cleaning old rock to use in a new tank. acid or bleach?

getairfx

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i have been out of reefing for about 5yrs. i had a brute can that i used for my ro/di system and when i tore down my old tank to sell it i kept all of my live rock and placed it in the brute can with a heater and air stone bubbler. i did not have a light in it and all the coraline died and the rock is beige or white now. when i pulled the rock out today there was a ton of sediment at the bottom of the brute can. the rock looks very clean. can i just rinse and dry the old rock then use it in the new tank? or do i need to bleach the rock? or do i acid dip the rock?
the tank i purchased has been up and running for 6yrs. i bought the whole set up ,tank, stand, water, rock, fish, sump lights, and ato system. I am keeping the sand bed in it and most of the live rock in it,but i would like to add some of the shelf rock and the tonga branch i had in my old tank. what is the best way to safely add my old rock to the new rock in my new tank?
thank you for any and all replies!!!












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drewwCh

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i have been out of reefing for about 5yrs. i had a brute can that i used for my ro/di system and when i tore down my old tank to sell it i kept all of my live rock and placed it in the brute can with a heater and air stone bubbler. i did not have a light in it and all the coraline died and the rock is beige or white now. when i pulled the rock out today there was a ton of sediment at the bottom of the brute can. the rock looks very clean. can i just rinse and dry the old rock then use it in the new tank? or do i need to bleach the rock? or do i acid dip the rock?
the tank i purchased has been up and running for 6yrs. i bought the whole set up ,tank, stand, water, rock, fish, sump lights, and ato system. I am keeping the sand bed in it and most of the live rock in it,but i would like to add some of the shelf rock and the tonga branch i had in my old tank. what is the best way to safely add my old rock to the new rock in my new tank?
thank you for any and all replies!!!












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i did the same thing when my first tank cracked but then again i only had the rocks in a tub for a couple weeks. i think you wouod be better off bleaching the rock, that should be enough to kill off anything on the rock.

you mentioned that you already have live rock. adding dry rock won't affect your tank at all. just remember to dry out the rock after bleaching, to let chlorine evaporate.
 
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getairfx

getairfx

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i did the same thing when my first tank cracked but then again i only had the rocks in a tub for a couple weeks. i think you wouod be better off bleaching the rock, that should be enough to kill off anything on the rock.

you mentioned that you already have live rock. adding dry rock won't affect your tank at all. just remember to dry out the rock after bleaching, to let chlorine evaporate.
thank you! how long should it sit in the bleach before i rinse it off and how long should i allow it to dry?
 

twiatr2001

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I would definitely bleach your rock versus acid, I have about 430 lbs of pukani rock that I have acquired for my my 310 build and what worked for me is bleaching. Here's my ratios of bleach I did about 1 gallon of bleach to every 10 gallons of RODI water, make sure to use RODI that way there are no impurities that are leached into your rock, I did this for about a month, then I pulled all the rock out and drained all the water and rinsed the container, I then filled it back up with RODI and soaked it with dechlor for another month, I know this sounds excessive and maybe it is, but I just didn't want anything in my new system that would create problems, after a month of dechlor I drained and rinsed the container and soaked everything in RODI for another month, after that I pulled all the rock out and let it fully dry out, the end result is nice clean and white rock, pest free of course, let me know if you have any other questions.
 

Skynyrd Fish

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In my opinion you could use the rock as is. However I would test the po4 of your brute can and do a couple 100% water changes. This will let any po4 leach out of the rock. I have a brute with some old rock in it going on five years. Every now and then I use a piece without any problems. This reminds me I need to do a water change on the tub.
 

Silent

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No negative side effects to bleach it, so why not. Just rinse it well and let it dry.

There are negatives to not bleaching it, and acid will reduce the size/amount of rock.
 

F4TALREEFER

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I'd get a fresh container of saltwater soak all rocks from storage and purchased tank for a few days-week test for ammonia, nitrates and phosphate see if it causes a cycle or leaches phosphate. If not then use it. If so then bleach it for 24 hours in water/bleach 1/1ish I've done 4/1 before in 5g buckets and worked fine so don't have to be perfect. Then soak in a bucket of r/o water with a ton of dechlorinator and wa la your ready to start and brand new cycle. Oh and definitely rinse or replace the sand.
 

fcmatt

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Muriatic acid for the win. Open those pores up and get that rock clean. Cheap and fast. As for acid reducing the rock size I never saw that as a problem. It just sizzles away the outside layer a tiny bit. Rinse well, dry, and ready to go.
 

drewwCh

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thank you! how long should it sit in the bleach before i rinse it off and how long should i allow it to dry?
i use a 2 : 10 ratio but most would use 1:10 for longer. i usually bleach until all the rock is white. just let it sit in the sun until it's dry, then let it sit for another day or two for peace of mind

that's how i'd do it, others might also have really good input so ask them too!
 

drewwCh

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i use a 2 : 10 ratio but most would use 1:10 for longer. i usually bleach until all the rock is white. just let it sit in the sun until it's dry, then let it sit for another day or two for peace of mind

that's how i'd do it, others might also have really good input so ask them too!
oh and don't forget to create flow in whatever container you're using.
 

Tankkeepers

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In my opinion you could use the rock as is. However I would test the po4 of your brute can and do a couple 100% water changes. This will let any po4 leach out of the rock. I have a brute with some old rock in it going on five years. Every now and then I use a piece without any problems. This reminds me I need to do a water change on the tub.

I compleatly agree with this you can also leach the rock it a tub of water so your not leaching it in your tank
 

F4TALREEFER

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Is something used “as” a dechlorinator, or do they sell something called “dechlorinator”?
Yes it's used commonly in fresh water as a lot of people use tap water. There are a lot of them out there but I've always used Prime from Seachem
 

twiatr2001

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So the reason you soak the rock in bleach is to get rid of any bacteria good and bad in the rock, so you have clean pest free rock, one of the draw backs to soaking it in rodi and watching for phosphates is that there might be bacteria in that rock that can resurface long after and cause problems, the problem with getting rock from someone else is that you don't know what kind of problems or issues that person had, for example if the rock had issues with cyano and they couldn't get rid of it and ended up breaking down the tank because of it, that can possibly cause you problems along the way and you might be fighting something that you think is new but is actually an old problem that has been hiding in the rock itself, just a thought before you pull the trigger, it is always better to be safe than sorry, in my opinion, I believe it is better to do a little extra work before you setup your tank and start with clean rock and establish a good bacteria colony, that way you know for sure that you had clean and pest free rock, I know there are always exceptions to every rule, so if any would like to chime in that would be great.
 
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