Bring Live Rock Back To Life

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Ok I need all of you guys help on this one. I just got aprox. 150 lbs of live rock from a buddy of mine that I would say is dead but I may be wrong. Heres what happen ....
1st my buddy got a new house well on moving day he was not prepared to move his tank so he took all the live rock out of it and set it in a plastic bin no water but put wet towels over it well accordig to him he forgot it was in the garage and left it like that over night.

Well the next day the tank was the last thing on his mind so he took 2 - 30 gallon plastic trash cans and filled with salt water and power heads and put all the live rock in there with the lid on it . (not sure what he was thinking cause it was so pretty and so full of coral line and mushrooms and all kinds of good stuff) According to him he left it like that for like 2 weeks.

Then when he had time??? he said he open the tops and it smelled like raw sewage so he took all the rock out of there and filled the tank in the garage and put all the rock in there with power heads, lights and his remora c skimmer. Again he said he left it like that for 3 or 4 weeks adding water just to top it off. Now you have to think about the temps we have been having it gets hot in there 100+ temps

Well this is when i went over there and I must say the water look crystal clear but was hot water and I have never saw so much green and purple hair algae. But that was about all that was alive in that tank. I manage to get it from him I clean off all the hair algae and now have all 150 lbs in a 46 bow front I have. Ok well let me say I have the biggest pieces in the tank now these are more like boulders instead of rock and then placed the smaller pieces in the sump but are all in the system in one way or another...

My question is what is the best way to bring this live rock back to life. This is a new setup as I had got out of the hobby for a little while but when you come across something like this you cant just let it go.. It looks like there are still a few tiny spots of purple coral line on some of the rock but there is nothing alive.. Please anyone out there can help me bring the beauty back to life in this rock I will be most grateful...


Thanks
Joe
 
I think it is still full of life. It does not sound like it dried out completly and the raw sewage smell was it going through a cycle because of a lot of die off but not complete die off.

How did you clean off the Hair algea? you may have an issue with it coming back when you put lights on it. May want to look at the thread some where around here on cooking the rock.
 
Yah, the rock is still 'alive'- ie, the nitrifying / denitrifying bacteria are still in there.. I'd treat it as uncured / semi-cured LR from a shipper..
 
I cleaned it by filling a tub of salt water and attach a hose to a mag 7 pump and sprayed it of sort of a pressure spray and then I set it up in this tank also as a substrate I am using a mix of 10lbs - Nature's Ocean Premium Marine Substrates ( the really fine white sand) and 10 lbs - Tideline Natural Coral Sand Pure Marine Substrate more of a coarse substrate. I dont like a deep sand bed but bare bottom is ugly so I figure I will mix the two fine and coarse and see what happens looks pretty good. Again thanks for any and all advise on this setup as I will be starting off really really slow on this....

Thanks
Joe
 
I agree with the above posted. I would treat it like uncured live rock and let it cycle in your new set up. The loss of bacteria was probably great, but not catastrophic. Just be patient with it. I would also try to let it cycle with no lights on for at least a month.
 
Thanks I tell you what this is good to hear cause this may have turned out to be the best find ever me talking my way into 150 lbs of live rock very nice size pieces.. really good price. I will keep you all posted on the progress... And any more sugesstions are more than welcome

Setup details
46 bowfront.
10 lbs sand. mixed fine and coarse
192 watt power compact lights
i think 20 gallon sump
remora aqua c pro skimmer
2 maxijet 1200 power heads
:lol: :lol: 150 lbs live rock :lol: :twisted: - large pieces in tank rest in sump - need to get a bigger tank.......

taking suggestions



Thanks
Joe
 
Ok all here are a few pics of where I am now any suggestions would be great on getting rid og some of the hair algae that seems to be popping up.. I am using a power head to spray off the rock weekly..

Also should I be rotating the rock out of the tank with the rock in the sump so it all gets some light :p
Thanks
Joe
 
I'm not an expert on hair algea, fortunately, but I think you have to take it out of the tank. Just blowing it off the rock with a power head isn't good enough. Wherever it lands it will just grow from there. You should pluck it off and remove it from the tank completely.

Edit* Just kidding, there they are.
 
I agree, don't just blow it off you will spread it. Look at Marc's site there is an great page on GHA and how to deal with it.
Just remember that you are early in the progress of this tank, so far everything looks really good.
 
being that the tank is so new I did not think I could add any livestock yet although I will tell you this all water is testing fine there was a slight spike for a few days but all is well now. so do you think I could start adding possibly cleanup crew in there or keep waiting a bit longer
 
also what about cycling out the live rock with the rock in my sump cause I probably have as much if not more live rock in my sump then I have in the tank. I just took the biggest pieces and put in the tank and I think it is only like 9 pieces total..
 
I would toss a cube of mysis or something in the tank and test the water in an hour to see how parameters are. It might have already done it's cycle.

For the GHA you might try turning the lights off for a few days and make sure no light gets to the tank. Algae can't grow without light.
 
Thanks alot. Wuick question if the algae wont grow with no light should I pull some of the pieces out of the tank and put in the sump and put some from the sump in the tank would that work you think...


Thanks
Joe
 
What I would do:

Build your rock structure, maybe go purchase one or two pieces of fresh live rock, get the tank how you like it.
Put the lights on for a very short period of time maybe an hour every 6 to 8 hours.

You should then see the tank become very stable.

The new rock will add bio diversity and coraline algea to the mix. You should be good to go, Then add nothing else till you go to MACNA.
 
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