Got a great deal tonight on some LR

[drew2582]

Went to the freshwater LFS today and the owner had 65 lbs of Fiji / Bali mixed box. He had it priced to move for 35 dollars. He bought it from someone who broke his parole so he was off to the slammer for quite a while. (poor guy unloaded his whole 125 gal reef setup for chicken feed.)

Anywho, the rock looks pretty good. But its been sitting in about an inch of water. Some pieces of rock are damp and others are bone dry. My initial idea was this was just gonna be some base rock - i'd give it the bleach treatment and i would just convert it to live rock in my tank. But than i got to thinking....could i just put it in my tank if it doesn't appear to have any decaying matter? It doesn't smell or anything but like i said pieces of it are dry. I also thought of curing it but i don't have a protien skimmer i could use because its built into my sump. Is it possible to just cure rock with powerheads????? What would you guys do in a situation like this?

regards
drew

[Crown Royal]

It's absolutely possible to cure rock without a skimmer:

1. Scrub to rock thoroughly with a good brush.
2. Place the rock in a rubbermaid tub with a heater and powerhead and fill with SW.
3. After about a week take the power head and/or a turkey baster and blast all the little crevices in the rock. Give it a good swishing around in the tub (hint: do this outside).
4. Change the water.
5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 until your ammonia/nitrite levels are zero
6. Viola - cured live rock.

[mysis]

sounds like a good price. I get my rock for wholesale price :) sometimes it is good to know a collector :)

Dean