OK to cure small amount of new LR in established reef?

[Nugg]

hi guys, I just picked up a sweet shelf piece of LR with tons of colorful sponges and encrusting algaes on it. it's small, only about 2 lbs worth. would it be ok to let it cure in my 40g reef? the tank is very established (~7 yrs) and healthy. I've had it in a bucket by itself with a powerhead for a couple of days and it hasn't stunk yet. I'd love to put it my tank but don't want to make them suffer through a substantial ammonia spike. thanks in advance!

[Fly Guy]

No.

Im sure someone else can answer much more scientifically so i will spare any effort but there are MANY reasons why not.

I made the mistake of trying quite a while back (with jnust a few small rocks)and the die off that i thought was finished was one of my biggest problems

[BGJ223]

I Vote yes
I recently did that in my 20 gallon. Your nitrates will probably spike a little, so you will want to do some water changes. If it is only 2lbs then I doubt it will be too significant of a problem.

[tims]

was the piece from a tank already ? was it transported wet if it came home from the LFS?
you will have die off. you may have to change out the water so be prepared. as long as everyone was not exposed to not water for a long periode you should be okay. but it wooould be safer to set up a small tank to place it in to make sure your levels and any die off that may occur does not happen in the main display

[alaskaknucklehead]

ditto w/Tims

[VWD]

I would say that if your tank is stable and you have a good amount of rock it will be ok to add a few pounds to it. If you have 40 lbs of rock in your tank and want to add 20lbs of uncured I would say no. A few pounds will more then likely be fine. I have people come in every week to buy a few more pounds to add to the tank.