Cleaning live rock and sand

[Reef Pilot]

If I rinse live rock and sand in fresh water (same temp), will that kill the bacteria and cause a cycle?

I am resetting a tank, and would like to clean the rock and sand a bit, before rearranging it. The sand is actually pretty clean (been vacuuming it), am more concerned about the live rock.

[Aquattro]

Fresh water, or fresh salt water?

[Reef Pilot]

Fresh water, from the tap. Then I could rinse it more thoroughly in the sink.

[Aquattro]

Yes, fresh water will kill off the bacteria and cause a cycle.

[Reef Pilot]

OK, thanks, guess I better not do that then. Means I will have to wait for a water change and save a couple buckets of old salt water.

[Abe]

First of all, I appologise if I highjaked this thread but I need some info about my rocks. I have about 90Lbs of live rocks in my current tank, they have been in there for about 3 years but they look that they need some cleaning and they carry some aptasia and some mojanos as well. I am wondering if I take few rocks at time and scrubbed them in salk water to get all the dirt off of them would be a good idea? did anyone try that before? any suggestion would appreciated. Thanks.

[ultreef]

Depending on the size of your system, you can add the sand back in a few lbs each week.

[fishyfolks]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

OK, thanks, guess I better not do that then. Means I will have to wait for a water change and save a couple buckets of old salt water.

Thats what ive always done in the past. I've just put the water change water in a tote on the kitchen counter (hubby not such a fan...lol) and scrubbed it with a toothbrush. I've never experienced any kind of spike or noticed any interruption in my tank whatsoever.

[warriorcookie]

If you want info on the proper way of "cleaning" your live rock, user Myka has a great thread on here on curing and cooking live rock. Takes more time than just scrubbing, but way better way of doing it...

[Reef Pilot]

Yes, have read that before. However, I am trying to avoid curing and cooking the live rock.

This is rock that is already in this same tank. I just want to rearrange it. And since I am moving it around anyway, wanted to brush and rinse in off a bit to try and clean it more. But I don't want to cause a cycle, or at least not a major one. There are fish and corals in the tank, too.