Stinky "Dry" rock

So my reef build got put on hold last fall and the 50+ pounds of "dry" reef saver rock I bought from BRS got left in the shipping bags and placed in a brute trash can with lid in my garage.

The rock it sat in there for about 10 months and today I went to open it up and get a few pieces to mess around with some scape ideas and I was greeted with an rather unpleasant smell. Most of the rock had a damp feel to it and at the bottom of the bag of rock in on some of the rock were these weird fungus/mold looking things. They almost resemble the filter of a cigarette butt some are kinda yellowish and some are kinda grayish.

Any chance on salvaging this rock or should I toss it and start fresh? I was thinking about hosing it down outside and letting it bake in the sun for a few days.

 

I think you'd be fine with that, you could also clean it with some vinegar first. But I'd prob just hose it down real good and let it thoroughly dry.

You could also soak it in a mild bleach solution then rinse, then soak in a lot of dechlorinator and then let dry, but that seems like overkill to me

 

I would cook the whole works for a few months...better safe than sorry.Just washing it off isn't going to clean the nasties out of the core of the rocks.

 

Even if its going into a new setup?

 

What was it sitting in, just water?

 

Its in the plastic bags that brs shipped it in. I stored it like that in a closed Brute trash can in my garage. It seemed dry when I stored it but the sealed bags are all damp on the inside now and there is some water at the bottom of the trash can. The lid was tight and my garage is very dry so the water came from the rock some how...

 

IMO, I wouldn't worry about it too much other than rinsing them off. Keep in mind that anything growing there needs 1) non-salt water 2) dark 3) stagnant air. Submerge those rocks in a big tank of salt water also full of thousands of other bacteria types and light, and anything now in them will die quickly.

Maybe a little ammonia/nitrogen from them, but the tank has to cycle anyway.

I pull stuff that smells absolute horrible from my tank, so smell isn't always a great indicator.

Rick

 

agreed I would just use it if its a fresh tank it probably help start the cycle

 

ok was just worried about adding toxic mold to something in my house : ) Thanks for the advice!

 

yeah, rinse it, dry it, cycle it Get that tank running already, geesh