Pine-sol

[PoorReefer]

So I purchased some Pukani reef rocks yesterday, from someone who has been out of the hobby for some time, and I gave them a good hose bath. Today I get up and give them a smell to assess and I smell Pine-sol. I texted the lady who sold them to me and she said her mother in law may have cleaned them with Pine-sol. Whats the best course of action for removing all the Pine-sol out of the rocks?

 

[F i s h y]

:oops: pukani is so porous.... im not sure. Pine-sol appears to be water soluble, so place them in a large trash can or tote full of saltwater, and do a water change once a week for a long time.... if it were me im not sure i could ever trust that rock. Thats to bad Pukani goes for a pretty high $$ around here...

 

[DaneGer21]

I would soak in water for 24hrs. Then do a 100% water change. Soak for 24hrs, then a 100% water change. Repeat.

I would do that process for a week. Maybe run some activated carbon In there also.

Unfortunately I am not a chemist so I don’t know the make up of pine-sol, or what additives could be used to rid it, that’s why my recommendation is “organic” based.

 

[WVNed]

I would cycle it in a trashcan. Time and life will clean up almost anything. The SDS for it says it safe even in California. It will react with bleach to form hazardous gasses. So you could deliberately react it with bleach outside. Then hose it down every few days changing the water. Then cycle it.
Most consumer products are now environmentally safe if diluted sufficiently.

 

[andrewkw]

I would guess muriatic acid would strip it out. Probably a good idea anyway with rocks that have an unknown history other then someone attempted to clean them with wood cleaner.

 

[PoorReefer]

I would guess muriatic acid would strip it out. Probably a good idea anyway with rocks that have an unknown history other then someone attempted to clean them with wood cleaner.

My concern with muriatic acid is the rate it deteriorates the rock. Since its so porous, what amount of dip time would you suggest?

 

[PoorReefer]

I would cycle it in a trashcan. Time and life will clean up almost anything. The SDS for it says it safe even in California. It will react with bleach to form hazardous gasses. So you could deliberately react it with bleach outside. Then hose it down every few days changing the water. Then cycle it.
Most consumer products are now environmentally safe if diluted sufficiently.

I was thinking about adding bleach to induce the reaction. So would causing the reaction to occur would that make the chemicals basically burn themselves out?

 

[PoorReefer]

If only she would have used a harsher chemical, bleach, it would be no problem lol

 

[TriggerFinger]

I’m not sure what I would do, probably keep them in a trash can and do multiple water changes over a long period of time. Then bleach them. I had to laugh when I read your post because I can totally see my mom dumping pinesol in a “stinky bucket of rocks” that my dad had stashed somewhere. Maybe some poly filter can soak up contaminats too?

 

[WVNed]

Pinesol is a brand name with several products. No idea which one we are talking about here. Their website says they are all biodegradable and safe for septic systems. That means it should be okay for bacteria after adequate dilution.
I would rinse the rock several times, clean it as necessary and cycle it.

 

[andrewkw]

My concern with muriatic acid is the rate it deteriorates the rock. Since its so porous, what amount of dip time would you suggest?

It will slightly but it will also clean it up extremely well. If you've never used the acid it is generally way weaker then what most will have you believe. Off the top of my head I don't have a time for you but you can try shorter and always remove it and if it doesn't seem long enough put it back in.

I've only acid washed rocks once. I got everything ready, gloves, mask, googles ect. It barely killed any grass around my barrel. I recall being surprised how much hard algae was not completely destroyed after the soak (it was dead just didn't vaporize for lack of a better term). The rock did clean up well though after the bleach soaking and ro ect.

Melevsreef did a great video where he uses it inside his house - while I would never recommend this and neither did he, he just shows the stuff is not as dangerous as cartoons would have us believe. The way some people talk about it, if you dip your hand in by accident it will come out a skeleton.

 

[Doctorgori]

If it were me I’d pass ... and Probably not worth it given the high cost of livestock anymore ....

 

[jelazar]

PSA: Even at the Home Depot, different formulations of muriatic acid have different strengths and some are quite strong. I recently used it to clean off my flipper magnet, and it melted the scrubber pad into a solid brick. It also melted the bristles of the kitchen scrubber I use for the aquarium. So be careful.

I would soak and rinse the rock multiple times. If it's only a few rocks, you could put them in a toilet tank (so long as there's no cleaners there) to get a water time every time you flush. This will keep a high gradient between the rock and the water, and may accelerate dilution.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Place in large rubbermaid can or similar (One that is new or very clean) and run water from a hose through it for about 4 hours. Pour out water and add Bleach 1/4 cup per gallon and allow to soak an hour or two and again run Cold water through it until you cant smell anything and allow to sun dry

 

[K7BMG]

Yes I would be concerned here as well.
Pine Sol is thick and has a the ability to stick around.

