Breaking down a reef tank

grammatron

New Member
Hi all,
My tank has been slowly deteriorating since my protein skimmer went on the fritz some months back. Unfortunately my main filter went down recently too. I simply don't have the money or time to get the tank back where it needs to be.
I was wondering if someone could point me to some info on the best way to break down a tank. I've already got a home for the critters, but I'd like to salvage the rock to use in a future tank. I don't have room to store it in water, so I need to find out the best way to clean it for dry storage so that it can be used again down the road.
Thanks for any advice!
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
storing live rock as dry? It becomes base rock then, useless. You could theoretically store it in a few sealed 5 gallon buckets filled with saltwater. But then again, over time, there will be bacteria still left in there, but the good coralline algaes will be dead and all the critters will also be dead, if left in there for any significant amount of time.
You mise well just sell your rock back to the LFS and get some money back.
 

grammatron

New Member
Well, unfortunately the LFS near me won't give you cash or trade in on livestock. I'll have to check about rock.
But even if it becomes base rock again, it will still be valuable when I rebuild a tank later on.
But how can I clean it so that it won't reek up wherever I store it, but also not have chemicals and stuff on it that would be harmful to a tank when I do rebuild?
 

zeroc

Member
don't know where you live but if you're in a warm enough place put it outside in the sun for a couple days to completely dry it out whip all the junk off with a new paint brush or something like that we stiff bristles then rinse it in fresh water and dry it out again then you should be cool to store it in a box somewhere.
Or just sell it locally to someone.
 

kainex

Member
I would leave it outside in the sun for a few weeks, hose it off a few times with FW. that is if you only want to use it for base rock in the future. try posting it on craigslist-dot-com. in our city ANYThing saltwater related goes like hotcakes
you can get some cash that way. and it's free
 

mmm33732

Member
i agree, your best bet would be to just sell it in the classified either online or in the newspaper or craig's list or something, then later down the road if you choose to start up a tank again, you could buy new LIVE rock instead of using your old base rock.
 
Top