Kind of an emergency

monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
I just got back from the LFS and as I am unpacking everything, I noticed that I left all 20 lbs. of the base rock at the store. I know I should not put in the live rock into the tank ontop of sand. I have about 35 lbs. of live rock sitting in 3 different 5 gallon buckets. How long can I leave the live rock like this? The LFS doesnt open until tomorrow and I cant go back tonight and get it. I probably have enough water to place the rock as a single layer on the bottom of the tank and then put in what water i have. It might be enough to cover the rock. But then I have all this water in my tank before I have the base rock in with all the live rock in the tank. What do I do? Help!
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Do you have any way to aerate the water in the buckets??? if you do, the rock will be fine overnight
 
it is sw in the buckets isn't it
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
It is SW in the buckets yes. I have 2 "air" pumps. One is an actual air pump for an air stone in a FW tank, the other is the Tom aqualifter pump that I can just place the out into a bucket to make bubbles. That takes care of 2 buckets, what about the 3rd? AARRGGHH!
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monsinour http:///forum/thread/380328/kind-of-an-emergency#post_3309957
It is SW in the buckets yes. I have 2 "air" pumps. One is an actual air pump for an air stone in a FW tank, the other is the Tom aqualifter pump that I can just place the out into a bucket to make bubbles. That takes care of 2 buckets, what about the 3rd? AARRGGHH!
I kept LR in a tote once with a FW pump and air bubbler.....do you have anything like that?
 
anyway you can put all the rock in one big rubbermaid? or do you have a large trash can? I thought we talked trash cans once
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/380328/kind-of-an-emergency#post_3309960
I kept LR in a tote once with a FW pump and air bubbler.....do you have anything like that?
 
anyway you can put all the rock in one big rubbermaid? or do you have a large trash can? I thought we talked trash cans once

My rubbermaid is actually holding 13 gallons of sw in it ready to be added to the tank. The plan was to setup the tank, add in the sw from the buckets from the lfs, and add in the 13 gallons I have. then run to walmart, grab another 13 gallons and make more sw to add to the tank. I know that the sw in the rubbermaid is fresh, just mixed it today and the instructions on my hydrometer said to let it soak for 24 hours to get better readings when it was new, a kind of "break in" thing. Should i try to consolodate the rock into 2 buckets and then buble those over night? Should i try to get a reading on my rubbermaid and put the rock in there, pending that its ok?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
As long as you can keep the rock covered with SW, and some water movement...whether it is in 2 buckets, 1 tote, a trashcan...etc....you will be ok....
 
OHHHHH....do you have a small heater? You don't want it to get cold...now depending on your room temp, you may be okay.....but a small heater set at 75-80 wouldn't hurt either
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/380328/kind-of-an-emergency#post_3309972
As long as you can keep the rock covered with SW, and some water movement...whether it is in 2 buckets, 1 tote, a trashcan...etc....you will be ok....
 
OHHHHH....do you have a small heater? You don't want it to get cold...now depending on your room temp, you may be okay.....but a small heater set at 75-80 wouldn't hurt either
So basically, if I am understanding all this correctly is:
 
Check the SG of the water in the tote and make a note of it
Check the SG of the water in the buckets and make a note of it
Compare the 2 readings and find out if its ok (SG wise) to transfer all rock into the tote
Take the heater (150w) from the tank and place it into the tote.
Keep the CA-1800 in the tote for water movement ( or is that too strong? I had my 2 horilia in there for mixing the sw but they werent strong enough to mix the salt. Once the CA-1800 went in, the mixing was sped up dramatically. )
Place the rock into tote and pray
 
I say pray as the LR i have has soooooo much growing on it it is not funny. I think on the one piece i have a "tree" like coral growing. It is about 3" long. On that same piece is an urchin, the small spinny black ones. On the same piece is some green and red macroalgae. On the same piece is a small colony of zoa corals. On a different piece there is quite a few sponges, some more coral and algae. On the last piece ( the one that the mantis shrimp fell out of ) there is about 3 different types of coral, some algae, and what appears to be some more urchins, not sure. This was the piece that had the tuxedo urchin on it at the LFS. But he said that I would have to pay an additional $40 for the urchin if I wanted it with the rock. I said no thanks as I dont think i could keep it alive for now.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
WOW....sounds like you got some good stuff on the rock...I would definitely make sure it is covered then....
 
Sponge will die if it is exposed to air, BUT....more will come....and more will go...LOL...
 
The Koralia may be good enough for movement in the tote......
 
you were already planning on using the SW from the buckets and the tote for your Main tank...right? so YES, get the salinity matched....Fresh sw should not harm the rock, so you should be good there
 
 
 
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/380328/kind-of-an-emergency#post_3309987
WOW....sounds like you got some good stuff on the rock...I would definitely make sure it is covered then....
 
Sponge will die if it is exposed to air, BUT....more will come....and more will go...LOL...
 
