how long can live rocks be out of water?

[PiMpPiStOl]

im moving to san marcus MAYBE in fall. i dont wanna start a SW tank now, cuz right when it gets started, im gonna have to move it all...unless it really isnt too much trouble...

but love this dfw community, even though i live kinda far, tehres ALOT more going on. austins forum is really slow, and cragslist has like...nothing. even though i found a real cheap 90 gallon...

but i was wondering if i could get the live rock here, and keep it till i move, and incase i dont move, or have to wait, i could set it up any time...

but yeah, how long? or could i just put a lil bit of water in the tank just to keep em wet or whatever, and i dunno...or if i did that, would it be better to just start it now?

i really wanna start it now, cuz i know it takes a while to get going, and the longer i wait to start, the longer itll be...but i dunno...

what should i do?

 

[bimmerzs]

A lot more action happens on the maast.com site than on the austinreefclub.com site which is much slower. Great bunch of guy's down there <u>and</u> the coral pricing is much cheaper overall.

Cheers,

 

[lowincwrx]

you could buy one of those rubbermaid tubs and keep your live rock in there with a powerhead and heater without having to set up a whole tank.

 

[True Perc]

Most live rock that is sold to the stores around this metroplex has been out of the water for weeks at a time if not more. It often sits boxed in wharehouses for for quite a while before being shipped in trucks to here. the wholesalers often sit on it for a good while too without ever tanking it.

Nice live rock from an established tank can last longer out of water than some people might think, if at least kept moist. However, it doesn't take many hours for it to go bad sitting in stagnat water. Four hours in stangnant water can kill off about half the benificial bacteria. After about twelve hours it's pretty much going to crap.

If you think you're moving in the fall, I'd just wait until you get there to start up your reef. You could transport it without too much trouble but I'd still just wait to start up. Moving to a new house is stressful enough without adding in a big tank move.

a nano tank wouldn't be much trouble to move but you're talking a 90 gallon which isn't much fun to move that far. Hey, just my opinion. others may beg to differ?

 

[chad h]

I live in corsicana also if you need help or info let me know. There are several of us down here that have reef tanks.
Chad

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

@chad h wrote:

whoa! no way! we gotta hook up sometime! or something... thats awesome!