Storing live rock

StartinginUtah · Feb 12, 2014

I have a problem that I am hoping someone might be able to tell me about.

I set up my tank about a month and a half ago and it is finished cycling. I was going to put in the snails and crabs now but a couple weeks ago we decided to move. We have been thinking about it for a while but decided to do it now because we heard that it is a great time to do it now because the housing inventory is low here in Utah so our house should sell fast and for a good price. This causes a problem with my tank because that means it has to go into storage for the time being, which is annoying since it just finished cycling. Oh well, I just have to be patient I guess.

Anyway, so I have about 100 pounds of rock that I need to store. It is all live now but is still being seeded by the 15 pounds that I put in there with the 85 that was dried. I also have about 80 pounds of live sand (it was all live when I got it). It will need to be stored for a minimum of two months and maybe more. Has anyone done this before? How do I do it and what will it require? Remember I live in Utah and it is still winter so do I need a heater?

I also want to rinse out my live sand while I am doing this. I was told not to do that originally so I didn't but I think that was really bad advice and I should have. Oh well, live and learn, right?

Also, when I finally get to set my tank up again do I have to start all over again with the cycling?

Thank you for your help

Reefing Madness · Feb 12, 2014

You shouldn't rinse out Live Sand, you'll kill the live bacteria in it. But, if your going to store the sand, then you'll need to rinse it out before using it again. Unless you have a tub set up fo the sand and the rock, and your running it like a tank.
If you want to store the Rock and keep it live, you'll need to set up a tub and run it just like you were running a normal tank. Heater, powerheads, heater, and water changes.
Now if your not going that route, just store it in a container, let it dry out, rinse and reuse when needed, then throw in another 5lbs of Live Rock to seed. Up to you. Lil tough to keep it going if your going to store it though.

StartinginUtah · Feb 14, 2014

Hello again and thank you so much for getting back to me.

So now I have a different dilemma. I actually have someone that is going to let me set the tank up at their place and keep it running there so that I don't lose the progress that has been made on the cycling process and also so that everything can stay alive. Since I do not have anything in it besides live rock and sand, how do I go about moving it? Should I keep as much water as I can?

Thank you again in advance for your help.

Reefing Madness · Feb 14, 2014

No need to keep all the water, the bacteria is more in the sand and rock. It would be easier to get some totes on wheel from walmart, and use those to carry your rock for you. Best to get that out of the water, and put in the tote, and soak a few towels with tank water and lay over them, you want to keep them wet, not letting them dry out. The sand you can either put in a tote also or in 5g buckets, leaving some water in there for it, not a bunch. Move it all and set it all back up. You'll basically want to empty the tank so you can carry it, yours is to big to leave sand and water in it to move.