Assumed Real Reef Rock- Acid bath turns into Rice Crispy Treats

[Trickman2]

Not 100 percent sure on the brand...But I believe it was Real Reef Rock. After a nasty nasty case of dinos on my little girls 25 I decided to reset the whole tank.
I gave the rock a Muriatic acid bath which resulted in flaking the first round. It wasn't good so I decided to give it another bath. The Rock turned into basically Rice Crispy treats...Any Idea of what the heck is in this stuff? Never Seen anything like this...Foamy in nature. Very very bizarre.

 

[blaxsun]

Yep, it's weird.

 

[Jeeperz]

Looks like Walt Smith glued together rock.

 

[Trickman2]

Looks like Walt Smith glued together rock.

Maybe, I need to verify with the store I bought it from.

 

[Tamberav]

Looks like sand and paint.

Almost like real reef rock isn’t real reef rock..

 

[jcolliii]

Crushed oyster shells? Are the small bumpy thing really hard,or can you crush them with a thumbnail? If it crushes, maybe perlite? I've often wondered if some of the lower density, higher porosity artificial stuff was made using perlite...

 

[Trickman2]

Crushed oyster shells? Are the small bumpy thing really hard,or can you crush them with a thumbnail? If it crushes, maybe perlite? I've often wondered if some of the lower density, higher porosity artificial stuff was made using perlite...

Verified with the local fish store it is real reef Rock. It is squishy like Rice Crispies soaked in milk.

 

[jcolliii]

I bet it's perlite then. I think this stuff is made similarly to some of the folks on youtube and in this forum making DIY reef rocks, except to make it more porous and give more space for bacterial colonization, they used perlite instead of crushed oyster shells (or in addition to it).

 

[areefer01]

Never understood this sort of rock and its respected use.

If you are going dry just get the real dry rock. You are taking the time anyway might as well be a known thing vs. man made. Also rumor on the street is that muriatic acid baths, depending on the time, will remove anywhere from 12 to 25% of surface area. That is why you are seeing that level of detail.

 

[Trickman2]

Never understood this sort of rock and its respected use.

If you are going dry just get the real dry rock. You are taking the time anyway might as well be a known thing vs. man made. Also rumor on the street is that muriatic acid baths, depending on the time, will remove anywhere from 12 to 25% of surface area. That is why you are seeing that level of detail.

Yeah, I figured I was taking a lot off...didn't realize it was full of whatever the hell that is.

 

[CincyReefer07]

Never understood this sort of rock and its respected use.

If you are going dry just get the real dry rock. You are taking the time anyway might as well be a known thing vs. man made. Also rumor on the street is that muriatic acid baths, depending on the time, will remove anywhere from 12 to 25% of surface area. That is why you are seeing that level of detail.

Agree, I bleach cured a bunch of rock I got from someone’s old torn down system, and I probably left it in the container of bleach water too long because I swear that rock was bigger going in and with more texture to it than when I pulled it out.

 

[areefer01]

Yeah, I figured I was taking a lot off...didn't realize it was full of whatever the hell that is.

I have to admit the image you posted was interesting. I read rice crispy so had to look The numbers I threw out at 12 - 25% are from an older BRS video they did when prepping dry Pukani rock. Oddly enough that is the majority of the rock in my display but I just used bleach first then followed up with a lanthanum chloride soak.

I meant to ask how does it feel? Is some of it smooth like an epoxy or glue outside the rice or pebble looking stuff? Just wondering what the artificial color stuff is before putting it back in the display.