How to dip live rocks with corals? New water!

[Briandale1231]

I recently took apart my tank 50gal, where having lot of issues, Dino where one of them and then almost all my fishes died from Ick (It was a two year old tank).

All the rocks that did not have corals, I bleached them. Mixing new water now to fill up the tank.

My question is, how to deal with the rocks that have corals??

Would appreciate any advise!

 

[dmy535]

If you took apart your tank, what are you currently doing with the rock that has corals on it?

 

[Briandale1231]

If you took apart your tank, what are you currently doing with the rock that has corals on it?

Have them in a container with the fishes I have left.

 

[dmy535]

With the coral/rock that you do have left, is there an issue with that rock that you need to take care of? I know you mentioned “dinos” but is there something on the coral rock you need to get rid of? Because you are starting over, you’re going to have to cycle that tank. If you can use the rock that you have, you’ll have beneficial bacteria that will help bypass a new cycle. The coral you do have will suffer greatly if you have to cycle again. So I’d recommend using as much of your current live rock as possible.

 

[N.Sreefer]

If it was something like nudis or isopods you could coral dip the whole rock but that wont help with ick or dino. You could move the rock with coral to a system with no fish for 72+ days to get rid of ick. Did you dechlorinate the rock you bleached? Imo you should slow down and assess the situation before you get another system set up so you dont end up having to tear another tank down.

 

[Briandale1231]

If it was something like nudis or isopods you could coral dip the whole rock but that wont help with ick or dino. You could move the rock with coral to a system with no fish for 72+ days to get rid of ick. Did you dechlorinate the rock you bleached? Imo you should slow down and assess the situation before you get another system set up so you dont end up having to tear another tank down.

Decided to go with everything new, already ordered some dry rocks. The bleached ones, washed few times with RO water, is that ok?? I slow down, taking my time.

 

[Briandale1231]

With the coral/rock that you do have left, is there an issue with that rock that you need to take care of? I know you mentioned “dinos” but is there something on the coral rock you need to get rid of? Because you are starting over, you’re going to have to cycle that tank. If you can use the rock that you have, you’ll have beneficial bacteria that will help bypass a new cycle. The coral you do have will suffer greatly if you have to cycle again. So I’d recommend using as much of your current live rock as possible.

The point is I don't want even a drop of the old water on the new one. I'm OK with cycling the water, I'm taking my time. But decided to do new rocks, will try to recover some corals and dip them and post the rest for sell.

 

[Sarcazian]

It sounds like it may be to late as I cannot remember if I used bleach + h2o2 (2nd dip) or 2x h2o2 dips using 35% H2O2 many years ago due to many issues (HA, Dinos, 3 different types of macro, flatworms, ich, you name it..). Like you, I really did not want anything to survive that was on the rock, but I also did not want to throw away the rock.

A lot of really nasty stuck came out for sure and it was work, but that combined with a 4-8 month soak in SW should kill most things. Now a days you could seed the rock with bacteria in a bottle + ammonia to have fully ready LR.

BTW, the rock I mentioned cooking above sat in a brute for about 8 years with Trop pro salt. It still has what I am pretty sure is still Coraline algae on part of it. It is interesting how nature perseveres.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Id let the ich ride out and take its course. Dont add anything for 3 months or so. Idk what the lifespan is on ich. Never had an outbreak.
When you add all this new dry rock with your exsisting live and fish. U might get some cycle and diatom. Be prepared.
D