Keeping Live Rock

Jcearl · Aug 19, 2014

Hey there I am not new to the hobby but I made a newbie mistake. I got about 50lbs of live rock fully cured TONS of life and I put it in my basement and not thinking completely forgot to put in a heater. I went down about a week later and noticed, I took a look at the tank and could see lots of loss, bristle worms, brittle stars, pods, etc. all dead. I dropped in a heater and my question is it the live rock completely shot now or is there a possibility that it could still have life and bounce back? thanks

vic67 · Aug 19, 2014

How cold is your basement? You could just run a powerhead and let the dead worms/etc be your new ammmonia source. Your rock will be cured again but unfortunately not with pods and such.

Jcearl · Aug 20, 2014

my basement is about 60-70 degrees not that cold - how long do you think it would take to bounce back?

Reefing Madness · Aug 20, 2014

Touch call here, but some life inside the rock likely survived.

vic67 · Aug 20, 2014

IDK about a time frame. I think you would have to test as if you were cycling a tank; ammonia spike from the dead worms then the rest of the process. I would add a PH in addition to the heater.

Jcearl · Aug 20, 2014

I have added a PH to the tank and I saw a couple worms crawling around, so do you think I am better than I originally though?

ReeferRookie · Aug 20, 2014

Stick a hardy fish in there. Or a couple. Chromis work nice. To be cured live rock they usually say about 2 months to be functioning fully cured ive heard up to 5-6 months. It really depsnds theres. Stuff you can by from dr x. Which helps with the bacterial process

vic67 · Aug 20, 2014

Jcearl said:
I have added a PH to the tank and I saw a couple worms crawling
around, so do you think I am better than I originally though?

If you see life that's a good thing. Your rock is still live but you might need to let the bacteria build.

vic67 · Aug 20, 2014

ReeferRookie said:
Stick a hardy fish in there. Or a couple. Chromis work nice. To be cured live rock they usually say about 2 months to be functioning fully cured ive heard up to 5-6 months. It really depsnds theres. Stuff you can by from dr x. Which helps with the bacterial process

And PLEASE don't do this. Cycling with livestock is cruel.

Jcearl · Aug 21, 2014

I don't think I need to put any fish in there with the dead bristle worms I think that will work fine, this rock is some primo tonga branch stuff from my friends 220 reef system he had in there for 5 years, and before that he got it from his family friend who had it in his system for 15years so the rock is really nice stuff. and since I see some life on it I am optimistic about how much actually died off.