how long to leave live rock to die?

[hansonfam]

Hi there.

Dumb question i know. But i took my tank apart to move and it took some time to get it back up. We'll all the rock that was not in a 30 gallon was in a brute can awaiting the main tank set up. We'll the heater and powerhead at some point got unplugged. So when i took the lid off yesterday it almost made me pass out from the smell. So we have major die off. What i was going to do was just take it all out and let it dry out then add it to the tank with the live rock i do have and let it become live again. I have no fish right now but i do have alot of sps so can't let it cycle in the main tank. So how long for it to dry out and ,ake sure everything is dead?


Thanks
Lisa

[uscharalph]

Why do you want to kill everything on it? I would rinse and scub the rock and set it in a tub of saltwater with a pump for circulation and a heater. Let it cure.

[coast2coast7390]

if you want to kill everything soak it 24 hours in a tub with ro/di water and make sure that you rinse well

then put it in a tub with saltwater from a water change with a few damsels a powerhead and a heater

[Sk8r]

Make three new tubs of salt water, wash the stinking mess in #1, rinse in #2, and settle into #3 with bubbler and hope. This happened to me: all that survived? bacteria, aiptasia, and grape caulerpa.