Keeping Live Rock Alive

[n_meyer32]

I am going to be moving and I was wondering how long can you keep live rock out of water and keep it good enough to put back in an aquarium?
I have no clue, so if someone could help me out that would be great :) Thanks

[Parkpark]

how long are you planning to keep it out? do you have fish/inverts or just rock? How much rock? Taking it all out for any extended period will create a mini cycle (dieoff) and it may not be safe to put back in with your livestock, is it possible to put a shallow layer of rock in a tub and cover with water or at least 1-2 inches while you move it? I have found this helps greatly, also cover the rock with wet papertowels.

[n_meyer32]

well we are selling our fish and inverts, but our live rock might be out of water for about 13 to 14 hours. We might be able to put in a tub with water I just don't want to have to sell the live rock and buy more later

[Parkpark]

13 to 14 hours will be detrimental to any life on the rock out of water, but if you don't care about preserving it and wanted to start your tank up later, you could always dry it out and keep it, you would just have to cycle it again any seed with a few peices of new live rock (which is a pain), I would recommend you just keep the rock in at least some water ,as I suggested flatten it as much as you can in some tubs and just put enough water in it to cover it and that you can carry, it will be fine for that long without any circulation or a heater unless it has to go through extreme hot/cold conditions

[n_meyer32]

ok say that we decide to dry it is there any certain procedure?

[Parkpark]

no, you will just have to re-cure it when you start again

[n_meyer32]

ok, thank you for all of your help!!! :)

[LuckyThePremiumCat]

How much rock are we talking here? A trick Ive used is to put the livestock in five gallon buckets, with airstones in each bucket to turn and aerate the water. I also dose the water with Prime so that any nh3 or no2 that forms is bound up, and not detrimental to the "live" stuff.

We moved a 180 from Indy to Orlando for a friend of ours that way, All the fish, rock, and coral were in 5 gallon buckets for a little over 20hours. We ran an inverter off the cigarette lighter to power the air-pump, and had a line going to each bucket. Worked like a charm, not a single loss.

[AHDOnline]

Funny we did very similar. We moved 200pds from indy to pittsburgh in 8 gallon buckets only we bought a 3 pack of battery powered air pumps from dr foster. Then used siran wrap and rubber bands to seal the tops. We kept it there for about 15 hrs then transferred it to a 100 gallon rubbermaid from tractor supply and kept it in the garage for another week, and did not notice any die off or any other issues.

[n_meyer32]

Ok great we may try that then, thank you so much for all of the replies the information really helps!!! :)

[acer67]

i have a fish only tank with sand, now i want to add a few pieces of live rock...is it safe to buy the cured live rock at local store and just add it directly to my tank with fish and inverts in it?

[n_meyer32]

If it's cured then I would say that would be fine. Just make sure it's all the way cured.