Who here keeps their live sand & rock, for reuse in a fu

[Anonymous]

We always talk about buying new live rock & live/dry sand when setting up a new tank.

Who here keeps their rock & sand? Does anybody dry it all out & through it in the garage? Of course it's no longer live then, but can make good base rock/sand...

People buy tons of live rock & live/dry sand every year - I've always wondered where it all goes...

[ August 15, 2001: Message edited by: Cheese Sandwich ]

 

[Nathan1]

It's a shame to dry it out and waste all that life that's in there. I keep a few chunks in my sump. This adds extra life to my tank and it keeps the rock alive and fresh.

-Nathan

 

[Anonymous]

Well I'm talking when you're between tanks... Do you just give/sell all your rock & sand to the LFS?

 

[Nathan1]

Ahhh... ok.

I've never been "between" tanks so I wouldn't know.

How about setting up a bucket with a lid and airstone? Should be fine for a few months.

-Nathan

 

[Anonymous]

I picked up my substrate (crushed coral, I guess) right off the beach in Hawaii. That was in 1991. But I had to move to North Dakota in 1994. So I dried out the sand, rinsed it, dried again, bagged it and had it shipped to ND.
I was there until 1996, when I got to move home to Boston. So I dried the CC again, bagged it, and it has been in my tank since it was reborn Oct 1998.

[ August 15, 2001: Message edited by: moe_k ]

 

[fishfarmer]

I kept my coral skeletons and tufa nuggets from my old FO in a box for about 8 years. I think I chucked the dolomite. This rock became my current base rock and is slowly becoming encrusted with life. Some of the pieces I picked up in the Bahamas in the early 80's and have been in several tanks.

I'm also holding onto some nice stream gravel and southwestern rocks for future FW tanks.

 

[Greg Hiller]

No one should EVER throw out any live rock. (give the dried up stuff to me if you want!). Even if it becomes encrusted with undesirable critters/algae it can be cleaned. I have a tank that has a species of algae that nearly nothing will eat. If a rock gets too much of this algae on it I just take the rock out and put it in a bucket of tap water and dump in some bleach. After a week or two I rinse the bleach off and let the rock dry for a few weeks allowing any residual chlorine to dissipate. At that point the rock is ready to go back into any tank. In 3-6 months I have a hard time telling the difference between a rock treated this way, and a 'true' live rock. FWIW, only one of 6 tanks I've set up even has any wild collected live rock in it. Guess which tank has the problematic algae!!! My main SPS system www.angelfire.com/ma3/ghcorals used all dead base rock and a single carefully selected fist sized piece of rock from an established tanks. The Acros grow out of the water.

- Greg Hiller

- Greg Hiller

 

[Lunchbucket]

i am gonna tear down my 55gal...and want to sell my lr ans ls (i think i have done so) but if i didn't...and needed to tear down the tank...would it be better to dry it out and kill everything on and in it or take it up that dumpy at the LFS for selling it to them?

just curious.
later
Lunchbucket

 

[Anonymous]

^