Inherited LR...

Tangboy · #1 (**permalink**) 05-01-2008, 02:07 PM

Guy at church found out how hard it is to keep a 20g salt tank running with just a little HOB filter. Needless to say his livestock weren't very happy and he shut the tank down about Novemberish.

Problem is he wouldn't sell his LR, so it sat in the saltwater until yesterday. His mother brought it by the school in a trashbag wrapped in a wet towel. All 20lbs smelled like, nothing. It didn't smell like dead fish or anything like I was expecting. She also brought in the 20lbs of LS he had as well which didn't smell bad either.

I went ahead and divided the LS and LR into two 5g tanks, added some WC water, put in some powerheads and will let run for a couple weeks with no lights. Should I even have bothered keeping the LS?

Suggestions would help... free LR is great and would love to add more to my 40!

**DaveK** · #2 (**permalink**) 05-01-2008, 10:01 PM

You can use the live rock, and even the live sand, provided that it has never been treated with medications, especially copper.

Provided it wasn't treated, you got some good rock.

To test for a problem, wait a few days, and use a low reading copper test kit. If you get a reading, other than 0, it's most likely the rock was in a system that was treated with copper. In that case, you can only use the rock in a fish only system. The leaching copper will kill any corals or inverts.

Tangboy · #3 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 01:41 AM

Yeah forgot to test for the copper, I'll have to check for that here soon...

Thanks for the advice!

ricosuave · #4 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 11:47 AM

Thats the best kind of LR - FREE!!! Guess I need to go to churrch more.

Tangboy · #5 (**permalink**) 05-13-2008, 11:27 AM

Well the LR I got wasn't too bad, or so I thought. I put it into some smaller tanks with powerheads and ran them for awhile, guess there was a lot of dead stuff. I took them out of the tanks, swished them around in some WC water from the 40, and put them in the tank. Two days later I have cyano everywhere... *sigh* and it looks so good in the tank. Cyano is on the sand and on the LR I had in there already, no cyano on the LR I just put in there.... Corals look great, fish are doing fine... just sucks...

**DaveK** · #6 (**permalink**) 05-13-2008, 10:09 PM

Cyano is not necessarily bad. LR can absorb or collect a lot of nitrates and phosphates. More likely the added rock simply supplied the nutrients needed. As usual, keep nitrates and phosphates down, and starve the cyano.

I don't recommend meds or additives to kill red slime. You'll simple exchange one unwanted algae for another.

Tangboy · #7 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 04:30 PM

I will just keep the WC's going like normal and syphon out the unwanted stuff...