Storing Live Rock Once Cured?

[craigybaby37]

So ive currently got between 10 and 12 kg of liverock from my 20 gallon marine tank and need to get about another 10kg ready for when i get the new tank in the next few weeks once its been build.

Anyway my question is if i get 10kg of liverock can i put 5kg into my 5 gallon tank and wait for it to cycle then store it in a bucket of old tank water what i will get from a weekly water change and then cycle the other 5kg and store them aswell??

Will the water need to be heated or have any circulation of the water or will it be fine just sitting in the bucket for a week or so??

and if its ok to do the above can i then transfere everything ( but not livestock) into the tank in one go without having any kind of mini cycle?

 

[andywg]

To keep live rock cured you need to give it a source of food: ammonia. Therefore you will need to have fish in with it or feed some food/pure ammonia.

To ensure that the liverock is all getting fed well you will probably want it to be at least room temperature and I would add circulation.

Why wouldn't you add livestock at the same time as cured live rock though? That is the best and easiest way to start a new tank. Cured rock ideally wants livestock to keep it live, llivestock wants cured live rock to keep it alive. Put the two in together and you have an instant tank, it's how all of my SW tanks have been set up.

 

[eschaton]

Your rock will certainly die without heat and circulation given enough time. Only being in stagnant, cold water for a week might not kill everything though.

Remember, live rock doesn't just have bacteria in it. It potentially has macroalgae, sponges, pods, snails, crabs, tunicates, polyps - who knows what? The longer you put it it substandard conditions, the less diverse your tank ecosystem is going to be.

Cured rock, especially if it's only a minority of your rockwork, should be fine to just dunk into the tank. You'll have an ammonia spike for a day or two, but unless you have real sensitive stock, it shouldn't hurt anything.

 

[andywg]

If the live rock has truly cured then there will be no ammonia as any die off has already occurred.

 

[eschaton]

If the live rock has truly cured then there will be no ammonia as any die off has already occurred.

That's not really true if you buy cured live rock online though. A day or two out of water is enough to start a new death cycle.

Edit: Must have been a brain fart - moving the rock from one room to another won't hurt anything - unless you happen to have a lot of sponges on your rock.

 

[rhysiboy]

See i think the thing is is that most places sorta give the impression that if you put CURED live rock out of water for like even 10 odd minutes or more then suddenly theres massive ammounts of die off. I mean my LFS is only like 20 minutes away but i still aboloutely scared loads when i added a peice of live rock when there was fish in my tank. Even to the point where i did a 25 % water change twice in the same week even though my water chemistry was the same.

 

[@ombomb]

i have a few of the big plastic storage tubs from ikea which i use for all my water mixing, as a temporary home for my fish / corals when i moved house and to cure rock in when needed. they're about a fiver for one that holds around 45 litres. buy one of those and keep the rock in there for a day or two while you monitor for any signs of cycling.

 

[craigybaby37]

only reason i wanted to cure the live rock was that when i add it to the new tank it wont go through a cycle??

And then when i add the sand to the tank the water will go a bit cloudy and i didnt want to add the fish and livestock to cloudy water......but saying that once the sand is in the tank and the water goes a bit cloudy could i use the new fluval 205 and half fill it with filter wool to help clean the water quick as possible???

I guess i there wont be any harm putting the 6kg of cured liverock from my 5 gallon tank into the 20 gallon for the time being then i can get another 6kg liverock tomorow and put it in the 5 gallon to get it cured and leave it in there till the new tank is set up.