can 'dry' coral be thrown into a reef tank?

[waterwerkz]

Hope this isn't to ridiculous a question but better safe than sorry.
A friend collected some large (really large) pieces of coral after a hurricane blew them to shore somehwere tropical (can't remember where) She has had them in her garden but has now donated them to us. Common sense suggest that we might soak them in salt water, say for 48 hours? then put them in our tank. Whaddya say?
Good ideas?
Bad ideas?
Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[teevee]

I boiled a bunch of shells before using them in my tank. Just to be sure.

 

[Anonymous]

Boil it for 10-20 minutes...the saltwater wont make a difference so dont bother...after boiling it, youre good to go....And there is no such thing as a stupid question...Welcome to Reefs.org

8)

 

[Cabreradavid]

You might want to ask her if she used pesticides in the gardern. I suppose boiling might take care of some, but I don't know if it's really worth the risk.

 

[Expos Forever]

I'm kinda surprised I'm the only person who has this opinion: Leave the dead corals in the garden. If you have a true reef (or even if you don't) IMO dead coral skeletons will totally ruin the look.

 

[Anonymous]

They wouldn't hurt as add'l filter in the sump, or as base rock. They would quickly get colonized with calcareous algae anyway. On the other hand, if she used pesticides I wouldn't touch them.

 

[Anonymous]

I would leave them in the garden......but I think you willl be ok if you boil them. However I would do it several times to rinse them of any pesticides. Nah.......leave them in the garden.

 

[Anonymous]

You eat fruit that has pesticide sprayed on it, right? Most pesticides don't last forever anyway. All you need to do is wash it well.

Dead coral works fine within live rock in a reef, but if you put it out in a display area it will look like you have killing corals, and it grows a lot of algae too.

 

[Anonymous]

Rebuttal: Ok if pestisides have been used i would not use it...Yes, you may eat fruit with pestisides on it, but it has also been linked to cancer in humans...even on fruit...You dont clean a tank with 409, even if you rinse it a million times, the slightest amount of chemicals can do harm to your reef inhabitants....Remember 1 thing..if you have a gas leak in your house and you are confined within, chances are you are gonna get sick and possibly die...so like an aquarium, it is limited space...a dead piece of coral with pestisides on it thrown into the ocean will have no adverse effects on it but in an aquarium it might

8)

 

[Anonymous]

I used a large dead pocillopora skeleton and allowed green star polyps to cover it - pretty cool.

Jim

 

[shalegac]

I also have a dead coral skeleton I used as a display. Now it looks like a realy cool piece of live rock, not to mention all the cool stuff living in and under it. It is also growing coral line.
Correct me if I'm wrong but, isn't live rock comprised of coral skeletons?
As far as pestisides... I don't know

 

[Anonymous]

JimM, i bet the stars on the pocillopora does look cool..i have a piece of dead bird nest...maybe ill give that a try...

8)

 

[Anonymous]

On something so dense as birdsnenst, you'll just end up with a big 'clump' of star polpys. I know this because even on the pocillopora which is much more open than a birdsnest, the final produce is several large mounds - not the branching green piece I was hoping to have. The GSP reaches across to nearby structure, and fills the skeleton in pretty good.
It sill looks very cool, just different than I was picturing at first. If I do it again I'll use staghorn.

Cheers
Jim

 

[danmhippo]

Does it surprise anyone that the "LR" we used were once dead corals? After algae covered it and corallines grown over it, no one will tell the differences.

I would soak them in mild bleach solution for a couple of days, and rinse it clean, and boil it to precipate residual chlorine out of it.

 

[Anonymous]

i have a small piece of bird nest..it was a free frag...so it didnt really grow out...it isnt very dense, but i get what you are saying though..

8)

 

[Expos Forever]

Has anybody else besides Dan noticed that dead coral skeleton seems to be more prone to nuisance algaes? I did realize it's basically the same thing as LR, but it's also been my experience that the above is true.

 

[Anonymous]

I think live rock has mostly been broken off during a storm, rolled around and been covered with encrusting organisms, so it presents a fairly smooth surface. Dead coral is very "thorny" by comparison- I don't think snails etc can clean it as well.

Sorry about my glib comment re pesticides; if I know a piece had been sprayed I probably wouldn't use it.