I do think its possible to to turn these back into useful rock but.
I would figure out a way to agitate the rock in water.
I feel turbulence is the key here and a lot of it.
I would use two containers let them soak for a day in one then
Fill the next with clean water and agitate the rock in that.
Refill the first container with clean water transfer to soak for a day.
Repeat this many times 10 plus.
Then I would do the bleach clean method.
I would cure it in the container to build the bacteria colony.
But before I put it in a tank I would do both an ICP and N-Doc test on the water and see what pops.

 

[Dan_P]

So I purchased some Pukani reef rocks yesterday, from someone who has been out of the hobby for some time, and I gave them a good hose bath. Today I get up and give them a smell to assess and I smell Pine-sol. I texted the lady who sold them to me and she said her mother in law may have cleaned them with Pine-sol. Whats the best course of action for removing all the Pine-sol out of the rocks?

You know when something goes wrong with your future aquarium, you are going to wonder whether the rock is still leaching chemicals. Get your money back.

Read the Wiki entry for Pine Sol. Ingredients include chemicals that can cause skimmers to foam like crazy. You might soak the rock in new salt water and then see how badly the water foams when vigorously aerated with a limewwod/basswood aerator, or maybe just vigorous shake sample of the water for a minute. Also check the pH of the soak water. The absorbed detergents might bio degrade with time.

 

[PatW]

Leave it alone. I have dosed 10ppm before on dry rock, and after about 5 days the ammonia came down, and cycled fine with no addition of bacteria.

My concern with muriatic acid is the rate it deteriorates the rock. Since its so porous, what amount of dip time would you suggest?

Muriatic Acid is just Hydrochloric Acid (HCl). It combines with the rock which is calcium carbonate (CaCO3) to produce CO2 and H2O and heat. It is an easily controlled reaction. What I do is get the rock I want to acid wash. I put it in a big container filled with water (tap water is fine) and I do this OUTSIDE. For the control part, I pour some acid say a cup into a gallon of water. I pour the diluted acid into the tub with the rock and water and just let the reaction go to completion. It is mostly done really quickly. It will be all over in minutes but letting it sit for an hour will not hurt.

Some of the rock is destroyed in the process. The process will remove a thin layer of rock. I have done this a few times. It tends to make the rock I have used more porous if anything. I have not tried it on Pukani rock. But you can control the reaction by limiting the amount of acid you add.

Muriatic acid diluted to 10% or 5% strength is great for removing crud buildup on your pumps, crud encrusted aquariums, and salt water mixing containers. I use dilute acid to clean my Brute trash cans that I use for mixing saltwater. I rinse things out with RODI water afterwards.

 

[PoorReefer]

Update- so today I decided to try and dilute as much as I could. The hose ran in a tub with the rocks for about 2 hours, then I left the rocks **** in bleach for a few hours. Dumped the bleach and filled with water and prime. Sit for 2 hours, then i just kept refilling and dumping the water all day. I had powerheads and airstones running the whole time as well. I'll let it soak for the evening and reassess the situation in the morning. Thank you all for the advice, hopefully i don't need to use all of it but we'll see.

 

[K7BMG]

Update- so today I decided to try and dilute as much as I could. The hose ran in a tub with the rocks for about 2 hours, then I left the rocks **** in bleach for a few hours. Dumped the bleach and filled with water and prime. Sit for 2 hours, then i just kept refilling and dumping the water all day. I had powerheads and airstones running the whole time as well. I'll let it soak for the evening and reassess the situation in the morning. Thank you all for the advice, hopefully i don't need to use all of it but we'll see.

Well I dont know about your solution.
I feel you need a lot more time on each step.
Like several days.

If you browse the forums on bleaching rock alone you will not find any that do this in a few hours. Most will bleach clean over a week at a minimum.
Then they let the rock dry for a week.
There are reasons behind this.

But everyone has to do it there way.
I just feel bad for the livestock and your wallet.
As your handle is PoorReefer I am gathering your on a budget.
So I would hate to see fish and corals die and deplete your funds when a little patients and effort will avoid potential disaster.

I hope you reconsider and take the time to be positive the rock is 100% clean and free of chemicals.
I seriously doubt that a few hours will acomplish this.

Considder that all the responses you recieved here today had an extencive and time consuming cleaning process.

Time, patience, and diligence will prevail in this hobby.

 

[Potatohead]

If it is dead rock that has been removed from a tank and then dried you're going to want to cure it for at least 6-8 weeks anyway. If it were me I would do a 80% water change at week one, two, four and six and it will be fine after that.