Firing up a setup for the first time in 3 years.

[Rogue951]

^ what he said. lol.
Might take longer for all the levels to drop cause there's probably a lot of leftover organics, even after you rinse it, but if it's been kept dry with no contamination it should be good to use.

I'm sure someone's gonna pipe up and suggest an acid bath for the rock, but I've never done it so won't say anything else on it.

[ChefFish]

In my experience using dead rock, its gonna leech a lot of phosphates. I would pressure wash it very well to get everything you can off of it so it isn't leeching stuff into your tank for months. As far as sand goes, I would just buy new, as the price is pretty low these days. Save yourself the headache.

[The Codfather]

Welcome back Jeff.
Really? It's been 3 years already? That long? Seems like I was just talking to you about this. At any rate, lmk if you need a hand.
Bob

[baker_jeff]

Thanks Bob, indeed it has! Wasn't sure if you would remember me, but I still remember your old setup, and just finished reading through the build thread for your new setup. Niiiice. Appreciate you taking care of my stuff, I hope it all found homes?

Jeff

[asylumdown]

Honestly I would toss the sand. For all the potential problems it could cause you at this point it's probably worth 40 bucks to buy a new bag of caribsea special grade or something similar. 1 40 pound bag is probably enough for a 40 gallon isn't it? The rock is definitely salvageable, either by curing/cooking it in a tub for a couple months until you stop seeing nutrients in the water, or by speeding up the process with either the muriatic acid or bleach methods that are floating around on the internet.

[asylumdown]

also, you should start a build thread! Breathing new life in to a system would be really cool to watch.