Used tank purchase with questions

[rdfriend]

Ok, last night I bought a 56g tall glass tank with a really nice stand. It has about 70lbs of LR, Fiji, Tonga branch and a couple of vice base rocks. A Fluval 305, Sea Clone skimmer(I hear the suck but WTH), a Penguin 350, 2 24" T8 lights with a Marina triple lunar light kit add on, a tote full of chemicals, filter refills, salt, bio material, test kit and all kinds of extras like target feeder, net, couple of power heads and bunch of frozen food. Also came with 1 true percula, 1 blue damsel and 1 blue yellow tail damsel, a 10g tank and a second Sea Clone skimmer. Paid $400.00 for all.

Now my question relates to this: I have the fish in QT but the LR was loaded with bubble algae and the tank had not had a water change in about 3 months. Although the water was clear I don't trust the rock and definitely am ditching the sand. I want to clean and redo the whole tank from scratch with a new cycle and have left the rock drying over night. I know it will become dead and will ressed when ready but what is the best way to clean and ready the rock to be sure there will be no problems. Can I just scrub and rinse and then cure in a saltwater tank? Sorry this is so long!

 

[fsn77]

Sure, you can scrub off the rock. I've even heard of people using a pressure washer to clean off rock.

It will become live again once it's back in water and cured / cycled, but it would be best if you added in some good quality live rock to help reseed it with bacteria and all the tiny critters that have been lost.

 

[rdfriend]

Okay, thanks. I hadn't thought of a pressure washer but I have one. Sounds like a great idea and I was planning on reseeding with new rock.

 

[strickrick]

I used to have a crazy amount of hair algae a few months after initial cycle and scrubbed every piece with a brush to get clean. I took a 2 tubs of water, one to scrub the rocks in and one to rinse them off, and then placed back in the tank. It took a couple hours (for over 125 pounds) but I got rid of the hair algae, re-scaped the tank, and done a much needed water change without destroying the bacteria in the rock.

 

[Catpicklesdog]

Okay, thanks. I hadn't thought of a pressure washer but I have one. Sounds like a great idea and I was planning on reseeding with new rock.

Just a word of warning if you use a pressure washer - wear goggles!!! It's amazing how easily bits of rock break off and get into your eyes - I am speaking from experinece - OUCH!

 

[journey0820]

It just seems so counter intuitive to scrub and dry out rock. I know it is the standard practice but...why not attempt to control what you don't want in the tank naturally...with appropriate CUC. What is the point in having bought the live rock (which should have lots of great growth having come from an already established tank) if you are going to scrub it off and dry it out? I realize that some of the "seeds" of life may remain but you'll kill off a lot of great stuff too. Just to avoid algae? That can be taken care of with the introduction of the right invert?

Again, I realize this is the norm...I just don't get it.

 

[rdfriend]

Just a word of warning if you use a pressure washer - wear goggles!!! It's amazing how easily bits of rock break off and get into your eyes - I am speaking from experinece - OUCH!

LOL, I will keep that in mind. Thanks!

 

[rdfriend]

It just seems so counter intuitive to scrub and dry out rock. I know it is the standard practice but...why not attempt to control what you don't want in the tank naturally...with appropriate CUC. What is the point in having bought the live rock (which should have lots of great growth having come from an already established tank) if you are going to scrub it off and dry it out? I realize that some of the "seeds" of life may remain but you'll kill off a lot of great stuff too. Just to avoid algae? That can be taken care of with the introduction of the right invert?

Again, I realize this is the norm...I just don't get it.

I understand what you are saying and normally I wouldn't want to do it but then normally I wouldn't be buying live rock in that condition. It was just a deal that was too good to pass up. I started figuring out the monetary value of what I got and I believe it was over $1,000.00 for the $400.00 I paid. I just don't want to start up a tank and have problems I don't need down the road. Plus I want to clean every piece of equipment including the tank and replace the sand and don't really have a means to keep the rock viable and introduce a CUC at this time.

 

[journey0820]

It just seems so counter intuitive to scrub and dry out rock. I know it is the standard practice but...why not attempt to control what you don't want in the tank naturally...with appropriate CUC. What is the point in having bought the live rock (which should have lots of great growth having come from an already established tank) if you are going to scrub it off and dry it out? I realize that some of the "seeds" of life may remain but you'll kill off a lot of great stuff too. Just to avoid algae? That can be taken care of with the introduction of the right invert?

Again, I realize this is the norm...I just don't get it.

I'm just re-thinking...it makes sense to me to scrub if the tank is established and the rock has been dying off via dry shipment. BUT, your rock is still in the water it came in, right?

 

[rdfriend]

I used to have a crazy amount of hair algae a few months after initial cycle and scrubbed every piece with a brush to get clean. I took a 2 tubs of water, one to scrub the rocks in and one to rinse them off, and then placed back in the tank. It took a couple hours (for over 125 pounds) but I got rid of the hair algae, re-scaped the tank, and done a much needed water change without destroying the bacteria in the rock.

The hair algae I could deal with but the bubble stuff scares me. I would be afraid that I wouldn't get all of the spores even with the rinses and then would regret it later. Plus I didn't have the means to transport the rock and keep it usable and now it is already dried out.