Live Rock Lifespan Outside of Water

[Guest hk132]

I will be moving in the next couple of months and during that time my aquarium will have no water/fish/etc. for about 3-4 weeks.

 

I'd like to keep my live rocks during this time so I won't have to put so much money into the setup when starting it up.

 

How long will these rocks be viable if kept in, say, a damp plastic garbage bag?  I understand they won't have as much "stuff" in them as they do currently, but will they be essentially "dead" by the of this time period?

 

I realize that I will need to get some additional rock when setting up again, but should I get this rock in additional to the old rock that will have been out of the water for quite some time, or should I sell the rocks along with the fish and start with things new and fresh?

[Guest tgallo]

Good question, lets think about whats on , and in live rock.

 

In live rock,from what i have read, bacteria wich breaksdown waste and performs other tasks, god only knows.Not sure how long it will live out of water or in poor coditions,wich would amount to waste when dead, wich will cause a cycle,maybe small in a estableshed sytem, or large in a knew system.

 

Then we also have worms, copapods, sponges,bacteria etc etc, on the exterior of the rock, wich will also somewhat perish in non ideal conditions and also contribute to a tank cycle/ waste.

 

kept in a damp garbage bag, will still produce die off, how much die off, who know's.

 

Should you sell the rock now, or keep it and add it to your knew system with knew live rock,well if you keep it, you still will have to clean it/cure it again and if you mix it with fresh rock down the road when you setup your tank again, you will still have a cycle in your tank.

 

If it were me , i would sell it depending on how much rock were talking about, and how long will it be before your tank is setup again.Also find a home for the fish.

[Grav]

I'd say you would have a dead stinky mess, would go through a big ol' cycle when you set up again, and the rock would need to be re-seeded to get back to providing filtration help.

 

HOWEVER, is that worse than the alternative?  Where are you moving from / to? How much rock are we talking?  200 lbs at $5.99 is a lot.  6 months later, dead rock is live again.  I have rock in my tank that I bought dry off a rack in PetCo that only the best of us could tell didn't come from Figi.

 

Here is an alternative you may not have thought of. If you are not moving far, get someone to "babysit" your rock for you then pick it up when you are ready.  If you are moving far, but will set-up soon after you move, have someone toss it into a sump, then move it in the wet bag as you described.  Then you have rock that only has a tiny little re-cyle to get past.

 

I'm sure many folks would offer to help.  I don't have a lot of space myself (small tank with no sump) but could prolly take 10-20 punds or so.

[Guest hk132]

From what I've heard it seems like my best bet will be to just sell it.  I've got a small tank -- ~50 gals -- and have about 25lbs of rock.  However, since I'm moving across the country the rock will be a pain.  Sounds like it won't pay off quite so well when resetup.

[GaryL]

so if you wanna sell it i work at arlington mazda in ballston arlington and would live to give your live rock a good home :p