Is This Coral? Is It Any Good?

[Freedom]

My Dad is in a nursing home, and I am slowly clearing out his house.
 
Found this.  I believe it is a chunk of coral which Mum would have found and picked up at the beach.  It is at least 25 years old (Mum passed 19 years ago) and has been sitting in the house.  For a time, it was used as a lawn ornament, so it was outside for a few yeras prior to being brought in.
 
It is large and heavy, a bit larger than one of those "doulbe" toilet paper rolls made for the home. 
 
Can anyone tell me, is this coral?  Is it any good?  Would I be able to post and sell it on craigslist, to someone locally?  I only keep freshwater, I know nothing about marine / reef tanks.  Just trying to identify this.
 
Thank you.
 
 

 

[Donya]

Yes, that is an old coral skeleton, and they are frequently used in marine tanks. It would need a good soak and scrub before going in a tank since it's been outside. 

 

[Freedom]

Yes, that is an old coral skeleton, and they are frequently used in marine tanks. It would need a good soak and scrub before going in a tank since it's been outside. 

Great!~  Any idea what I should price it at, please?  I can give it the soak overnight, and scrub it tomorrow. 

 

[Donya]

Usually dry rock for reefs is priced by weight unless a piece is especially heavy for its size or otherwise unusual. In stores, I usually see it for roughly $2.50/lb to $3.00/lb. You may also want to consider trading it at a LFS for some fw supplies if you want to unload it quickly, since it can be hard in some areas to sell single rocks. Reefers tend to buy in bulk (buying 50-100lbs of the stuff in one go is not unusual) and the individual pieces both at stores and that I've seen listed online by hobbyists tend to sit around for quite a long time because of that.

 

[Freedom]

Usually dry rock for reefs is priced by weight unless a piece is especially heavy for its size or otherwise unusual. In stores, I usually see it for roughly $2.50/lb to $3.00/lb. You may also want to consider trading it at a LFS for some fw supplies if you want to unload it quickly, since it can be hard in some areas to sell single rocks. Reefers tend to buy in bulk (buying 50-100lbs of the stuff in one go is not unusual) and the individual pieces both at stores and that I've seen listed online by hobbyists tend to sit around for quite a long time because of that.

Oh this is VERY Helpful!  Thank you so much!

 

[carmstrong]

Question.. 
 
Can you use dead/skeleton coral in a freshwater tank?
 
I found some while on a trip to Mexico and wanted to know if it is safe to place in my tank. 
 
They have been bleached and soaking in hot water for a day now, if I can place them in there, what are the risks and what other precautions do i need to take in order to make sure its safe. 

 

[Donya]

 

Question.. 
 
Can you use dead/skeleton coral in a freshwater tank?
 
I found some while on a trip to Mexico and wanted to know if it is safe to place in my tank. 
 
They have been bleached and soaking in hot water for a day now, if I can place them in there, what are the risks and what other precautions do i need to take in order to make sure its safe. 

 

 
Yes, if it is very, VERY clean. If it's from a beach* or other marine watery environment then I would soak it for a few more days and do a sniff test to determine whether it's actually clean. If it is fossil coral from inland and just had dirt on it, then just give it a good scrub and rinse. Coral skeleton will behave like limestone in terms of the effect on water chemistry - which is to say that it will raise KH and pH a bit (although not loads in most systems). 
 
*Obligatory note for any googlers reading this: collecting dead coral, rock, sand, etc. from beaches is illegal in a lot of places.

 

[carmstrong]

This is the coral I picked up.. 
 
PIC 1
PIC 2
 
I soaked it in bleach for about 6hrs and its been soaking in water for over 12 but i'll let it sit for longer

 

[Freedom]

Nice finds!
 
I've had no success in selling mine on cl, so perhaps I will use it myself, in my freshwater tank.