How much flow to keep Live rock alive in a barrel?

[azbigjohn]

I am moving my large (210 gallon) tank on a 6 hour move. I have taken it all down yesterday, to give me time to clean it and pack everything, while all the coral and fish are chilling in a 45 gallon hospital tank, I took the suggestion to put the live rock into Brute cans on wheels. I ended up having to use 2 32 gallon Brute cans, but had only planned on one, so the only pump I hjave left for circulation for the second one is an MJ1200.

As long as I have circulation, is that going to be enough flow to keep the rock bacteria alive for 2-3 weeks? I have a heater to keep it temp controlled in each one.

Is that going to be enough water movement? I realize I may have some die off, but I am hoping to avoid a prolonged cycle...

 

[cmcoker]

That's what I used on a 40g brute, but it was only a few hours for a transfer. Water movement seemed fine to me.
I also have cooked rock with that tiny hydor pump that's like 180gph in a 5g, for 6m or so. Added to tank and it was fine and still had life, featherdusters, pods, etc. Even some Kenya tree still alive, doh.

I position the pumps so it's spinning the water column, not shooting up down or across, if that makes sense.

Guess it also depends how tight you packed rock in there?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

^^^yup^^ agreed. Most of my lfs have even less than that in the live rock bins.

 

[JaimeAdams]

I would say that you just need enough flow so that there are no dead zones deplete of oxygen. A small pump will accomplish that.

 

[azbigjohn]

I appreciate that!

The rock isn't that tight; I had cemented all of rock into a single structure (wasn't planning on ever moving it) so I broke it into 2 foot or so sections, two in each barrel, and then rubble, etc...

I was hoping a small pump would keep at least a decent amount of bacteria alive. I will carefully monitor for a cycle when I put it back up before trying to transition any coral or fish to the tank.