Bleach Cleaned Rocks

[Reefin' Steve]

@Randy Holmes-Farley...

I cleaned my rocks (marco) with bleach after a velvet wipeout. Rinsed 2x with tap and heavy dose of prime over a day each, 3rd final RO rinse with heavy prime for 3 days. Now they've been drying for about 3 days over heat. I can still smell bleach if i put my nose right on them, but they arent "radiating" a smell. Actions from here?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you have time, they can just air out. That's what I did with mine, which I bleached, treated with ascorbic acid (a dechlorinator), and then could still smell bleach.

Bleach gets down into pores and such, and it takes tome to get it out or to get dechlorinating agents in. Waiting it out works, as can more extended soaking in a dechlorinator.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Not to try to hijack but would bleaching remove copper if the rocks were from a tank with copper?

 

[Reefin' Steve]

Not to try to hijack but would bleaching remove copper if the rocks were from a tank with copper?

My brain says no being that copper is a metal and I dont think bleach has much reaction with metals, otherwise any copper drain pipes in houses would have issues over time but i would 100% defer to Randy on that. Id think you have a better shot with muriatic acid wash, but the rocks might be toast.

from steve 2 steve

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Not to try to hijack but would bleaching remove copper if the rocks were from a tank with copper?

It may remove copper bound to organics on the rocks, but not copper bound directly to the calcium carbonate.

 

[Reefin' Steve]

If you have time, they can just air out. That's what I did with mine, which I bleached, treated with ascorbic acid (a dechlorinator), and then could still smell bleach.

Bleach gets down into pores and such, and it takes tome to get it out or to get dechlorinating agents in. Waiting it out works, as can more extended soaking in a dechlorinator.

I used a whole bottle of prime on them, but i also have fritz complete. I think my issue is (google says) bleach sinks in water. The rocks at the bottom of the tub are the biggest offenders, so i might re soak those. They probably wont be getting wet for some time (weeks) but id like to start building thenew scape. We'll see how it pans out, thank you sir.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I used a whole bottle of prime on them, but i also have fritz complete. I think my issue is (google says) bleach sinks in water. The rocks at the bottom of the tub are the biggest offenders, so i might re soak those. They probably wont be getting wet for some time (weeks) but id like to start building thenew scape. We'll see how it pans out, thank you sir.

Well, that google thing (AI?) is wrong in this context.

Yes, bleach liquid is dense and poured into lighter water, it will run to the bottom.

But NO dissolved molecules in water ever settle out (or rise) due to normal gravity. Thus, individual bleach molecules (say, coming off of a rock) in water stay perfectly mixed and do not drop to the bottom.

 

[Reefin' Steve]

Well, that google thing (AI?) is wrong in this context.

Yes, bleach liquid is dense and poured into lighter water, it will run to the bottom.

But NO dissolved molecules in water ever settle out (or rise) due to normal gravity. Thus, individual bleach molecules (say, coming off of a rock) in water stay perfectly mixed and do not drop to the bottom.

Understood. I’m not sure then, all I know is the flat cut rocks I had on bottom smelled stronger. Possibly just because I had the pump circulating toward the top. Now I’d say they all mostly smell about equal after the air out so far

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Mine took a few weeks to fully lose any smell. I'm not entirely sure how bad it would be to use if they smell, but I'd avoid it.

 

[Reefin' Steve]

Mine took a few weeks to fully lose any smell. I'm not entirely sure how bad it would be to use if they smell, but I'd avoid it.

Agreed for sure. I’ll give them some more time and if it doesn’t seem to be reducing I’ll hit them with the complete

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

My 2 cents, I figure using 2 or 3 qt. bottles of H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) in a 5 gal. bucket with water and a overnight soak would sterilize the rock better than bleach and also help dissolve any organics on the rocks do to H2O2 being an oxidizer

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Why do you think it sterilizes better than bleach?

 

[DEE’S reef]

I bleached my bleached my rock for a week then I let them air dry out side when it was nice I also hosed them down then I finished by letting them air dry I then wait a week or 2 to start building and I didn’t really smell bleach I smelt a little bleach but it I think it went away by time. I finished build my Aqua scape.

 

[Reefin' Steve]

I bleached my bleached my rock for a week then I let them air dry out side when it was nice I also hosed them down then I finished by letting them air dry I then wait a week or 2 to start building and I didn’t really smell bleach I smelt a little bleach but it I think it went away by time. I finished build my Aqua scape.

That’s kind of what I’m thinking, I won’t be ready to fill it for quite awhile. I have no fish to rush anything and I’m going to quarantine any I do get for 45 days to 6 weeks after what happened. And it’s to a point where the lady says she can’t really smell it but I can. But I always have a more sensitive sniffer than her. I did hose them down though too, my garage has water and drain. I had to do it in the garage with a tank heater to keep from freezing then open the front and rear doors up for awhile before i went back in there. Stacked over a furnace vent to dry them out, but haven’t stunk up the house, so I *think* it’s safe. Rough times up here.

My 2 cents, I figure using 2 or 3 qt. bottles of H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) in a 5 gal. bucket with water and a overnight soak would sterilize the rock better than bleach and also help dissolve any organics on the rocks do to H2O2 being an oxidizer

I went with bleach because I didn’t want to deal with disposal of muriatic acid and those two are the most generally accepted methods, I will say though, my rocks look brand new. Which I can appreciate for building a fresh scape and not having a mix of old and new (looking, I bought more as well). And I did enough rock to nearly fill an 18 gallon tote, so I would have needed 3 buckets at least, and so multiple heaters and pumps to circulate.

 

[Dan_P]

If you have time, they can just air out. That's what I did with mine, which I bleached, treated with ascorbic acid (a dechlorinator), and then could still smell bleach.

Bleach gets down into pores and such, and it takes tome to get it out or to get dechlorinating agents in. Waiting it out works, as can more extended soaking in a dechlorinator.

Why not put the rocks in an oven and heat them to speed up the diffusion process? High temperature isn’t needed (people think rocks explode when heated)

 

[Mebbid]

Prime is pretty dilute as far as dechlorinators go. Id suggest trying a concentrated pond dechlorinator. You can get them on amazon pretty cheaply.

 

[Reefin' Steve]

Prime is pretty dilute as far as dechlorinators go. Id suggest trying a concentrated pond dechlorinator. You can get them on amazon pretty cheaply.

They’re just going to remain airing out for a week or two, I’ve started scaping trying to use as much new rock as possible