utah rock

I would make sure that the rock is washed (I pressure washed mine) and rinse the sand really well. But, no matter what you do you will get some silt. IMO, the sand and rock won't change your water chemistry any more than any other sand or rock addition. Most of the organics should have been removed by that time. It would be safest in an already established system to add it in in phases, and since it's not live rock or live sand (yet) it wouldn't hurt to do it that way.

bugzme wrote: i got some utah rock today from mark(thanks) i also have utah sand, when i put this in my tanks do i have to worry about water chemistry? how would you put the sand in? stir it in, put on top or what. will this cause the tank to cycle again?

You are very welcome.
This stuff is exactly what we want in our tanks to maintain proper water chemistry. With Utah sand I don't even bother with adding calcium for quite a while, because it has tons. That white dust that may cloud the water for a few days is just what the doctor ordered for the calcium needs of coral, clams, and coralline algae.

After 4-5 rinses it will still cause cloudiness. Nothing you can do about it nor would you want to. The cloudiness is like giving your tank a big shot of calcium.

Scoop up some rinsed sand in a cup or larger container and slowly set the container down into the water. When you've reached bottom slowly pour the sand out of the container onto the place where you want it. This procedure is the best for making the least cluodiness.

Another thing you can do is move the existing substrate aside, pour the new sand in the hole and cover the new sand by pushing the old sand back over the top.

Since powerwashed Lake Bonneville Tufa Rock (LBTR) has no organic material on it, a ton of it can be added to any tank and no "cycling" happens. the term "cycling" is really allowing living things that came in on LR to die or recover from near death and giving the bacteria and critters a chance to eat up the dead stuff. I prefer the term RECOVERY. It takes time for a rock full of live organisms to RECOVER from the suffocating effect of being out of water!

That white dust that may cloud the water for a few days is just what the doctor ordered for the calcium needs of coral, clams, and coralline algae.

Just for the record... I disagree.

That calcium carbonate is not available for biological uptake and just settles back into the substrate.