Can I Keep Live Rock Alive?

[Dorkhedeos]

You guys are forgetting that there are organisms inside the rock that create ammonia to help keep live rock "live". Im pretty sure as long as live rock stays submerged, itll still be "live"

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

You guys are forgetting that there are organisms inside the rock that create ammonia to help keep live rock "live". Im pretty sure as long as live rock stays submerged, itll still be "live"

Agreed. Live rock will stay live as long as its got flow around it. The stuff is full of life bristleworms,starfish,algea,copepods,tubeworms,algea,small snails,sponges etc etc etc

 

[kj23502]

You guys are forgetting that there are organisms inside the rock that create ammonia to help keep live rock "live". Im pretty sure as long as live rock stays submerged, itll still be "live"

Agreed. Live rock will stay live as long as its got flow around it. The stuff is full of life bristleworms,starfish,algea,copepods,tubeworms,algea,small snails,sponges etc etc etc

I don't think it would, as I stated earlier, if it's just allowed to sit in an aquarium for who knows how long. What's going to feed the critters that are living on the rock? They'll run out of food and die and then the rock will uncycle b/c it in turn won't have anything to feed the bacteria that keeps it cycled.

You guys are forgetting that there are organisms inside the rock that create ammonia to help keep live rock "live". Im pretty sure as long as live rock stays submerged, itll still be "live"

Not really, depending on how long it was just left to sit in the aquarium. The inverts or whatever living on the rock won't have food so in the long term they'd prob die and then there'd be nothing creating waste and the rock would uncycle itself.

I said that in the previous post. If they are just left to sit and nothing/noones feeding the critters they will die from starvation eventually....won't they? Then there won't be any ammonia once that's done.

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

No the LR is like a mini ecosystem(algea grows,stuff eats it, it poos,poo is broken down and feeds the algea) as long as it has flow and light it would be fine. I don't think the original poster was going to leave it indefinately he just wants to keep it live for a bit. I see where your comming from but the stuff is full of life it isn't like a biological filter in a FW. I'm sure lots of people leave their tanks running with just LR for ages while they get things running right before they add livestock. Thats how I see it anyway but I'm no scientist.

 

[kj23502]

Ok...i getcha. A learning experience for me i guess

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Well, the die off of the critters will make food for the other stuff living inside. Algae and sponges will also grow, providing more food to the other critters. Basically, if you have flow around live rock, it will remain "live", just not as live as other rock you might see.

 

[andywg]

Well, the die off of the critters will make food for the other stuff living inside. Algae and sponges will also grow, providing more food to the other critters. Basically, if you have flow around live rock, it will remain "live", just not as live as other rock you might see.

I don't think this is wise.

Using die off as the source of food means there is only a finite supply. What happens when you start to run out of creatures?

You stated above that there are organisms that create ammonia. If there are, they will be doing so in absolutely tiny amounts compared to that of fish as a by product of osmoregulation. So, while one could potentially leave Live Rock and claim it is still live, after any length of time (a months or so would be my guess) it is not going to be able to support fish so will become more of a pretty rock than decent filtration.

If you want to keep live rock live, just throw some food or some ammonia into the tank every couple of days or so to ensure that there is a nitrogenous food source going into the system.

 

[smudger72]

Thanks for all the replies
My intention is to keep the rock live for a couple of months just long enough for me to get a skimmer etc .
Although to be honest as I only want to do a FOWLR tank I only need a skimmer and an extra powerhead and I am away lol.

 

[kj23502]

andywg, does that mean i, sorta, win the argument? LOL

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, kinda sorta not really

As Andy mentions, eventually as the dieoff wanes, so will nitrogenous bacteria. The trouble is, there's no way to quantify dieoff and how long the rock stays live for. Interestingly enough, I keep a 5.5g nano in my room as a QT tank. Never have I added anything to the tank other than RO water for topoffs and food only when there are fish in there. And whenever I put a single small fish in there, I never get an ammonia spike... Take that for what it's worth I suppose

 

[Bubblenester]

If you "feed" your tank (ammonia, flake food, or frozen food) this will ensure that you don't start to lost the beneficial bacteria in the live rock.

 

[smudger72]

I got the rock at a pretty good price I still need a few more kilo's though.
It's been in my tank for a week now.
Got a couple of good powerheads in there so waterflow shouldn't be a problem.
Noticed some critters last night. One lovely bristleworm and quite a few snails.
Yhe snails are very very small and look like MTS but they can't be in full marine can they?

 

[kj23502]

MTS can live in marine conditions They are adaptable.

 

[Musho3210]

No, the good bacteria need something to feed off of. After the move and the small die off there won't be anything to feed the bacteria. Fish poop and stuff like that is what feeds it. At least in the freshwater tank. I would think this would hold true for any bacteria. If it doesn't have a food source, it dies. Well I guess there could be live forms that may produce waste on the rock, but again if it doesn't create very much waste, then the bacteria will die off and only what's needed will survive.

Is the live rock you're getting actually live rock from a tank and was in water? Some people call old dried out live rock (b/c it was once live) and in that case the rock won't be live anymore so there'd be no point in putting it in water.

Well that is true... to a point at least. Live rock is already covered in gunk, live rock in everyones tank is producing nitrates, if you took your rock out of your tank and shook it in a bucket of salt water you would be amazed at the amount of cloudy gunk that comes out. The live rock would be able to feed itself for a little while, if you provide it water flow, it can probably go for months. You will still lose some bacteria, but it would take a LONG time before ALL the bacteria goes away (actually i think that is quite impossible).

This also means that when the rock was in the tank it never got cleaned (in my case). My rock is a nitrate producing clogged pores SoB.

Providing an ammonia source will help make it last longer as well.

The longer you go, the less life you have, but it will technically stay as LIVE ROCK for a very long time. Bacteria are very hardy, if they werent, we'd all be dead.