Dipping live rock

[don.ald]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Rock that is old, especially from a low flow area such as a sump, IMO will be full of crud (PO4). I just removed 3 yo rock from my tank from a high flow area and it was full of crap.
Also, I have to question why the addition of rock is warranted? What purpose does it serve, other than trapping detritus in the sump? Was additional denitrification needed? How was this determined?
Simply adding more rock for the sake of adding more rock seems pointless. More is not better.

So, when you remove rock from your system do you cook it and replace or do you purchase new "fresh" rock to replace?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by don.ald

So, when you remove rock from your system do you cook it and replace or do you purchase new "fresh" rock to replace?

When I remove rock, it goes in the garden. My line of thought is that rock in a closed system has a finite lifespan. To alleviate this somewhat, I regularly turkey baste the exposed rock to clear the pores.
At the 3 year mark of my tank, 90% of my rock has been replaced. NO3 and PO4 still 0. I have never had measurable amounts of either. Based on that, I'm going to stick to my ideas on old rock

[Aquattro]

Further, I do think you can "recycle" used rock to a degree by cooking, and maybe get a year or three more out of it. Buying new rock is tough, as most LFS that I know of don't have new rock, they have used rock that they buy from people shutting down. So unless you're ordering a fresh box, you may get worse rock than you took out.

[don.ald]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Further, Buying new rock is tough, as most LFS that I know of don't have new rock, they have used rock that they buy from people shutting down. So unless you're ordering a fresh box, you may get worse rock than you took out.

Funny, this how most of us start out in the hobby. And this old rock isn't cheap!

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by don.ald

Funny, this how most of us start out in the hobby. And this old rock isn't cheap!

Oh, I know. My first big tank, a 150g, had almost 250 pounds of rock. Essentially a sewer with corals. Brown corals always had nutrient problems. Once I moved away from the rock pile look and used minimal rock, my tank has never been better.

[jason604]

I got more rock cuz I just got a bunch more sps and ran out of spots to glue them to due to my lack of LR in my display. I tossed them In the sump because I ran out of time last night to rearrange my whole tank plus I put my new pieces in a low light area temp to adjust to my LEDs. The rocks look pretty clean. I guess I can take them out n put in new salt water and blast them hard with a power head a few days then test nitrate n phosphates again before putting it in permanent spots.

[toytech]

Isnt most live rock older than 3 years? How do you know how longs its been in the ocean for . I agree that live rock will build up with crud if you don't have the right fauna to keep it clean but I don't think it expires . If you where really worried about it you could bleach the old rock to dissolve the organics then cure it/ re seed it , but maybe that's just me an im too cheap to throw something away that cost me 4$ a lb .

[don.ald]

Originally Posted by toytech

Isnt most live rock older than 3 years? How do you know how longs its been in the ocean for . I agree that live rock will build up with crud if you don't have the right fauna to keep it clean but I don't think it expires . If you where really worried about it you could bleach the old rock to dissolve the organics then cure it/ re seed it , but maybe that's just me an im too cheap to throw something away that cost me 4$ a lb .

I agree, most of us don't throw it away. And my rock is the old crud from the LFS here it costs more than $4lb.
The rock from the ocean is old but it is treated by Mother Nature and doesn't exist in a glass box in artificial salt water.
IMO