Help with cooking/curing rock.

[1Clown]

Hi all,

So some of my rock which I got from my LFS and admittedly didn't look like it came from the cleanest of conditions when purchased has turned in to a full blown algae garden plus bubble algae. What is the quickest and easiest way of killing everything on the rock with as little elbow grease as possible in terms of getting the algae off. I don't care if the bacteria dies. My plan is to kill everything, then soak it in RODI and put it back in the tank and let bacteria colonise on it and then do the same with the other half of the rock and keep everything in check from there on in. Thanks.

 

[Cell]

Pull it out and drop it in a bucket of 1:10 bleach for a week.

 

[MightyMO]

Saltwater cure is the only thing I have heard of... And that will take some time...

 

[Cell]

He wants to reset the rock, not just cure it. Did you read the post?

 

[MightyMO]

It will definitely kill everything on it... I would be scared of a leftover bleach residue in the pores of the rock myself... But if it works with no adverse effects down the road, carry on... lol

 

[Cell]

Bleach residue is not a thing. Bleach goes inert like 24 hrs after dilution.

 

[MightyMO]

Ok...

 

[Cell]

Just got done doing this myself actually. Bucket of reset, fully clean rock.

 

[MightyMO]

Looks like it did the job...

 

[1Clown]

Pull it out and drop it in a bucket of 1:10 bleach for a week.

So 1 part bleach, 10 parts tap water? Powerhead?

After that's complete then what's the best way to get the rock clean, bleach free, ready for the tank?

 

[Cell]

BRS recommends a dechlorinator after to be safe, but I skip that part personally.

 

[1Clown]

Just for clarification will the bleaching method result in all types of algae releasing from the rocks or is manual removal still involved?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Bleach residue is not a thing. Bleach goes inert like 24 hrs after dilution.

In fact, it's safe after exposed to air for 24 hrs. When I had a freshwater tank and ran out of dechlorinator, I just let a couple buckets of tap water sit for a day and was good to go (this was before they started using chloramines in my area)

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Just for clarification will the bleaching method result in all types of algae releasing from the rocks or is manual removal still involved?

If you have a lot of residue from dead algae, then use a hose nozzle to spray it off. Is this rock going into an established tank or are you just starting out? If it is the latter, then any left over organic matter (which would pretty much be inorganic at that point) will just help cycle the tank.

 

[jda]

If you want to save the rock, then cook it. There are a million threads on this - go to reef central if you have to. A dark bucket with powerhead and heat (if necessary). It will take a few months, but it does a wonderful job and most of the microfauna will come back. If you bleach it, then you might as well just buy some sterile rock from amazon and deal with all of that.

Cook - To take nasty/dirty live rock and remove all of the junk, but keep it live. This does not mean heat or ovens or other dumbassness like this.
Cure - When you get real live rock from the ocean and you need to let some stuff die after shipping.

 

[Cell]

Bubble algae will survive the darkness, I think.

 

[jda]

How does a photosynthetic organism survive in the darkness?

 

[Ef4life]

I always use muriatic acid to clean rocks, it dissolves some of the rocks surface, opens up the pores and kills everything.

 

[1Clown]

I've just got done putting in my rock in to tap water and bleach.

My plan is to then after about a week rinse the bucket real good and top it up with RODI and then use ATM Paradigm as the dechlorinator for a day or 2.

After that I intend to mix up a fresh batch of SW and use ATM Colony to cycle the rock in the bucket and then add it to my tank which currently only has 1 small piece of existing rock in there. Is there any benefit me doing it this way vs putting the rock directly in to the tank and adding the ATM Colony?