can i bring dead rock alive again?

[rabbydab]

I recently aquired my boyfriend's 30 gallon tank last weekend. He purchased the tank with live rock from someone on ebay. when he actually got the tank in his possession, which took a couple of weeks, most of the water was drained out and the rocks were just sitting in the tank partially dry. He hasn't kept anything in the tank except fish and a few crabs which I have now. What i'm wondering is, could that live rock have been ruined when he got the tank? And if so, if I'm wanting to get corals and other invertebrates is this necessary? If it is ruined what can i do to rebuild it?

Oh! and another thing, I added some live sand to the existing sand because he was ify on that too. Would that help?

 

[d9hp]

The creatures in the livesand will spread to the liverock, even if the rock is "dead".

 

[Guest]

Yes the DR will become LR after a few months. It will rejuvinate on its own.
Question...The sand you added, was it in commercial bags or from someones tank?
I know that most of the commercial bought live sand is just sand and water with bacteria added. If that is the case, you may want to find a LFS or a friend that you can get a couple of cups from. This will hopefully have the critters that you want. These will also come in time but the addition of LS never hurts. Sounds like it is going fine...You can also Put a few pieces of LR on the sand and it will seed the sand. There are many ways out there to accomplish the same thing. Patience and care will reap a good lively tank...
Hopefully, the sand that was in the tank is not completely dead. This will be great...

 

[Canada_Dry]

Yes like timbo2 mentioned the DR will gradually become LR again. I would take a bucket of salt water out of your tank, and shake and rinse the DR in it, to remove any dead creatures; also you may need to lightly scrub the DR with a soft brush to remove any dead stuff.