Can I dry nice live rock out and then re-use a month from now??

[kielty]

Took down the 30 gallon that I'm turning into a sump and it was
full of nice live rock. Put it in a tote and want to re-introduce into
a 110 gallon with lots of older (7 year old) live rock.
Any problems with this???

Probably 20 lbs of the dried out stuff to 100 lbs of rock that
will stay wet and go straight into the 110 (upgrading from the 90)

Thanks all.

Cheers,
Kielty

[gjh289]

The problems with doing this is that all the "live stuff" on the live rock will die off. If you don't properly clean off the rock before entering into your 110 then you are only going to introducing a lot of dead organisms ultimately messing up your water parameters.

[sruiz]

I think youre mistake was drying the rock. You should have kept in a countainer with a power head and a heater. but i guess its too late now. There should be no proble with adding your base rock with the live rock. Just make sure to scrub it, who knows what it has on it now that is has been sitting out. It should tak some time but sooner or later it should start growing some life again.

[sruiz]

Took down or Take Down??? Have you done it yet, if not don't let it dry.

[kielty]

Figured it wasn't the best way to go but my 90 is full to the top
with LR and I have another 50 Gallon full of rock so maybe best
not to use this dried rock at all. Thought if I used it as base rock
I wouldn't run into too much trouble. Thks for the input.

[bertoni]

It'll be okay as base rock, although it might have a bit more organic debris. A good rinse might help. Lots of people reuse dried live rock.

[seapug]

it's fine. I used a few pieces of old, dried live rock I had in my garage for 5 months when I set up my last tank. It started to grow corraline algae within 2 weeks of being put in the tank with new live rock.

[jake32010]

your live rock may die

[J-Burns]

Rock is not alive, live rock just has live organisms and bacteria. Adding your dry rock will not hurt anything- in time it will become recolinized with the same critters that is on your live rock now.

[H2OLUVSME]

I had a friend give me about 100 pounds of dry rock. Ive got it in a trash can in my garage with a couple pieces of live rubble. I will be using it in a couple of months in my 180. I will also be adding a 100 pounds or so of LR, but it will spend a little time in a trash can between tanks as well. I dont plan on putting any animals in the tank until water is nice and stable. If you do the same everything will be fine.