The Koralia may be good enough for movement in the tote......
 
you were already planning on using the SW from the buckets and the tote for your Main tank...right? so YES, get the salinity matched....Fresh sw should not harm the rock, so you should be good there
 
 
 
Well then fiddle smurfs. The salinity in the tote is a perfect 1.025 (perfectly on the line that is) and the 5 gallon buckets are reading at 1.0235. That is a big difference right? I have a minor problem. Adding in some RO water from walmart is the solution to the SG of the tote, but i have none. Since there is some coral on the rock, should I worry about lighting? THe tanks the rocks were in at the LFS had lights on them so maybe i can call this their "nighttime" ?
 
And yes, once all is right in the world, I will be posting pictures of the LR and all its inhabitants. I am just greateful that the mantis shrinp jumped ship at the LFS and not in my tank. It was a small little thing and the salesmen fed it to a hogfish.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
1 point is not that big of a deal....you are mixing the water from the tote and the buckets aren't you??? so there is you difference
 
Think about it....I have a lot of corals shipped.....once they get in that styro cooler.....they see no light for 24-28 hours......NONE....you have room light, so you should be good
 
LOL...you are worrying too much now
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/380328/kind-of-an-emergency#post_3309992
1 point is not that big of a deal....you are mixing the water from the tote and the buckets aren't you??? so there is you difference
 
Think about it....I have a lot of corals shipped.....once they get in that styro cooler.....they see no light for 24-28 hours......NONE....you have room light, so you should be good
 
LOL...you are worrying too much now

Its the first things that are alive that will be going into the tank. My family and I dont take kindly to live things passing on. And since I picked out these pieces due to the abundandt of life on them, I would absolutely hate it if any of it died to my forgetfullness/impatience about forgetting the base rock at the store.
 
So start mixing the bucket water and the tote water until the tote comes down to what, 1.0245 or so?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monsinour http:///forum/thread/380328/kind-of-an-emergency#post_3309999
Its the first things that are alive that will be going into the tank. My family and I dont take kindly to live things passing on. And since I picked out these pieces due to the abundandt of life on them, I would absolutely hate it if any of it died to my forgetfullness/impatience about forgetting the base rock at the store.
 
So start mixing the bucket water and the tote water until the tote comes down to what, 1.0245 or so?
I know what you mean.......I try to save everything.....
 
I'm confused on what you are asking....I thought you said that you were putting the water from the tote...and the buckets in your tank......
 
if that is the case, all that water is gonna be mixed...right
...so it should all average out to (I'M GUESSING HERE) 1.024/1.0245......
 
Are you keeping the rock in the buckets.....or adding it to the tote?
 
AGAIN, your rock should be fine the way you have it....I kept lots of rock in totes before.....covered with sw, aerated, and heated

 
 
 
HEY....I have to ask you this.....is the ro/di filter looking any better to you yet? LOL....just think....you could be making your own water and mixing it as we are typing
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/380328/kind-of-an-emergency#post_3310011
I know what you mean.......I try to save everything..... I have no choice, I have to save everything. We are a little fanatical about animals in this house. Not PETA fanatical, just cant let things die due to stupidity.
 
I'm confused on what you are asking....I thought you said that you were putting the water from the tote...and the buckets in your tank...... I would rather keep them in the tote overnight so I can start correctly with the base rock tomorrow once I get it. So I was under the impression that I was to start taking water from the buckets and placing it into the tote. But before that, take some water from the tote and place it into one of the buckets. The tote is a 18 gallon tote and there is 13 gallons in there currently.
 
if that is the case, all that water is gonna be mixed...right
...so it should all average out to (I'M GUESSING HERE) 1.024/1.0245...... That is true i suppose. But that would be option #2 if I cant get option #1 (in the tote) to work.
 
Are you keeping the rock in the buckets.....or adding it to the tote? see above
 
AGAIN, your rock should be fine the way you have it....I kept lots of rock in totes before.....covered with sw, aerated, and heated

 
HEY....I have to ask you this.....is the ro/di filter looking any better to you yet? LOL....just think....you could be making your own water and mixing it as we are typing

 
You are preaching to the choir on the RO/DI unit. But right now, its not a good time to discuss $ with the missus. Maybe once the tax refund comes in and we have paid off all the bills, gotten the stove and refridgerator, and fixed the bathroom floor. But for now, the $0.39 a gallon at walmart has the wife convinced that we dont need a RO/DI unit.
 
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
If you have 13G's of water in the tote....you may not fit any more water in there.....the rock will take up lots of room
 
If you want....take out 1g of tote water...add 1g of bucket water...see how much that changes the #'s......and do that until you feel comfortable with the #....should not have to mix that much IMO
 
 
 
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
I have already been playing SW chemist by mixing water from the tote to the buckets. I know I will have to take water out to compensate for the displacement of the rocks. I think i have the tote water correct. I will start to move the rocks now. It is ok to place the rocks on eggcrate over the buck for about 5 minutes to make the creepy crawlies jump off right?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Yeah...IMO that should be fine....remember sponge dies when exposed to air...I would not even worry about that right now
 
AND DO NOT touch bristle worms......the bristles sting (from what I hear)
 
just try to keep the rock in the water as much as possible
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Yea, while sponge is an animal, i am more worried about the coral than sponge. I would rather have sponge die and other nasty creepy crawlies fall off than to place it all into the tote and then into the DT for larger problems down the road.
 
Starting the transfer 1 piece at a time.
 
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