Extremely muddy live rock

So I picked up 50 pounds of tonga looking rock from a fish store. the stuff with in a box covered in tons of mud, before i started curing this rock i took a brush and bucket of water and removed all the mud i could possibly get off, i let it settle and saved it just in case i could use it for something? It smells like death farted. But there was still some on the rock. almost 3 weeks into the rock curing my nitrite level are still so high i cant even measure them. I was thinking i could take the rock and blast the mud from between the "spikey branches" with a water hose outside (i dont really see any other way).

My question to anyone who would know is was this a good thing? or should i leave the mud on there. i mean it is an extreme amount of mud that looks like it should be taken off. Im pretty sure this is why the rock isnt done curing yet. I used water from the 100g tanks water changes thinking this would speed up the process..

-Dan

 

IMO...blast the hell out of it...you can hit it with a jet spray at a car wash and I 'll bet you couldn't get the mud all the way gone. Your "exercising in futility" with any amount of crud still resident on that rock and trying to cycle.IMO. ...but it could be amazing what may grow out of that rock..: )
LG

 

If the rock has so much mud on it that you can't see the rock underneath, chances are it's not doing anything for your tank insofar as biological filtration. Since biological filtration is why we buy LR in the first place, you might consider cleaning the rock with a spray of water. You should know, this will kill the rock and you'll be starting from scratch--but this might be your best option.

If swishing the rock hard in salt water doesn't agitate the mud free, a freshwater spray might be your best bet. If you go that route, you may want to nuke in bleach and really start "fresh."

Good luck.

 

Thx for the info guys, i blasted it outside, that makes me sad to think i wasted 2 weeks of work/salt/time =(. should i really bleach it? im guessing the chlorine from water treatment would kill the rock? i dont really want to bleach it that should scary and sad.. I included some pics of what it looks like now. just a few pieces.

and blasting it pretty much did open the rock, remove almost all traces of the mud, at least what i can see. its now not only differently shaped but more color is showing, but it sounds like its going to die now anyway?

 

toss it back into the cycling basin/bucket and you might just be surprised what does survive...

 

I say fully nuke it. God knows what else might be wrong with it.

 

I cant be 100% certain but I feel sure I can see some Valonia bubble algea in picture 1

I also see a few shades of green I dont like the look of in picture 3

Im with the Nuke it in bleach brigade, the stuff you really want, bacteria will colonise it eventually anyway , so I would rather not take the chance and see what comes up in the future with the rock as it is


Steve

 

When the rock was cleaned, is there now 50 pounds of rock or did the store charge you for the weight of the mud?

 

the entire box in store really muddy was like 49 lbs, and we were charged 150$, but they also gave us 20 lb's of live sand for 20$, so it was actually a decent deal i think. after cleaning the mud (since i collected the mud, only weights about a pound or so. the rock in total is about 48 lbs

oh no another nuker =(

i don't think there is any bubble algae , the picture really sucks under crappy light, i've search pretty hard core and pulled off almost everything i could last night and didnt see anything like that, just dead algae and mud really