7 days sitting in salt water bath.. live rock

Ok.. So I'm getting some live rock, which has been bathing without filtration for 7 days... Will it have died? When should I add a piece from the dt to seed the tank.. I was planning on treating it like mail order rock, in a tub with heater and filtration.. Checking parameters every few days to see if its cycling... Anything else advised?

 

As long as its wet, it will be alive. Make sure to thoroughly examine each and every piece. It sounds like a pain, I know. Take it from the guy that had an aiptasia infestation, a flatworm infestation, a vermetid snail infestation & hydroid infestation.. some at the same time. Some still remain (Vermetid pricks is what they are!!)

 

I'm lucky to not have had those issues. .. My issues have been expensive lessons... Always error on the long or wait side for quarantining clams/oysters... Don't add them to DT and leave for weekends or hunts, don't add brass anything to tanks, and don't take the lfs's word it is only ich and not brooklynella... Even though it doesn't match ich symptoms or life cycles! So... Adding some LR, not to display yet... He put it in a tub with salt water and repaired the tank, only replaced the pieces he's giving me with new rock... He is updating his tank or rescaping... Anyways, didn't add a filter or heater, placed it in the Nevada sun twice a day for 6 days.. Hoping it didn't do a complete die off... Will be cycling in my water change can 30 gallon Rubbermaid can... With filtration, heater, and seeding with some fist size rocks...

 

Fist size rock is the best size rock. Good find. Do you know how hot did it get? I guess the answer is still the same. It's even very likely that you can find hitchhikers. Why not scrape the coralline off one rock and spread it in your tank? That way you can be certain you'll be pest free. A good advantage is that you know the tank the rock is coming from. That person, if honest, will gladly tell you "Yeah.. I did have flatworms 5 months ago" or something that will hint you to QT, boil it or nuke it.

Otherwise, check your parameters there, do change a portion of the water every so often and absolutely drop a pump to have some water moving. You don't need a whole lot of flow, but you do need water movement. I really highly doubt the rock is dead. It would take too high of a temp to kill the bacteria on and in it.

 

Just make sure that the LR didn't come from a neglected tank. That rock will harbor all kinds of ammonia/phosphates that will leach out in clean tank.

 

It's going into a bucket with filtration to cycle & check first. Don't want to take any chances with bad hitchers or die off from being left in an unfiltered salt water bath.

 

Ok, I got the rock, its in my bucket with filtration and a heater. None of it smelled like ammonia or decay. It actually smells like regular live rock.. Still not taking any chances. Been looking over for sponges, crabs, snails, apstatia, etc... Anything else? I'll test the ammonia, nitrate and nitrite tomorrow.. Want to watch it for a day and see what comes out...

 

It sounds like you have a good plan. If it is going to be in there for a while you may wish to ghost feed to ensure that the beneficial bacteria have something to work their magic on.

 

I've got the actinic lighting on it to look for the bad hikers.. If they are at zero tomorrow, I'll add them to the tank...

 

Inspect each one for vermetid snails as well. They are a major pain in there. Run a search for them if we haven't talked about those yet. Maaaan I hate 'em! LOL