Really old rock. please help

[Magnar]

I know this has been asked many times, but I have not found anything that is equal to my scenario. Well at least I think it's different.

About 8-10 years ago I had a 90-gallon saltwater aquarium, and something happened and I lost everything. When that happened, I decided to tear it all down and take a long break.

Now I am getting ready to buy a 120 and start over. Oddly enough I still have the live now dead rock that came out of that aquarium in a rubbermaid container. The container has sat outside with a lid on it this entire time through freezing cold to extreme heat. It's probably a 100lbs or so of rock.

What I want to know is can I use this rock? Should I use this rock? I do not want to create issues for myself using this rock. It would be nice as it would save me some cash but I don't want it to cost me later. If I can use it, I thought about using maybe 3/4 of it then buying some new live rock to seed it. I am open to recommendations for this also.

If you think it is ok to use this rock, what should I do to prepare it for use? I haven't even opened the container to look inside of it yet.

Not sure how much things have changed since I was in it last, but I have been reading up and watching videos.

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[reefpanda]

I would wash it, cure it then run gfo to get rid of whatever PO4 has bound to it before using it

 

[Magnar]

How do you wash it?

 

[Magnar]

Should I soak it in bleach? I wasn't sure if it needed to be cleaned differently since it's so old and sitting around that long.

 

[exnisstech]

I would give it a bleach soak to sanitize it then several good rinses, dry and then you can treat it like would any dry/ dead rock.

A pressure washer is nice but a hose works I would give it a good spraying off to rinse dust and other stuff that may have settled on it before bleaching it.

EDIT: If it's nasty and you want to really clean the outside surface muratic acid works very well. It will actually dissolve the outer surface. If you consider using acid be sure and read up on precautions and how to neutralize the acid when your done. It does a really good job and isn't too dangerous as long and follow precautions. The acid can be neutralized with baking soda.

 

[FUNGI]

I have done Bleach/water soak a day or so, air dry couple of days, ro/di soak for a couple days and then start curing

 

[FUNGI]

What the grumpy old man above said also works.....

 

[Fish Fan]

Bleach cure, 100%. This may help:

Bleach Curing Dry Rock for a Saltwater Reef Tank - BRStv Reef FAQs

There are three main methods for curing live rock for a saltwater reef tank: natural, bleach and acid. Our focus today is using bleach for curing dry rock and we answer three direct questions. 1. What is a bleach cure? 2. When is it appropriate to bleach cure rock? 3. How to do

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