Live rock no heat

[swallowbird]

Just got my 55 gallon display tank with 30 gallon sump started I got salt levels right and was gonna take a few pounds of live rock from a buddy to start cycle slowly until I can afford it I get paid in 6 days and am gonna buy a heater then but will the live rock be okay for 6 days with no heat I got plenty of water flow?

 

[swallowbird]

Also just adding a small amount of rock to give cycle a slow start

 

[btldreef]

How cold is your tank? I would add live rock below 66F.

 

[flower]

I have a potbelly seahorse tank with a chiller, keeping the tank at a cool 65 degrees. The live rock in there is just fine and the peppermint shrimps seem to handle the cold quite well....if a shrimp can handle those temps, (being so sensitive) I would think the other inverts deep in the rocks can too.
Oh and Swallowbird...add a chunk of raw shrimp....why go slow?

 

[btldreef]

Flower, 65 still isn't that cold, which is why I said I would still add Rick at those temps. It depends just how cold the water is. During Hurricane Sandy many people in my area had their tanks, even just FOWLR's drop below 50 and they started to really get nasty and have big spikes in ammonia.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///t/394373/live-rock-no-heat#post_3510334
Flower, 65 still isn't that cold, which is why I said I would still add Rick at those temps. It depends just how cold the water is. During Hurricane Sandy many people in my area had their tanks, even just FOWLR's drop below 50 and they started to really get nasty and have big spikes in ammonia.
I understand what you are saying, but the cold wasn't really all the reason the critters in the rock died and created the ammonia spike...if power was off, there was no water movement and lack of oxygen played a role as well.
Ambient temperature in a home, where a person is comfortable would be warm enough for a fish tank to survive. Therefore the answer to the original question, is that his/her live rock will be fine in the tank for 6 days until a heater can be purchased to warm the tank to tropical temps.

 

[btldreef]

I understand what you are saying, but the cold wasn't really all the reason the critters in the rock died and created the ammonia spike...if power was off, there was no water movement and lack of oxygen played a role as well.
Ambient temperature in a home, where a person is comfortable would be warm enough for a fish tank to survive. Therefore the answer to the original question, is that his/her live rock will be fine in the tank for 6 days until a heater can be purchased to warm the tank to tropical temps.
Actually, they had battery backups running the pumps. But the heaters drew too much current and couldn't be run off the battery backups. I should've been more specific.