Live rock in the garage... How hot can it get?

[SaltyArms]

So I'm looking at setting up a live rock bin in my garage and I'm curious how hot it can get before it's a problem and starts killing it off (bacteria and microfauna.) I know doing this is nothing new, and I searched, but I've not seen anyone talk about the limits of how hot it can get. I don't want to run a chiller because they're expensive and power-hungry, which defeats the purpose of this being easy.

I already have the big Rubbermaid 100g tub, so why not? I have a BIG tank in my future and I'll eventually need the rock. I also don't like that I'll have some rock that's been in a tank for a year or two that just gets chunked in a bucket when I have to change something in my display/frag tanks and all that "good stuff" just dies off as it dries out.

The garage is the only place I can do this, and it's not climate-controlled. I checked the other day on a hot one and it was about 88-90F in there. I'm not going to have fish or corals in there, just strictly a bunch of marco rock, that I'll then add TBS live base rock to it for seeding and other rock coming out of my frag/display tanks when I pull pieces as corals grow or I need to change something. Eventually, I'll light it (cheaply) for coraline and probably add a cheap skimmer. The plan is that when I do water changes on my display and frag, that water will then get cycled into the live rock bin for a second run.

Thoughts?

 

[exnisstech]

Not an answer but maybe place a bucket of water in there for a few days to see how hot it gets. I'm just wondering if since the concrete floor is always cool of that will help keep the water temp lower than the air temp

I get wanting to store it. I keep a stock tank with a bunch of live rock in the basement. I just added some dry rock to seed that I cut flat on the bottom to do some zoa gardens.

 

[SaltyArms]

I get wanting to store it. I keep a stock tank with a bunch of live rock in the basement. I just added some dry rock to seed that I cut flat on the bottom to do some zoa gardens.

Love the flat rock idea. I've done the "break it apart and glue it back together in cooler shapes" thing (that's how my display tank was done), and it would be nice to do then be able to make it "alive" too.

 

[GlassMunky]

You need to keep the rock the same temps (roughly) as what the tank would be kept. 85°+ water would absolutely kill stuff to some degree

 

[PharmrJohn]

You need to keep the rock the same temps (roughly) as what the tank would be kept. 85°+ water would absolutely kill stuff to some degree

Yep. The optimum temperature variation shouldn't deviate from the ideal 77 to 86 degree marks. However, complete death does not occur until 120. But make no mistake, it won't thrive well (or will completely stop multiplying) outside optimum parameters, depending on how big the deviation is.

 

[exnisstech]

Love the flat rock idea. I've done the "break it apart and glue it back together in cooler shapes" thing (that's how my display tank was done), and it would be nice to do then be able to make it "alive" too.

I've done the break and glue as well for scape. I started cutting rock into thinner pieces flat on both sides a few years back when I was trying to come up with something more natural looking than disks or tiles. Both of these were grown on them from frags. I think they look better than the perfectly round bases that plugs end up with.

 

[KrisReef]

So I'm looking at setting up a live rock bin in my garage and I'm curious how hot it can get before it's a problem and starts killing it off (bacteria and microfauna.) I know doing this is nothing new, and I searched, but I've not seen anyone talk about the limits of how hot it can get. I don't want to run a chiller because they're expensive and power-hungry, which defeats the purpose of this being easy.

I already have the big Rubbermaid 100g tub, so why not? I have a BIG tank in my future and I'll eventually need the rock. I also don't like that I'll have some rock that's been in a tank for a year or two that just gets chunked in a bucket when I have to change something in my display/frag tanks and all that "good stuff" just dies off as it dries out.

The garage is the only place I can do this, and it's not climate-controlled. I checked the other day on a hot one and it was about 88-90F in there. I'm not going to have fish or corals in there, just strictly a bunch of marco rock, that I'll then add TBS live base rock to it for seeding and other rock coming out of my frag/display tanks when I pull pieces as corals grow or I need to change something. Eventually, I'll light it (cheaply) for coraline and probably add a cheap skimmer. The plan is that when I do water changes on my display and frag, that water will then get cycled into the live rock bin for a second run.

Thoughts?

I have a few buckets of wet rocks in the garage. I don’t care if they get “too hot” because the bacteria will be fine, and anything else I don’t want to bring into a new set up. I check phosphorus and add lanthanum chloride until it is running zero, or close. If I want I will use water change water to replace bucket water now and then but I try to keep the bucket covered to prevent evaporation and salinity fluctuations, and when I need a rock I have one.

I also have found that a lot of good old school live rock is available for cheap or free when folks break down their tank. Having a garage bucket can reduce startup costs for large projects.