washing dry rock

[Reef Wizard]

Good Morning all,

I am wondering has anyone washed dry rock with tap or maybe a hose to get more of the dusty stuff out?. I was wanting to maybe spray all my new rock down with the hose and then rinse it in RO water and let it full dry before adding it into the the tank.

Thoughts?

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

Good Morning all,

I am wondering has anyone washed dry rock with tap or maybe a hose to get more of the dusty stuff out?. I was wanting to maybe spray all my new rock down with the hose and then rinse it in RO water and let it full dry before adding it into the the tank.

Thoughts?

A quick dunk in RODI should be all that's needed to remove any dust

 

[Paul B]

I have only done that 50 or 60 times. It will be fine, drag out that hose. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Jedi1199]

Good Morning all,

I am wondering has anyone washed dry rock with tap or maybe a hose to get more of the dusty stuff out?. I was wanting to maybe spray all my new rock down with the hose and then rinse it in RO water and let it full dry before adding it into the the tank.

Thoughts?

That is fine.

Is this a new build or will you be adding this to a running tank?

Are you planning any kind of aquascape where you will be gluing the rocks together or just stacking the rocks in a free form style?

Are you in a hurry to get it in the tank?

 

[Doctorgori]

That is fine.

Is this a new build or will you be adding this to a running tank?

Are you planning any kind of aquascape where you will be gluing the rocks together or just stacking the rocks in a free form style?

Are you in a hurry to get it in the tank?

Yeah I was thinking that also …especially if you plan on a structured pre-assembled rockwork…
if so, consider Marco cement, and in that case you might wannna rinse after the assembly anyway…
BTW, chlorine doesn't last long, and never in evaporated form….so rinse away

 

[Reef Wizard]

That is fine.

Is this a new build or will you be adding this to a running tank?

Are you planning any kind of aquascape where you will be gluing the rocks together or just stacking the rocks in a free form style?

Are you in a hurry to get it in the tank?

Im in no hurry and it will be completely new tank. I have my AIO with dry rock and I have higher phos and I was thinking maybe If I wash it then then phos wont be as high. When I go to baste off the rock work alot of the white dust comes off the rocks from fabrication. I will be using some glue gel. I have never needed the cement stuff before is it worth it?

 

[CoralB]

I see no problem with that .

 

[Reef Wizard]

Yeah I was thinking that also …especially if you plan on a structured pre-assembled rockwork…
if so, consider Marco cement, and in that case you might wannna rinse after the assembly anyway…
BTW, chlorine doesn't last long, and never in evaporated form….so rinse away

Cool, and yepp I have heard freshwater people leave water sitting out for 24 hours and chlorine is all gone so they didnt have to use dechlorinater

 

[Doctorgori]

Im in no hurry and it will be completely new tank. I have my AIO with dry rock and I have higher phos and I was thinking maybe If I wash it then then phos wont be as high. When I go to baste off the rock work alot of the white dust comes off the rocks from fabrication. I will be using some glue gel. I have never needed the cement stuff before is it worth it?

Super glue works, all depends..
The cement bond is potentially stronger than the rock, so if you plan on doing the somewhat ubiquitous “Anti gravity” NSA look, then you will want a cement type bond ….

 

[Jedi1199]

Im in no hurry and it will be completely new tank. I have my AIO with dry rock and I have higher phos and I was thinking maybe If I wash it then then phos wont be as high. When I go to baste off the rock work alot of the white dust comes off the rocks from fabrication. I will be using some glue gel. I have never needed the cement stuff before is it worth it?

If you are in no hurry.. here is my best advise....

Go ahead and wash it with the hose, powerwasher, whatever... get rid of all that dust.

Then take a new, clean garbage can, or bucket (you didn't mention how much rock we are dealing with here) fill it with saltwater and put the rock in there. Put in a water pump to keep the water circulating and leave it alone for a month or so. Maybe toss in a some fish food every couple days.

What is this about you say? This will cycle your rock. Since the rock is 90% or more of your biological filtration, having pre-cycled rock allows you to speed up the actual build of your new system. Saves you money on snake oil (aka cycling bacteria) and allow you to add fish from day 1.

 

[Jedi1199]

Super glue works, all depends..
The cement bond is potentially stronger than the rock, so if you plan on doing the somewhat ubiquitous “Anti gravity” NSA look, then you will want a cement type bond ….

I used the "baking soda-thin super glue" method for the NSA part of my scape. Fast, easy and strong.

 

[Doctorgori]

I used the "baking soda-thin super glue" method for the NSA part of my scape. Fast, easy and strong.

I’m Looking that up….thanks!! :smiling-face-with-sunglasses:

 

[Reef Wizard]

I used the "baking soda-thin super glue" method for the NSA part of my scape. Fast, easy and strong.

I will need to look into NSA more. This tank is for my build thread WIP. Its VERY Early stages. I been reading about different things and stuff for months now haha

 

[Jedi1199]

I will need to look into NSA more. This tank is for my build thread WIP. Its VERY Early stages. I been reading about different things and stuff for months now haha

I am looking for my thread about the rock build I did..

Basically, you place two pieces together, spoon a generous amount of baking soda into the joint and squirt this super glue over it. Repeat that as needed till you get a solid joint.

If you want the joint invisible, take some of the smaller bits of rock and crush it onto dust.. then use that dust and another squirt of the superglue to cover the joint.

 

[mfinn]

garden hose is fine.

 

[Reef Wizard]

I am looking for my thread about the rock build I did..

Basically, you place two pieces together, spoon a generous amount of baking soda into the joint and squirt this super glue over it. Repeat that as needed till you get a solid joint.

If you want the joint invisible, take some of the smaller bits of rock and crush it onto dust.. then use that dust and another squirt of the superglue to cover the joint.

Where you able to find the thread?

 

[Jedi1199]

Where you able to find the thread?

Looks like it's in my build thread for the 135... Didn't go into a huge detail on it, but it is on page 6 and 8

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-new-135-build.909794/

 

[CierraBeckwith]

I have only done that 50 or 60 times. It will be fine, drag out that hose. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

Random question, but I want to add a new rock scape with dry rock, that used to be live. It dried out in the sun and I am gluing pieces together. But I want to avoid as much algae as possible, so should I put my scape together, then put in a bucket with power head and bottle bacteria for a while? Before adding to tank?