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old dry rock (bleach bath?)


bler

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Hi Folks,

So I've acquired some old 'left for dead' LR.. I'd like to sterilize these and was reading about a bleach bath.

I've blasted it first with a hose get all the dirt/dust off, soaked for a few days and reblasted after loosening things up.  Visually removing any glue/plugs/sponges/etc.  I've noticed a few of the pieces have a ton of vermetid snail shells (most likely was facing the back/underside) and defiantly don't want to bring these into any new system so I was wondering if a bleach bath will kill everything and be good to go after a few weeks of soaking/rinsing/prepping/etc.  I'm not in any rush to use this so I can take my time.

Anyone else have much experience with re-using old LR that someone has left out for any indeterminate amount of time (both had dust/cobwebs/dirt so I'm assuming it's been at least 6-12months since it's seen water)

Rock will most likely go into a FO tank and/or for seeding from some LR I already have.

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I'm off the opinion that bleach is basically never necessary. A couple days in RODI water, pressure wash, and a week in RODI water should kill if everything except a few hardy microbes, I think. Maybe leave it dry for a few weeks
Then soak it in 1.018 water at no less than 80 deg F with bacterial dosing (Dr Tim's, mb7, prodibio, Fritz, whatever) and a little ammonia or ghost feeding should get it richly populated

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I did the bleach bath on some old rock that had been outside for months in someone’s yard. Came out great and stripped everything off. I have it cooking in the garage after dechlorination for the last couple of months and change the water weekly using the water I drain from my display tank during water changes. Probably overkill on the additional soak/cure time but I am in no big rush. May add it to the DT this weekend. 

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awesome, thanks a bunch for all the info!

It's been sitting in tap/hose water right now to hopefully loosen up whatever dirt might have crusted on it.  The tap water shouldn't be any issue should it?

 

 

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awesome, thanks a bunch for all the info!
It's been sitting in tap/hose water right now to hopefully loosen up whatever dirt might have crusted on it.  The tap water shouldn't be any issue should it?
 
 
Definitely not going to hurt the rock. Great plan in my book. I'd probably give it some time in RODI (a few days) to lift some TDS from the tap before I wasted salt on it, but you're all good.

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Bleach is a good idea but I have found that muriatic acid is faster and more efficient.  Acid bath and then rinse. 

The real plus is that it dissolves the outer skin of the rock and gets ALL the grime off.  You add the acid to the water and the foam that rises up... yuck!  

Just don't get it on your skin. 

 

Many ways to skin this cat.  That is just what I do. 

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4 hours ago, bler said:

 

Rock will most likely go into a FO tank and/or for seeding from some LR I already have.

Not sure if I'm understanding this correctly but the rock you have is dry, not live so you can't use it to seed other rock. Also, while cleaning it in acid or bleach and drying it in the sun is a great idea, those vermited snails and other pests are dead and won't be introduced into you tank. 

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You can also use vinegar. I think it all depends to on what type of rock................I had pukani years ago and a day in vinegar took off a good layer of it............then off to a SW bath for a few months in a brute............it all worked out great.

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The rock is a mix of random types some branch, some pukani, some looks like a very old colony of some plating coral.. Lots of info to soak up here thanks everyone!! I'll look into the Vinegar and Acid baths as well :)

As far as seeding, I already have some LR sitting in my sump which I could use to seed these if I decided to.

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