Recycling live rock

[Anonymous]

I've got a lot (ca 150 lbs) of 7 to 8 year old live rock (originally aquacultured) that has a lot of aiptasia on it. I would like to recycle it. What is the best way of guaranteeing I have killed the aiptasia while maintaining the integrity of the rock?

I can think of at least 4 alternatives:

1. Dry the rock out for several days (I did this with a couple of rocks and they are now white from the dead corraline algae).

2. Immerse in a hyposaline solution for X days.

3. Immerse in a hypersaline solution for X days.

4. Pour boiling water on the surface until all aiptasia are visibly cooked, scrub them off, and re-cure.

 

[Anonymous]

I have placed it outside and let the sun and weather cure it, I have boiled it, and I have soaked it in a cooler with bleach and water. All methods seem to work as well the only real diff being the time it takes.

Boiling is quick and easy - esp if you do it outside with a gas cooker or turkey fryer.

The sun method is safe but takes a good while and the rock needs to be cleaned during and after the "cooking".

The bleach method always makes me nervous, but I have never had anyproblems with it. I have used a large cooler and a small wading pool in the past. I cover the rock with water and slowly add bleach until I see it working. After soaking everything I scrub/hose it off and soak it with lots of dechlorinator. I do this several times and then let the rock dry for a day or so.

 

[Anonymous]

I think you best bet would be to let it all dry out for a week or so. Once it is all dries and the stuff is dead get a small quantity of new rock and recure the old.

 

[Anonymous]

Hoe big are the pieces, wg?

 

[Anonymous]

Some are a major struggle to remove from the aquarium (eg 25 lbs), about a foot in diameter, others are smaller. I am thinking of using this as base rock and then buying some new perty stuff for the new setup. As I could not sleep last night, I came up with the following idea:

Current 55 gal -- > sump

New tank: As large as my wife will allow me to get without a trip to divorce court ( >= 75 gal).

Then set it up in a new location that will permit the addition of a third aquarium, ca. 30 gal long, to be used as an additional refugium or mangrove swamp, to be placed above the new tank and to drain into it, such that water from the main tank will go into the sump, then be pumped into the refugium, and then permitted to passively drain back into the main aquarium, possibly augmented by a sea swirl.

An alternative is to take the 55 gal to my office at work and buy an el cheapo glass aquarium for the sump.