Dead Live Rock?

[joejdsn]

well, i'm finally starting my reef-tank, a sixty gallon and i have a dilema. my friend who broke his tank down about a month ago, game me an ice-chest full of his live rocks from the tank. the problem is, he let it sit in the ice-chest w/o water all this time. my question is, is it safe to use? should i do any kind of cleaning? if i wash it in fresh water, wouldn't it kill all the bacteria(if they are not all dead already)? he has some AMAZING pieces and i would love to use them. help me out, please. i know you guys always do, so thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

I have used dead rock such as this before. It was sitting in a trash can for about a year, completely dry. I just cycled the rock in a tub of saltwater with strong current for a month. It isn't really live rock for awhile, you will need to seed the tank with some live rock from another source. It will eventually become live though.

One thing you may want to do is rinse it off first, to dislodge any dirt or stuff that is clinging to it.

[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: Chris George ]</p>