breaking down my tank

[brianjoy81]

Im in the Air Force and we are moving to South Carolina. I broke down my tank last month and all my rocks have dried up. When I put them back in the water afterIi get my tank set back up in a couple months will anything on them come back to life or are they just ordinary rocks now? Will I have to do anything special when I put them back in the tank?

[bluwtr]

No, unfortunetly everything will be dead, although I have heard of a few miracle survivors. The rock will hae dead stuff trapped all in the pores. Even though it will be a couple of months the dead stuff will still be present. As such you will need to do one of several things--1) as soon as you can put the rock into a container and run a power head and basically wash the rock using water changes (you are curing the rock), 2) don't reuse the rock, 3) put the rock into your new tank and let that help cycle your system.

HTH

[Redfish]

Having a saltwater tank and being in the Air Force is tough. Just a thought here, if you ever have to break your tank down again for a move. Give the people in your SW community a heads up, we could have kept the Live Rock, alive for you for a few months and then shipped the rock to you when you were ready for it again, I am sure some of us could also have kept some of your corals alive also, am also sure Gerwin would have no problem packaging up them corals and shipping them to you also, we would only frag a few of your corals . The least we can do for a service member. When you get to where you are going and have the tank set up again, don't forget about us here at FishyStuff.net and post some pics for us.

[Gerwin]

live rock is kinda like vampires,
give them the life giving properties of saltwater(blood) and they will become live again at some point, biologically extremely fast like a few weeks, but the critters will get back there as well when you introduce just about anything from another established marine system.

[bluwtr]

G is right and I didn't explain myself very well. It was late last night and I was falling asleep at the keys! Anyway, I was saying that all of the stuff that make live rock "live" will have died off by the time you get it back in your tank unless it's only a very short period of time, but it will reseed and become live again (quickly as Gerwin stated).

Best of luck and thank you for your service to our country.