mel7967

This is probably a stupid question but I was wondering if anyone knows if there is a way to recycle live rock so that it can be used in a freshwater tank as part of aquascape.

I have a small piece of LR from my salty tank that is mostly covered in a maroon color of coraline algae. It is starting to spread and I dont particularly care for the look of it and I would like to remove it before it spreads further. I hate to just pull it out of there without another purpose.
I have a 55g freshwater tank that it could potentially be placed in. Is there any type of process that this piece could be converted and safe to use in the FW tank?

locoyo386

Most people do not mind coraline algea as it is a sign of a healthy tank. If you do not like it, you will be killing everything in the rock, not just the algea. You can bleach it, nuke it, bake it, leave it out for a month or two. Pretty much anyway that things can be killed. Just clean it really good before you put in the freshwater tank, as it can have decayed matter.

mel7967

Thanks for your response. I figured I could bleach it or something I just was worried about any potential die off residual causing an ammonia spike.
Please dont get me wrong, I do want coraline algae in my tank. It's the color on this particular piece of rock that's bugging me. It's about 1 lb and it's a dark burgundy color which has now spread across the back of the tank and is starting to spot up on my other more colorful pieces. I really dont want this to be the dominant color, I think it makes the tank look dark and dirty. My other pieces have lots of pink, purple, green, yellow and even a couple small spots of blue on them. I was hoping those would take off more and spread. The one with the burgundy was the first piece I put in the tank so it's had longer to seed. Anyways, that's why I want to take it out.

Naeusu

Be careful as a dark burgundy sounds more like red slime algae than corraline to me.

mel7967

Would red slime algae have a hard texture? This stuff is.

charzar-g

another thing you could do (as it seems a shame to kill of the live rock you've paid for) is kill it, as suggested above, and hten put it back in the tank to become live rock once again, just without the horrible nasties that were on it

mel7967

Thanks Charzar-g, that's not a bad idea either. I went ahead and boiled it. It's just sitting there drying out. So would I have to re-cure it separately from the tank or would it be ok just to put it back in?

charzar-g

If it was me i'd just bung it back in, but i'd wait to see what others have to say :]

mel7967

Well I guess the debate is over. I came home from work today and my husband who has now claimed the freshwater tank as his own put the piece in there. Thanks to all for your input.