Recure my live rock after Hurricane?

justjoe628 · #1 03-10-2009, 05:12 AM

I had a successful FOWLR tank that had been running for over two years. When Hurrican Ike came through, our electricity was off for about a week and we lost all livestock in the tank.

The live rock has been sitting in that same water for several months now with no pump or movement (water is still crystal clear). I just pulled everything out to clean the tank and start over, and I wasn't sure if the live rock needed to be recured. It has NO odor at all.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

lobsterboy · #2 03-10-2009, 05:13 AM

i would run the tank as normal with filter and current, then test the water after a few days, and see what the tests show.
then maybe try a few damsels.

i have crabs · #3 03-10-2009, 05:36 AM

are thier any pods or other life on the rock? maybe pull out a chunk and smell it,probably wont stink anymore, if thier is no life it might just be rock now not live rock

justjoe628 · #4 03-10-2009, 05:56 AM

Thanks for the immediate posts.

I don't see any signs of life on the rock. I just completely took the system down and am in the process of putting it all back together so there is nothing living in the tank at all.

The rock just smells very, very clean. When you say it may not be 'live' rock anymore but just rock . . . does that mean it will not be able to sustain new life again once the tank has time to mature? That it would now just be more like 'holey rock'. Or will I be able to add in some corals and grow the coraline algea later?

spoot · #5 03-10-2009, 06:06 AM

All you need to do is make sure everything that is dead (ie. no more nitrates being released) then you can just "re-seed" it with new live rock and it will become live again in no time.

i have crabs · #6 03-10-2009, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spoot

All you need to do is make sure everything that is dead (ie. no more nitrates being released) then you can just "re-seed" it with new live rock and it will become live again in no time.

if its not stinking i would just keep it in some water so anything that is on it dosent die off and you will have to get some new live rock to reseed the stuff you already have, it will take a few months but eventually will be good as before

Whatigot · #7 03-10-2009, 03:00 PM

if there is no smell, I would go ahead as planned.
I would just rinse the rocks really well in clean salt water before putting starting the new system.

You will probably need some fresh live sand or established live rock just to get some beneficial life forms procreating again, but not much.

Megs · #8 03-20-2009, 06:24 PM

sounds like the rock is safe just dead, when you get the tank started up again i would just add a few new peices of 'live rock' to re-seed your old rock, it will take some time but will become live again once the organisms reproduce and spread, i would just stay away from any fish that need live pods etc to survive until you are sure you have a decent population again, as i would expect it to take several months, depending on how much rock you have.