High Tide Aquatics

Treat BRS Tonga Shelf rock?

kinetic

Supporting Member
I'm going to add a piece of Tonga Shelf rock from BRS to my tank. It's dead rock (not live). Should I do anything special? Do I need to cure it, or bleach it, or anything? I was just going to rinse it really well in RO/DI and then drop it in.
 
I've never bought tonga from BRS. If it's super clean, then it's fine to drop in. If it's a dirty as their pukani, I would recommend curing it first, +/- bleach or muriatic acid if you are so inclined.


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As long as the piece isn't a sizable fraction of your overall rockwork I wouldn't worry about anything to cure it. The bleaching aspect... well how dead do you think it really is? If you're really worried I might put it in the sump (if you can) and see if anything grows out of there (this will probably be just aiptasia).
 
Thanks guys. It looks super dead. Nothing on it really. It's probably been dry for years.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-tonga-shelf-flat-plates-dry-live-rock.html

According to their website (take it as you will, kind of thing):
"Like all of our dry rock Tonga Shelf is free of nuisance algae and pests which can cause complete tank shut downs and is guaranteed to be free of aiptasia, bubble algae, parasitic isopods, mantis shrimp, acro eating flat worms, little red bugs, fire worms, predatory nudibranchs, pyramidellid snails and other common pests. "

Guaranteed to be free of all that! I think it's because they know how dead it is. I wonder if it'll leech phosphates or something (which isn't bad, my chaeto needs more).

I'll probably just rinse it some and then put it in.
 
I wouldn’t be worried at all about a live hitchhiker.

There will be some dead organic material that will decompose giving you nutrients, but since your cycle is already stable and if the amount you are adding is small relative to the total amount of live rock, it should be fine. If you are worried, you could add some Dr. Tim’s to avoid a mini-cycle, but that would only be if the amount you are adding is significant, like half the rock.

I’ve bought tonga and pukani from BRS and there is dead stuff on both but a lot less on the tonga than on the pukani.
 
Good suggestions! It's just going to be one plate that's 9"x6.5", and about an inch thick. I rinsed it out and some dead dry junk came off, but nothing much. I think it'll be fine in the tank. I might run it through bleach just for the heck of it...
 
Good suggestions! It's just going to be one plate that's 9"x6.5", and about an inch thick. I rinsed it out and some dead dry junk came off, but nothing much. I think it'll be fine in the tank. I might run it through bleach just for the heck of it...

Personally, if it is from BRS and out of the ocean, I wouldn't stick that thing in my tank that had livestock in it without curing it. Pukani from BRS is absolutely fithy. They do not do any cleaning prior to you getting it. I put 25lbs of pukani that I just got in about 15 gallons of water and ammonia went to 8+ppm in under 24 hours. IMO, even if it looks clean, not worth the risk.
 
Personally, if it is from BRS and out of the ocean, I wouldn't stick that thing in my tank that had livestock in it without curing it. Pukani from BRS is absolutely fithy. They do not do any cleaning prior to you getting it. I put 25lbs of pukani that I just got in about 15 gallons of water and ammonia went to 8+ppm in under 24 hours. IMO, even if it looks clean, not worth the risk.

Thanks Randy. I've seen the Pukani from BRS, this looks way cleaner, but yes, might as well just bleach it. I'll toss it in some RO/DI tomorrow and take some measurements after 24 hours. If it's bad, I'll toss some bleach in and then let it cure for a couple weeks? Sounds kind of silly for just a small piece of rock, but better safe than sorry.
 
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