# Save for later



## nicholash1987 (Jan 14, 2010)

My husband and I just recently had a baby and no longer have the time or funds to care for our tank... we have had the tank for about 4 years now but dont have any livestock atm. we were thinking of taking the tank down and saving all the live rock and sand for later.. 

is there any kind of a method we should do to make sure our stuff will still be okay for us to use here in a few years when we have the time for it? or can we just take the live rock out and let it dry? is there any way to save the sand and not let it get stinky ! lol if you have any info on this plz let us know. 

Thank you


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## eagleANTH (Jun 26, 2009)

Well as far as your rock goes you can totally dry this out and it will be fine. The rock wont have any life on it if you decide to use it again but life will spread to it if you "seed" it with an actual living rock and over time it will become live again. As far as the sand I would assume you could keep that as well, I personally would put it in 5 gallon buckets and rinse it out as best as you can. Then let evaporation do its work somewhere like the garage or the back porch. Once its dry it shouldnt smell at all or very little at all. If the sand is live it will also "die" but you can reseed it just like the live rock. I would suggest when reusing the sand add a little garf grunge.


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