Yes bacteria will grow, the thing with liverock is not so much the bacteria
growth, (though we all want that in a possitive way), but liverock is full
of live things, minifeather dusters, sponges, etc etc etc etc. But by
putting the deadrock into the tank it will eventually harbor bacteria that
you want and if seeded will eventually contain lifeforms that we all enjoy
looking at in a marine tank.

But hey! Thats just my opinion on it.

"david" wrote in message
...
when my tank crashed about six months ago I took the live rock and put it
in
a dry plastic
barrel.

ok so now its dead rock. yes I know I can reseed it with some new live
rock
and I can buy a bottle of cycle bacteria in a bottle?

the question is if I just fill the tank with salt water and put the sand -
rock in will any
bacteria grow if every thing has been dry for months or is it a MUST to
add
some new live rock to start the process.
how would you go about restarting this tank. I am going to be buying
some more sand
to make the DSB deeper than it was.
Im sure my LFS will give me a cup of live sand to seed mine they are good
like that.

David