Drying out rock?

[bolson]

Moving from CA to TX and stopping for a week in Vegas. I have a 20 gallon that’s been running for almost two years. Fighting bubble algea and aiptasia. Thoughts on tossing the sand and drying out the rock? Would the water be fine sitting in jugs for two weeks before the tank is up and running again? I have two clowns and a Halloween urchin I would be trying to keep. Will they be ok to go back in the tank or is the tank basically going to have to recycle?
thanks for the help!

 

[kbnh]

Maybe grab some new rock and cycle in a seperate bin if possible to avoid the possibility of bringing those pests into your “new” setup. If you cycle them now you can easily add your livestock in without causing an ammonia spike in a few weeks. Get new sand, disturbing the sand and moving it to a “new” tank can lead to problems due to the detritus and gases built up in the sand. Plus you could be bringing in bubble algae or aiptasia that way also. You might go through some ugly stages but hopefully avoid the bubble algae and aiptasia.

 

[bolson]

Maybe grab some new rock and cycle in a seperate bin if possible to avoid the possibility of bringing those pests into your “new” setup. If you cycle them now you can easily add your livestock in without causing an ammonia spike in a few weeks. Get new sand, disturbing the sand and moving it to a “new” tank can lead to problems due to the detritus and gases built up in the sand. Plus you could be bringing in bubble algae or aiptasia that way also. You might go through some ugly stages but hopefully avoid the bubble algae and aiptasia.

I would love to avoid buying new rock, spent too much on what I have in there! (Fell for the purple coated expensive stuff)

 

[kbnh]

I would love to avoid buying new rock, spent too much on what I have in there! (Fell for the purple coated expensive stuff)

Totally understand! I’ll let someone with more experience give you better advice on this than I can then.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Moving from CA to TX and stopping for a week in Vegas. I have a 20 gallon that’s been running for almost two years. Fighting bubble algea and aiptasia. Thoughts on tossing the sand and drying out the rock? Would the water be fine sitting in jugs for two weeks before the tank is up and running again? I have two clowns and a Halloween urchin I would be trying to keep. Will they be ok to go back in the tank or is the tank basically going to have to recycle?
thanks for the help!

Water fine. Keep rock submersed in buckets and add aeration when you reach destination to have live rock on hand

 

[jabberwock]

Toss the sand. The water has little value. All your biofilter is wrapped up in the rocks. Drying out the rock may not eliminate pests. I had a rock drying out for over a month. Put it back in a tank, and BOOM! vermited snails emerged from it in force.

I think you are destined to recycle and pitch the rocks too.