How long can live rock be sustained out of water?

[we4wieners]

I am picking up a used CPR Aquafuge /Protein Skimmer tomorrow. I am also buying live rock from this guy. Its about 1.5 hours from my house. If I wrap the rock in wet newspaper in a bucket, will it be OK for a few hours? The reason I am buying it from him...he's literally $5./lb cheaper than my closest LFS.

 

[steved13]

I would think you'll have some die off. The better you can keep it wet the less the die off.

 

[smkndrgn142]

yep, you'll definitely have some die off, but it should still be viable. You'll likely go through a mini cycle unless you can keep it covered in salt water.

 

[nos2074]

get one of those plastic totes from like a walmart, mix up some salt water. Put the rock in the tote with the water and you're good for the trip. Done this lots of times with no die off to speak of. No mini cycle at all.

 

[Reefmack]

If you can keep in warm in the heated car that would help too. Getting pretty cold up north! It's even 26F down here in NC this morning.

 

[Frankie]

Yeah, you have a window of about 24 hour before you have serious loss to bacteria.
Keep it moist with wet towels from that water it is in now and you should be fine.
Temperature will play a big roll like Terry said so keep the car running

 

[Curehead]

I have often wondered about this.
I'm inclined to think that seeing as some shallow coral reefs are exposed to low tidal flows for 6-8 hrs per day you wouldn't be panicking after 2 hours. Depends what kind of stuff is growing on your rock.

 

[steved13]

I have often wondered about this.
I'm inclined to think that seeing as some shallow coral reefs are exposed to low tidal flows for 6-8 hrs per day you wouldn't be panicking after 2 hours. Depends what kind of stuff is growing on your rock.

I'd advise keep it wet.

 

[Luukosian]

I've done a 2 hr trip just using wet newspaper, and I've transported it in a tote of tank water....both seem to work without any problems but I imagine the tote is better. Kind of depends on the situation which method I use.

 

[rdwilson91]

How long can you be sustained outside of air?

A big problem with taking live rock out of water is that many sponges die quickly when exposed to air. All those little sponges will instigate a cycle and cause a rise in silicates. You will almost always have some die off when transporting live rock, but since the rock you're getting will be fully cured, it should be fine for that amount of time. I would still recommend, though, a tote or 5-gallon bucket filled with salt water.