grade carbon in a reactor to help with the smells.

 

[thomygirl]

Get it into saltwater and start the curing. The longer it's out of water the more it will die off and smell.

I put them in saltwater as soon as I unpacked them yesterday. I just scrubbed them and put them in fresh saltwater this afternoon. I'm thinking about laying them out in the driveway and hosing them down. There is so much dead soft matter on some of them. I've never seen or smelled any rocks this bad.

 

[dragon99]

That does not sound pleasant. Run some carbon as suggested above.

 

[brandon429]

you actually want to break a stinky sample in half, to assess innards, so we aren't guessing about depth of organics. Its possible not the whole rock is rotten, discover

 

[Ike]

Inspect it and pull off any dead material, sponges (whether dead or possibly alive) and use a protein skimmer and carbon in the storage bin if possible. Flow is essential to the curing process as well... Otherwise, a a lid on the container will help some.

 

[Ike]

you actually want to break a stinky sample in half, to assess innards, so we aren't guessing about depth of organics. Its possible not the whole rock is rotten, discover

I'm not sure what the purpose of this or what will it tell her. It's rock on the inside, the stench is from decaying biological material, it doesn't matter the depth of it, it needs to be cured until it doesn't smell bad anymore. Breaking a rock in half will only lead to more die off and decay because whatever organisms are below the surface are not adapted to the conditions they'll be exposed to once the rock is broken. However, it's likely there's not much in there other than a little bacteria.

 

[rayn]

I know that smell. Either cure it yourself again or acid bath or bleach it to start over.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

call them. thats not normal or cool.

 

[Untamedrose]

Need to contact the seller, shipped LR might smell a little "beachy" but not like OMG open a window.
Id guess with the box got way to hot or you had one really big hitchhiker kick it some where in there.

 

[LParker480]

I would think the seller would be the first place to start. They wouldn't want bad reviews of their products and who would want to buy from them knowing that's what they'll receive. Hope you get it resolved