Live rock question.

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Andari

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jul 18, 2005
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73
Location
Idaho
Can you kill live rock?

The sills went out on our tank when we first moved here and 50gal of water went everywhere. We had to put our live rock in a utility sink for about 5months because we couldn't afford a new tank. It was in sw but didn't have a light on it. We had some worms and they all died off of it so I wonder if any of the good stuff on the rocks survived? It is figi rock.
Anyone have an experience like this? It has a bit more red algea on it now this pic is a little old.
 

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I would recommend getting some new LR to help reseed the old . It is hard to say if any stuff is still alive . You would then recycle your tank as you would a new tank , and with out the fish . Eventually it will become LR again .But in short answer to your question yes it is possible to kill LR .
The red looks like diatoms, and cyano this indicates a very new system and posibily still cycling .... what are your perameters ammonia , nitrIte, nitrAte, PH and SPG
 
The tank has actually already cycled again this is an old photo. I'll try to post a more recent one if I can find my usb cable. I asked because we see other peoples photos of live rock and it seems so much more colorful. I never thought of getting more to reseed the old. I deff try that. Thankyou. Another question I have is should you rotate live rock.
 
Nope no need to rotate live rock actually I would think that to be dangerous to your fish . As there would be die off and that would send you into a cycle ... also if you do add make sure that it is cured and not to over load your system allow the bacteria to balance out ... Once that happens you could add a bit more add to it like you woudl fish just a bit at a time ie 1/4 lb per add.... However you will want to monitor your peerameters such as ammonia nitrIte and nitrAte and do a water change if indicated... especially if you have any living creatures in your system .Give it time even base rock will cover in coraline eventually ... :D
 
I agree with Sadie. Remember, we consider LR to be "live" with the nitrifying bacteria, the other critters are just bonus stuff. In you case, most of the bonus stuff has probably died, but you will be surprised what else will grow back.
 
HUH? - What beneficial bacteria is going to survive for 5 months with no air exchange and no light?

I think that all of your rock will be the same as if you let it dry-out for 5 months - biologically dead. Should make great base rock providing some new live seed rock is added which has active bacteria and live algae growth.

However, I'm just a rookie and the other guys here have been around the block a few more times then I have.
 
If you are talking about nitrifying bacteria, there is no need to seed it with other rock, that is in the atmosphere. It will find its way into the rock and multiply once there is an ammonia source present.

Seeding it merely speeds up the process of populating with nitrifying bacteria and adds the other stuff that might be present in LR. (e.g. pods, feather dusters, etc.)
 
If you did not feed the nitrifying bacteria with a few flakes of food or a shrimp or etc. then most likely it is still not there. but it can still be used in your tank as base rock and just add new LR to seed it. You do not need to rotate. Good luck on the comeback.
 
Well we had bristleworms at that time and when we put the rocks into the tank they fell off and died. Didn't know we had that many I had only seen one large on at the time it happened. We did have a pump aerating it but we didn't have lights on it. So I would guess the worms would have been an ammonia source. I'm going to post more recent pics.

Taken today.:
 

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Test your paramters. If you have amonia we will go from there. It is easy when you see black or white on your LR to know if it is dead.

5 months is a long time. There is no way it would be alive with no flow/heat however it may have been lomg enough for the dead stuff to actually cycle off.


test, test, test.....
 
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