Live rock gift

I have a friend whos pump on his tank went out. Lost everything . He has offered to give me some of his live rock when I am ready to start my tank. What if anything should I do with it if I do take it. He still has the water in the tank so It has not dried out.

 

Welcome to fishlore!!
Although I'm not a salty member, I do know you can use live rock to cycle a tank
Here is a link to our salty part of the site
Enjoy!

 

I don't know how much live rock you are talking about but I know some levers have talked about investing in a new 55 gallon garbage can from a hardware store keeping it full of saltwater and I do believe a heater as well to keep all of the beneficial organisms going. I am sure someone will read this post and can add to it if I am missing something but all of this would still be way cheaper than just buying live rock and should keep it alive.

 

I can get all I want. His tank is 120 gal and it's going into a 29 gal. so I don't think he is worried I'm going to take it all. He will keep it in his tank until I'm ready for it. I hope I can get out and get the sand this week. I just didn't know if I needed to do anything with it before I put it in my tank since it's just been sitting in his tank.

 

How long has it just been sitting in his tank and how has it been sitting? What I mean by this is has there been any heat or anything running in the tank since he lost everything, and why did he lose everything?

 

Welcome to Fishlore

Did your friend replace the pump? i.e. is the water still circulating (may have resulted in some filter feeders starving)

Is it still heated? (may have reduced the bacteria colony)

How long was it out of action? (may have cause some die-off)

When do you plan to start your tank? (if it's not 'immediately' then probably no point taking it IMO)

I can't think of a good reason not to take the rock, however the longer it sits, the more likely there will be die off, and it may not be as "live" as fresh live rock.

That said, you know the source, so the chances of un-desirable hitch-hikers is reduced.

Maybe for your own sanity, just do some basic tests, ammonia, phosphate, nitrates - phosphate can leach from live-rock, not much you can do about it, but it gives you an idea of what you'd be acquiring.

From what I understand - getting true cured live rock in the US can be a mission (a lot of LFS claim it's cured, but it's not really), so this rock would give you a good head-start on cycling.

That said - if you're not ready to setup your tank yet, then you may be wasting the "live" rock.

 

I feel a little different about it just because of the cost of live rock however if you are only setting up a small tank I guess it wouldn't necessarily be that cost effective. But if you are going to set up a bigger one then and you aren't that far down the road from completely setting up then it could save you a ton of money. However I would do some tests like Ryan explained and make sure it is still beneficial and has some good.beneficial bacteria before you do.