Live rock out of water

[1229goad]

I was wondering if someone takes like rock out of there tank and puts it in a bucket with no water how long it will take for it to die?

thanks

 

[returnofsid]

Things will start to die immediately. Sponges and such will almost always die when exposed to air. If the rock stays wet, and is only out of saltwater for a short time, the die off will be limited. Otherwise, things will quickly die.

 

[Sascha D]

You mean the bacteria? I wouldn't let it dry out

 

[1229goad]

there was a guy on CL that had 200lbs of LR but it had been out of water for almost a week, i just wanted to know if it was worth getting

 

[g0rFz]

was that for the 2$/lb? i thought about it but i'd rather just wait, if its dried it will of course become live when introduced to your tank but a little longer.

 

[DonW]

It will just take longer to cycle. Dry rock can be much easier than LR if you have the patients.

Don

 

[seagem]

So would drying the live rock also kill off any and all aipstasia on it? Or would it be necessary to do other things to make sure all the aipstasia is for sure dead, even if the LR has been soaked in freshwater and allowed to dry out for a while now?

 

[Sascha D]

there was a guy on CL that had 200lbs of LR but it had been out of water for almost a week, i just wanted to know if it was worth getting

It depends what kind of tank you want. If you dont like suprises then that rock would be great for you if you can get it cheap because it doesn't have any unexpected hitchhikers. You wash it off really well, put it in your tank, buy some LR to seed it with and in a month you'll be straight. The question is can you handle having a tank full of rock for a month?

Personally the hitchhikers are the most fun part

 

[returnofsid]

Drying will kill everything on the rock, including aiptasia. Nothing at all wrong with using it, as long as you're aware that it's dry rock and will create a cycle. This would be great for starting a new reef tank with. Otherwise, cycle (cure) it in a separate container before putting it in an existing reef tank. As Don said, even though it's dead, it'll become live in time.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Dry rock rocks!

Makes the absolute best base for a reef, it will start a nice cycle, but typically finishes faster than ocean fresh live rock. If you want to seed the tank, add some fresh live rock to the base rock (dry rock)

 

[krisfal]

So just out of curiosity what would be the recommended minimum drying time that would make sure that all bad stuff was dead e.g. mantis shrimp, apstasia, algea etc. and you truly had Dead Rock.

I find it surprising what can make it through dry periods, I recently bought some live rock that I know was removed from the holding tank, put on a scale and dropped into a bucket and once all the rock was weighed and put in buckets a little water was added, then it at least 2 hours passed before it was fully submerged again. Through all of that a little six line wrasse survived

Now I know that the fish was a pretty lucky hitchhiker (thanks for the generosity herefishyfishy) but I just wonder if you chose to dry rock to rid of pest and restart with base rock how long would you do it (I would think a day or two only would cause more problems than do any good because all of the die off would be decaying) I am not planning any move like this but this thread just got me thinking about it. I have two experiences the one above and a rock I bought 2 years ago that was covered with aipstasia, it is still out in the back yard, and I can say for sure I have not seen any return in aipstasia:badgrin::badgrin:

 

[DonW]

The beauty of dead rock is you start with a sterile system. I think it would take longer than a few days to kill it off but you can speed the process with bleach. There really is no need to seed dead rock. You just need to get the bactera growing. A few dead snails will get the process started. Everything else like pods and coraline can be brought in selectivly later. No diatom bloom and no algae is great, going a couple months without even having to clean the glass is even better.

Don

 

[Scooterman]

The beauty of dead rock is you start with a sterile system. I think it would take longer than a few days to kill it off but you can speed the process with bleach.

I did most of my tank with bleach in a bucket as per Boomer's Instructions & it worked better than anything I've ever had to deal with!

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34816&highlight=bleach

 

[seagem]

I took out a piece of LR from my first 29 gallon setup because it had some aipstasia and allowed it to dry out. It was out of water for MONTHS. When my 29 was overtaken by bryopsis and aipstasa, (due to bad aquarium husbandry) I broke it down and stuck my hawkfish in a 10 gallon. I put the dried out piece of LR in the 10 to help my hawkfish feel more secure - I also did not want any of the LR from the then current 29 in the 10 to prevent contamination when I set the 29 back up. almost overnight I saw a biga$$ aipstasia sprout on this LR . Could an aipstasia anemone grow that fast into a 1" height overnight? Could it have been lurking in the dried out LR all that time? How is this possible? Maybe need to use a bleach solution to make sure all the bad stuff is dead before I reuse this dead rock in a new setup (65 or 75 gallon FOLWR).

 

[burning2nd]

at 2 bucks a pound.. i would get it just for the fact that i would contiune to kill it all off... cleaning it as much as i could just to use it latter for seeding...

i think dry Lr is the way to go... then you choose slowly what you want to add it to

 

[Sascha D]

I find it surprising what can make it through dry periods, I recently bought some live rock that I know was removed from the holding tank, put on a scale and dropped into a bucket and once all the rock was weighed and put in buckets a little water was added, then it at least 2 hours passed before it was fully submerged again. Through all of that a little six line wrasse survived

I once had a firefish survive inside a piece of LR for 3 hours

I took out a piece of LR from my first 29 gallon setup because it had some aipstasia and allowed it to dry out. It was out of water for MONTHS. When my 29 was overtaken by bryopsis and aipstasa, (due to bad aquarium husbandry) I broke it down and stuck my hawkfish in a 10 gallon. I put the dried out piece of LR in the 10 to help my hawkfish feel more secure - I also did not want any of the LR from the then current 29 in the 10 to prevent contamination when I set the 29 back up. almost overnight I saw a biga$$ aipstasia sprout on this LR . Could an aipstasia anemone grow that fast into a 1" height overnight? Could it have been lurking in the dried out LR all that time? How is this possible? Maybe need to use a bleach solution to make sure all the bad stuff is dead before I reuse this dead rock in a new setup (65 or 75 gallon FOLWR).

I know some corals like mushrooms cover themselves with a slime coating when you take them out of water. Its a kind of a bubble that contains water so they don't dry out. I dont think it would last for months but its possible. Lots of animals can survive great dry spells during the summer months.

Because of all the stories that I've heard from customers back in the day, I've never trusted bleach. Some vinegar water should do the trick though.

 

[seagem]

So how do you do the vinegar water thing?

 

[morgan]

if u wrap live rock in wet news paper then and put it in a plastic bag with oxygen it will be good for 24hrs with limited to no die off
just my experience

 

[seagem]

bojangles?

 

[apollothesun]

i would cook the 2 dolla per # rock. after 3 months then seed it.