Live rock

UntamedRose · #1 (**permalink**) 07-01-2007, 10:06 AM

How long can coraline be out of the water without damage?

UntamedRose · #2 (**permalink**) 07-01-2007, 11:56 AM

reason I ask...was there was a discusion with a LFS and his water level in the live rock bin....and it being piled so high the rock was getting dry.

slow · #3 (**permalink**) 07-01-2007, 01:34 PM

you say "coraline" but do you mean whole rock pieces or just parts...??

i've seen tanks that have some stacks of rock so tall in the tank that part of the rock, say about 1% of it, is out of the water, and there's no detrimental affects.

i received a box of LR from my neighbor in the last week. it was all removed from existing systems; but had sat out of water for several hours before i got it. i transfered all the rock to a plastic bin and filled the bin with waste RO water. that stuff was pretty stinky! and any time whole pieces are out of the water for hours at a time will lead to die-off. but if only a small tip/portion of the LR is out of the water, especially if it's only in a curing tub, shouldn't be a big deal.

i now have rock in a bucket with salt water and a powerhead (no need for heater--the radiant heat from the powerhead keeps the water near 80 degrees); last check the ammonia was still high (2.0) and the nitrates were nearly off the chart (at least 100ppt). so even though this rock came from existing systems, and was at one time fully cured, the few/several hours it was out of the water lead to enough die off for me to have to fully re-cure the rock.

for what its worth, i've typically "cured" any additional LR purchases from stores/hobbyists for at least a week before adding the pieces to established systems. just for my own peace of mind...

redsoxbill · #4 (**permalink**) 07-01-2007, 02:01 PM

I agree with slow on this one, any rock that is kept out of water for more than a couple of hours will experience lots of die off on the dried parts. it obviously doesn't take allot of water to keep it alive, based on how companies ship live rock with little more than newspaper wrapped around it, but the key is keeping from completely drying out.

Bill

reefcreator1965@yahoo.com · #5 (**permalink**) 07-11-2007, 02:09 AM

Liverock should be transported with heavily soaked(with saltwater ofcourse:-) newspaper and not just one or two layers,im talking about a quarter of the sunday paper depending on amount of rock in each container,,the reason for such thickness of newspaper is so that the paper will give you a few good hours of constant dripping onto the rock to keep it moist enough to not die off but yet dry enough to not make what may be in the rock want to open,you want the living organisms in the rock to remain closed up tight during transport hence one of the reasons it fouls itself more quickly if transported in small amounts of water especialy the rock that is closest to the water(bottom) which is why if you ever noticed,the less covered peaces are on the bottom which also helps preserve the nicer covered peaces that are placed nearer the top of the box from being smashed or fouled. And never transport liverock dry.And in my opinion you should not ever have the rock sticking out of the water being exposed to the air and always practice turning each and every rock after submerging into the tank as to get all the air out of the rock as anything trapped inside an air bubble in the rock will certainly die off< You would not believe how many people have come to me and said that places they had purchased liverock from had never told them about this nor how important this is! "UntamedRose" the coraline can actualy last several days if done like I have explained,to answer your post

reefcreator1965@yahoo.com · #6 (**permalink**) 07-11-2007, 02:39 AM

"Slow" waste R.O. water??????? If that rock wasnt dead it sure was from "waste" R.O. water. Is that a typo or did you really do that? Afterall isnt "waste" R.O. water full of crud like chlorine and chloramines and other horrible stuff that will kill anything on the rock including its denitrification capabilities!?

jrpatter · #7 (**permalink**) 07-11-2007, 09:25 AM

If your RO system is working correctly then the carbon blocks should have removed all of the chlorine and amonia compounds. In raleigh it takes something like 2 1 micron carbon pre filters to remove all of the chlorine junk.

john

UntamedRose · #8 (**permalink**) 07-11-2007, 11:01 AM

ok I had come across a LFS
that had a bin of live rock, someone must have broken down there tank b/c they had a ton of it and a lot of the peices were stacked completly out of the water....of course the whole thing reaked!
Not just base rock be great premuim rock cover in coraline and other things

I said something to the owner, who...if I was shorter would have patted me on the head....when I asked him to please put more water in the bin...b/c he was killing it.

reefcreator1965@yahoo.com · #9 (**permalink**) 07-11-2007, 11:56 PM

I feel sorry for whomever ended up with that rock UntamedRose [-( lol

EvilEmpire · #10 (**permalink**) 07-12-2007, 12:17 AM

I have taken dead rock before..thats been left out of water for a few months...w/ in a month of sticking it my tank it had coralline growth and was full of life...so a tiny bit that is uncovered wont hurt a thing.

What about those who make their own live rock and seed w/ live rock...those turn out fine.

I am a bit confused on all the posts by Ron at TNT saltwater, as a LFS store owner you want to help the community..not continually bash them for posting their experiences...makes people not want to make an appointment to go to your house...i mean store.