Need some opinions please
 

My tank is well established and running great. But I am upgrading to a much bigger sump. I'll be adding about 50lbs of new rock from a freind who is having a HUGE problem with hair algae. I plan on boiling the crap out of his rock before it is added. I was thinking of adding each peice about 4-5 days apart. The rock is obviously gonna be dead so the question is if I will have my nitrates go sky high or any liitle cycles?

If you boil it you'll have to re cure it, and I don't mean in regards to growing new bacteria. Everything in and on the rock will obviously die, you'll need to soak the rock in either fresh or salt water for a few weeks changing the water as often as possible. For a fresh water cure your toilet tank will work wonders.

I wouldn't bother boiling it if you're going the fresh water cure way. A fresh water cure will kill everything just as effectively and is kind of already needed if you boil it anyway. Personally I would probably just go straight from the previous tank to a saltwater cure. A dark pail with high flow will rid the rock of algae in about a week or two, just change the water often to prevent high phosphate levels.

also i would try to manually remove as much of the HA as possible, before you boil it.

Your right though ....its probably best to add it slowly to the main system (when its ready) to avoid any large spikes....I routinely add 5-10 pounds to my system (collecting for a new tank) without any issues.

I wouldn't bother with boiling the rock as you'll kill everything and will have to re-cycle the rock before you put it in your tank.

I would manually remove as much of the HA as possible, then put it in a dark container (as sphelps suggested) with a powerhead and heater and I'd add a handful of hermit crabs and close the lid on it for a few weeks. Hermits actually do their job when they're hungry (ie nothing else to eat) and they might actually speed up the process :biggrin:

The guy I'm getting it from has been letting it sit in a dark container and when the rock is clear again he put's it back in his display. Within 3-4 weeks the rocks are totally covered with about 2" of the HA again. Not sure if it is something in his water or the rocks so that is the reason I would like to boil. I don't mind putting in dead rock as my tank is very established and they will eventually turn live again but just worried about a nitrate spike or a mini cycle. If that is the case I will just fill my sump with base rock.

once you boil the rock you will have killed everything on it. Any dead bits that are still attached will decay and contribute to any nitrate spike you might see as well as add nutrients to the water. I would suggest boiling it and then "cycling it" in saltwater for a length of time just so that it doesn't add anything to your tank.

Thanks. I may do that. The toilet tank cure sphelps suggested has really got me thinking though.