Live Rock? Can it go from cured to uncured?

[DamselnDistress]

Im moving and Im selling my tank to a friend and Im gonna downsize. If i take my rock out of the tank and let it sit with like no water...can i cycle the tank with new water? Or will the rock not be able to cure? Do I have to keep it cured and keep my water and change it all over when i take the tank to his house? Any ideas?

[jamal-188]

You must keep the LR in water. If the rock dries out everything on it will die and it will just be plain old rock instead of LR. Some dieoff will probably occur when you are moving the rock but it will recure when you set up the tank again.

If you keep the rock in a plastic bin with a PH and heater, the rock should be just fine. You will also need to add small amounts of food once or twice a week to feed the bacteria and fauna. The trade off will be that without light, you will lose any coralline or other outward light dependant animals.

If you leave the rock out of water and it dries, it will become base rock. Which would be a waste IMO.

As far as your tank water, you can let that go. Just be sure that the new water is well aged and aerated for a day or two and the chem match's the tank it came from.

Cheers
Steve

[DamselnDistress]

so dont let it dry...alright got that. If i put fully cured rock in brand new water...will it cycle the new water?

[RogerMcAllen]

Yes. Water never really cycles, all of the good bacteria are in the rock.

[DamselnDistress]

so...after i put in brand new water...and put in new substrate...when the ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite come down to 0 and the pH is right...i can add in fish and wont have to worry about cycling?

[flipz]

When all the ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite come down to 0, the tank is cycled. You can't say you don't have to worry about cycling... because that was the cycle.

-brent

Originally Posted by DamselnDistress

so...after i put in brand new water...and put in new substrate...when the ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite come down to 0 and the pH is right...i can add in fish and wont have to worry about cycling?

Providing the LR is stored properly and the bacteria is fed, you should not really see much of a cycle if at all. Might just end up with a bit of an algae bloom with the addition of new sand.

Cheers
Steve

[mrrrkva]

Why not just keep some of the "old" tank water your shipping with your rock. I think that it will "cycle" faster with as much old tank water as possible. You bringin some livesand as well with it?

[DamselnDistress]

crushed coral...but i dun really wanna drag 75 gallons of water 30 minutes from my house

[Brad]

Drain out as much water as you can and still keep everything in the tank underwater. If you have to, you can transport the LR, in the water, from place to place in separate containers.

You'll damage the biological filtration that the rock provides from all the handling, but you will be way better off than if you treated the rock badly.

Allowing the rock to dry is just plain bad.

[mrrrkva]

You may want to consider going to a Sand bed Vs the CC. Just do some research, and what better time to switch, as when you move