Dry rock

[Vigil2235]

I put some dry rock in my sump and it's been in there for 2 weeks how long until it becomes live rock?

 

[mcgyvr]

Its already live rock..
Technically live rock simply means it has living bacteria on it.. That happens almost instantly.. However.. That doesn't mean it has the same bacterial population on it/filtering capability that a rock thats been in the water for 2 months.. or a year has on it..

As I have no idea what you intend to do with this rock and why you care if its live I cannot comment on if it will achieve whatever goal you may have for it..


Usually a tank started from all dry rock is sufficiently cycled in 4 weeks..
A tank started from half dry/half live may be cycled in 2 weeks or less..
Its nearly impossible to answer how useful that rock will be as there are just too many variables and we lack the ability to measure the bacterial counts on said rock..
Its "live" now though to some extent..

 

[Vigil2235]

Its already live rock..
Technically live rock simply means it has living bacteria on it.. That happens almost instantly.. However.. That doesn't mean it has the same bacterial population on it/filtering capability that a rock thats been in the water for 2 months.. or a year has on it..

As I have no idea what you intend to do with this rock and why you care if its live I cannot comment on if it will achieve whatever goal you may have for it..


Usually a tank started from all dry rock is sufficiently cycled in 4 weeks..
A tank started from half dry/half live may be cycled in 2 weeks or less..
Its nearly impossible to answer how useful that rock will be as there are just too many variables and we lack the ability to measure the bacterial counts on said rock..
Its "live" now though to some extent..

Thank you for your reply. It is to cycle another tank and was just curious as to how long it takes to build up the beneficial bacteria and the longer the better.

 

[mcgyvr]

Thank you for your reply. It is to cycle another tank and was just curious as to how long it takes to build up the beneficial bacteria and the longer the better.

Yep... The longer the better really..
I'd "guess" that 2 weeks in an established tank "may" be sufficient to allow it to move into another new tank and skip a cycling process there provided that you start slow..
4 weeks would surely be sufficient IMO..

 

[shaka]

The longer you keep it in your sump the better. Especially if you're going to use it to cycle or "seed" another aquarium.

Like mcgyvr said it is "live" to some extent though . . . but I would think to really help with biological filtration you should leave it in your sump for longer than 2 weeks to allow more beneficial bacteria to grow on the dry rock.

It's another test of patience this hobby provides us with.

 

[Vigil2235]

The longer you keep it in your sump the better. Especially if you're going to use it to cycle or "seed" another aquarium.

Like mcgyvr said it is "live" to some extent though . . . but I would think to really help with biological filtration you should leave it in your sump for longer than 2 weeks to allow more beneficial bacteria to grow on the dry rock.

It's another test of patience this hobby provides us with.

Thank you for your reply. Yes always have to test but better to know when to start testing then to just take guesses.

 

[FishAndPhysics]

If you are trying to establish the diversity of life and "critters" that usually are associated with live rock (thinking coralline algae, feather worms, bristleworms, etc) that can take much much longer. I have some old, I think originally Florida live rock in my tank, and a few pieces of originally dry rock, and it took at least a year before the dry rock looked similar to the other rock.

If bacteria is all you're after though, a few weeks should be enough. Bacteria in a bottle would do it even faster though