ROCK CLEANING

[ansonluna]

When I start my new tank, is it ok to clean my live rock? And by cleaning I mean putting each peice of rock in a bucket for a few minutes with a powerful pump so that all the detris and everything else is cleaned out. Will this cause me to have to re-cycle my new tank? BTW, my live rock will have been in my 125 for over a year.

[NaCl_H2O]

Anytime you move live rock around, there is some cycling that takes place. Exposing new surfaces to light, covering surfaces that used to have light, etc. Watch your levels and be ready to do more frequent water changes for a month or two.

Washing out the rock is fine, just don't go overboard, there is good stuff in there ;) I usually just dip it in a bucket turning it in various directions. The lose stuff will wash out and leave the living stuff on the rock. Maybe two buckets, the second one with "cleaner" water - rinse cycle two ;)

[ansonluna]

Thanks for the advise. I need to post some pics of some SPS you gave me the last time you fragged up your corals and sold them. You gave me two peices of live rock with a layer of coral growing over them and said "you can have these, maybe they will grow out" and they have. I will post them after the lights come on tonight.

[bigdscobra]

Is the rock really that bad?? I wouldn't do it unless its coverd in bad algea, you will loose all the pods and other helpfull stuff that lives in the rock.

[ansonluna]

No algea problem, but would like to start again with a nice clean tank. Also, if I go barebottom that will keep me from having to syphine out junk right away. As for pods and other stuff....I am going from a 125gal to a 60gal cube and I have about 150lbs of LR, which I will probably not find a way to fit into the system for my 60 gal, so there will still be tons of live creatures for the new system.