Joshua Jordan
Active Member
Hello Fellow Aquarists!
I have been in the hobby for almost 10 years but have not encountered this situation. I keep a 55 gallon Brute garbage can filled with lots of different shapes and sizes of cycled live rock. (The rocks I have in there have been soaking for almost 18 months!!! They were originally dry rock that I cooked/cured using the bleach/acid method and then neutralized the acid/bleach with Sodium Thiosulfate until no chlorine appeared in water samples. I then cycled the rocks with Dr. Tim's Ammonia and Microbacter 7. I have done a few 25% water changes over the past year+ and the readings on my Hanna checkers all look great. (my nitrates are at 10 or so with no nitrates or ammonia and no phosphates.
Here is my problem: I have all kinds of different sizes and shapes of live rock but I FORGOT TO BUILD THE AQUASCAPE BEFORE I STARTED CYCLING!! So I am concerned about the Live Rock dying due to drying out whil I figure out the aquascape and glue it together. I was thinking that I could fill a spray bottle full of the same water that the rocks have been cycling in and just spraying the rocks every few minutes to insure that they never dry out completely....
Will this be enough to keep my cycled live rocks alive while I build the aquascape? If not....what are some other solutions to keep my very important beneficial bacteria that I have been cycling for 18+ months?
Thanks a bunch for your help,
Josh
I have been in the hobby for almost 10 years but have not encountered this situation. I keep a 55 gallon Brute garbage can filled with lots of different shapes and sizes of cycled live rock. (The rocks I have in there have been soaking for almost 18 months!!! They were originally dry rock that I cooked/cured using the bleach/acid method and then neutralized the acid/bleach with Sodium Thiosulfate until no chlorine appeared in water samples. I then cycled the rocks with Dr. Tim's Ammonia and Microbacter 7. I have done a few 25% water changes over the past year+ and the readings on my Hanna checkers all look great. (my nitrates are at 10 or so with no nitrates or ammonia and no phosphates.
Here is my problem: I have all kinds of different sizes and shapes of live rock but I FORGOT TO BUILD THE AQUASCAPE BEFORE I STARTED CYCLING!! So I am concerned about the Live Rock dying due to drying out whil I figure out the aquascape and glue it together. I was thinking that I could fill a spray bottle full of the same water that the rocks have been cycling in and just spraying the rocks every few minutes to insure that they never dry out completely....
Will this be enough to keep my cycled live rocks alive while I build the aquascape? If not....what are some other solutions to keep my very important beneficial bacteria that I have been cycling for 18+ months?
Thanks a bunch for your help,
Josh
