Live Rock storage?

[The Cable Guy]

How long can the unused LR sit? A buddy of mine found a deal on LR about a year ago and since then he's had a cooler full (with heater and powerhead) sitting in a corner of his bedroom (don't ask). What kind of maintanance would that need for long-term keeping? I think he throws some food in once in awhile. Any problem with it sitting in the dark that long?

 

[Mushroomman]

For long period of time alot more of the stuff dependant on light will die off but there will still be live things, he should make sure to clean off any major dead organisms and do water changes. Just a little bit of light would help.

 

[FroggyFox]

Good question, would like to hear some other thoughts, but my thinking goes like this...

If the rock has been kept at an appropriate salinity/SG (say 1.020-1.025), and an appropriate temperature (probably between 65 and 85F) and there has been water movement (incl oxygen, meaning the cooler hasn't been CLOSED) and some kind of waste in the tank for it to process and water changes done then the rock would probably be wonderful. Darkness shouldn't matter one way or the other if its just live rock. If one of those things is missing...I dont know how resilient LR is.

I suppose the best test would be to do water tests and see if the nitrates are way way high or anything...and then put a little bit of ammonia into the tank and see if the rock processes it into nitrates.

 

[The Cable Guy]

Well I guess I'll give it a shot, I know he won't charge me much and if it's worthless he won't charge me anything. I wish I could take a look at it first but he's a 4 hour drive away... I think we are gonna hook up somewhere in the middle sometime next week.

Thanks for the info!

 

[wayne]

I tihnk it will be absolutely fine. He will have kiled anything photosynthetic by now, but there will at least be a whole load of bacteria, and the rock should have shed any layers of algae, and associated debris.