Stored Live Rock - To keep live or not to keep live

gobytron · #1 01-20-2015, 05:34 PM

Hey all.
After gradually shutting down my system I have around 300lbs of good quality LR.

It's currently sitting in a large container with a pump and heater.

The evaporation is rough...and I am having to add fresh water nearly daily.

I probably won't need this stuff again for at least a year.

Should I bother to keep it live and cook it or should I just dry it out and put it away till I'm ready for it?

I have the space, I'm just not really too into the maintenance.

Tips or tricks appreciated if you think i should keep it live.

Pike · #2 01-20-2015, 06:02 PM

Same thing happened to me. I never boiled it or anything , just stored it away in a plastic tub in the garage. After about 3 winters I put them in a new tank , seeded them with one piece of live rock and everything was fine

Ron99 · #3 01-20-2015, 06:04 PM

I'm a fan of keeping rock live to preserve all the various living things. Not just bacteria but pods/mysids, sponges, worms etc. I kept some live rock in a holding tank for 2 years once between downsizing and upsizing again. it's a bit of work but worth it in my opinion. Can you get a covered container like a brute with lid? That will help reduce evaporation somewhat.

jon.smolders · #4 01-20-2015, 06:05 PM

Back when I had live rock, I kept it alive through several shut downs. Just threw it in a tote with a heater/power head. I put a lid on it and had no problems with evaporation...

Last shut down I dried it all out, and now I am regretting that decision... mainly because I am too cheap to buy another 50 lbs of live rock and I seem to be having issues with dry rock.

gobytron · #5 01-20-2015, 08:41 PM

A big part of me would like to give this rock a bleach.acid bath, dry it out and then go buy some quality fresh LR and seed it with it and start fresh....cooking it like this until I want to use it.

I did have a little hair algae...which I don't want to have to deal with in the future.

There is WAY to much to fit into one brute...

I have it in a 4x4x4 food grade container now....no lid and can;t really get one for it.

I don't like to use anything that isn't made for food storage, had some bad experiences with Rubbermaid and brutes in the past.

hillegom · #6 01-21-2015, 06:53 AM

Even a sheet of plywood on the top would curtail some evaporation. A big piece of plastic even better.

monocus · #7 01-21-2015, 02:03 PM

use polly or seran wrap

Koleswrath · #8 01-22-2015, 01:06 AM

I wouldn't bother. Why waste the time and energy? Cook it a couple months before you plan to start up again and seed with a nice small piece from a good system.
Greg

gregzz4 · #9 01-22-2015, 03:56 AM

I vote to keep it alive.

You talk about buying new rock when you're ready, but you'll still end up with algae and other things you don't even know about until you get it wet.
I agree with wanting new LR. I'll do it myself soon.
But because you have so much rock that's already wet, why waste it ?

If you're looking for cooked rock, do the whole process of cooking and WCs before you want to use it.
If not, just store it as below and use it when you're ready.

Cover it in some cheap poly from the hardware store to keep your evap down.
Maybe do a WC once a month, along with a good 'shake out all the gunk' method and remove the spunk, and feed every week or 2 to keep the pods/stars etc alive.
Keep your powerheads and heaters in there and make sure it's aerated.

You'll be happy to have so much live rock available later on, but be sure to 'cook' it to rid yourself of PO4 issues