dried live rock
 

hi all i have about 100 lbs of old live rock. it has been out of water and dry for about 6 mounts.can i put it back in water and in the dark and bring it back to life.

thanks for your time salty ron

Add a seed piece of live rock to the mix and you're good to go.

Might wanna add a 6 hr photo period as well to promote growth, properly heated water as well. Both those things can speed up the process.

promote what growth? I thought seeding was done without light as there is nothing on the rock that needs light except maybe some coraline? The light would fuel algal growth wouldn't it?

I would do it without lights. Add several pieces of live rock interspersed with the dead rock & maybe some live sand from your display tank too, since it contains useful bacteria.

Anthony

Light will promote algal growth, especially with all the phosphates and nitrates that will most likely be present in the water.

Make it "live" by making sure it's colonized by the appropriate bacteria first - covering it with coralline is secondary.

I'd cure it in fresh water for a couple weeks, changing the water daily. This will remove all the dead matter and built up nutrients faster and cheaper. After that you can begin the saltwater curing process.

New live rock seems to go through an algae bloom no matter what, why not get it over with outside of the DT?

i had a tank set up a 4 years ago ,sold the livestock and kept the rock started a new tank 2 years ago and uses the dryed rock and bought a couple hundred dollars of new stuff to cure it. i had a lot of algae problems

i would sujest to get it back to live rock take your time have it in a spare tank and cure it for a couple of months and then put in you diplay tank

thank you all for your coments i think i will start cureing it with some live rock for a couple of months and see what happens in dark.

thanks again for the info
saltyron.....................