Used Liverock question

[ReefTankForMe]

I am buying a system used and the seller has 30lbs of Fiji live rock that is in a 10G tank, I think without any circulation, as the tank has been taken down for sale already. The sand (also selling) is sitting in a bucket in water. When I set up the tank can I use the sand and liverock? If there was anything that was still alive on the rock and it has died off in the past week could that somehow poison a new setup. I am not sure if the liverock was cured or uncured when the seller bought it although I think the rock was bought as dead rock (the owner said she paid about $3 a lb, but also said there may still be some things alive on it)

 

I am trying to get clarification from the seller but I need the help with this question because if I can't use this rock and sand, then it won't be worth buying this system. thanks

[EtOH_is_good]

30 lbs of rock in a 10g? that's alot. is there any space for water? how long had the tank been running? if you get it for a deal then it is probably worth the time to restart the tank. depending on the die-off, it may take some time for nitrites and nitrates to become acceptable. a massive water change will help. if she had fish in the tank then i wouldn't take all the sand. take a little to populate your new sand bed, but dont take it all because more pollutants get trapped than biodiversity.

[ReefTankForMe]

the 30lbs of rock was actually from a 30g. that is what is for sale. The seller took down the larger tank, just to save time and stuck the rock in a 10g w/ s water just to keep it wet. The rock has been sitting in this water for a few weeks.

 

I am really wondering if rock can somehow become dangerous to use if it wasnt cared for properly. as for the sand, they had no fish, so I think it may be ok. Maybe I will rinse it in fw?

 

I plan on buying the larger tank and setting it up from scratch and recycling with the used rock and sand.

 

Could this be dangerous?

[EtOH_is_good]

oh. not dangerous. don't wash the sand. you'll kill everything. just do water changes. don't wash with freshwater.

[ReefTankForMe]

excellent. just wanted to make sure this LR or sand wouldn't screw up my cycle being that it was not well cared for. thanks

[ReefTankForMe]

Ok Here it is. Right now I have the LR all packed into a 10gal tank (still need to set-up/test the 29G). I put a little bit of the sand that I bought used in the tank. Mixed up some sw using walmart distilled and added the LR. THe temp is steady at 77 and I am keeping the light off except to check it out. There is green algee on the rock that I didn't clean off. I read in another post that I should probably scrub each peice, then return it to the tank. There is a biowheel 330 with no inserts/media for circulation. I have tested nothing but salinity and temp in this tank. Here are a few pictures.

 

Also here is a pic of the sand I bought, just sitting in the bucket in water right now.

 

Can someone give me some suggestions/next steps for the sand and the rock?

 

I am planning on having the big tank setup within 3-4 days.

[ReefTankForMe]

a closeup of the rock. should i scrub off that algae or anything else i see?

[ReefTankForMe]

current state of the sand

[EtOH_is_good]

scrube the rock only if 1) the rock has black/decaying stuff on it or 2) unwanted algae. with #2, it is better to cut/pull algae off, esp if bubble algae. most clean up crews will help clean up the short stuff. i usually don't advocate scrubbing rock because it destroys some of the biodiversity.