Short term storage of live rock

[reelss]

Hi folks,

Breaking down my 120 this week and will pull out all the live rock. It will be about a month before I set up my 80 gallon.

I will be getting a brute container to store all the LR in. The tank has had some green hair and bubble algae issues.

How do I store the LR for about a month, and also use this time to rid it of all the algae?

 

[ndrwater]

You can keep a power head or 2 in the brut. A heater never hurts.
A blackout during the month or so should get rid of most algae

 

[brandon429]

You certainly do not have to feed the bacteria to keep them alive and in doing so will help not to feed the algae


This is a particularly handy time where correct microbiology will be beneficial

As rocks are being removed for storage you need to be rinsing them in salt water to rid detritus, and use a steak knife point to debride all the algae off at the rocks. Pick it clean target dentist plaque removal. Peroxide lightly the former invaded spots. Rinse

Store in clean saltwater open topped with circulation. It will transfer skip cycle perfectly, even if unfed for eighty months.

30 days is no test at all. But it's handy; dark timing no light after an algae picking + kill step peroxide on post op?

You'll be starting your new tank in the ideal method at that point... not vectoring an invader into a new system.

Most people have to put their treated rocks back under full production lighting/ your target will have trouble regaining mass in an unlit cryo bin lol

Please update w pics! We will link to this live rock biology thread. You have an interesting way to cure your rocks back into compliance using skip cycle holding biology. We would really like pics of your transfer system and reset up tank in our thread if possible. Ideally this is a miniature form of rock curing, no detritus transfer pore unclogging month in the dark. It really is wise to do even if you didn't have to, if a prior tank built up some algae on its base structure.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/