Weird Reef Trends – Bleach

[mcarroll]

At least the being "critical about trends" trend continues!

Suggestions for the next thread in the series?

 

[Davy Jones]

I dont believe many people bleach "live rock".

IME when someone is bleaching rock it has come from 1 of 3 sources.

1. The rock was live at some point but is now dry rock. Most of the pukani and other types of rock you buy at BRS and other vendors fall into this category.
2. The rock was live at somepoint in someone's tank but has sat in the garage for the last year and is also dry rock.
3. It was purchased from another reefer's tank/sump/bucket and is covered in junk organics that you dont want in your build anyways.
To me any of these options it doesnt hurt anything to bleach the rock.

If you are paying the extra cost however for actual live rock (from a local fish store or otherwhys) I dont see the benefit or logic behind it

 

[siggy]

I would love to read/watch that to compare.. It seems to be the opposite of what BRS did a test on a while back.

They tested curing dry rock with four methods and the impact on phosphates. Bleach was the best at phosphate removal without using acid and bleach (I did not want to use acid)..

BRS Rock Curing Video - Phosphates

Upfront the numbers are good but the real test for boat/dead rock is 3 and 6 months if it's still leaching, Ryan stated a lot of organics are IN the rock, I'm not sure if bleach disintergrates mater

 

[shred5]

I bleach dead rock...
Never live rock that is silly.
We really need to change the terms dead rock should not be called live rock.
I wish there was more live rock but it will be slim from here on out. I will deal with the occasional pest for all the cool stuff and colors.

When I saw the tittle I was thinking it was about those dumping bleach in their tank.

 

[siggy]

Suggestions for the next thread in the series?

I seen a wet-dry at a LFS full of bio-balls

 

[Dburr1014]

Bleach is the only thing I know that kills aptasia. I have bleached live rock when I can't kill it otherwise.
Once I soaked rock in vinegar to kill aptasia, didn't work.

 

[Frogger]

I followed the exact recommendations for "cooking live rock" to clean undesirables off the rock and to remove bound phosphate. I cooked my old rock from a fish only tank for a year and a half at an elevated temperature, changed the water regularly and even treated the water with lanthanum chloride to remove bound phosphates. I thought the rock was clean. The first thing that came back was hydroids (3 months), followed by vermitid snails (3 months), followed by hair algae (1 year) and then bubble algae (1.5 years).
In the end cooking the rock in a covered dark heated environment did nothing but waste energy and time. I know it all came from the old rock because all I ever add to the tank are treated fresh cuts on new plugs.

I would recommend using live rock only if you want everything that was in the previous tank. Bleach and then bake in the sun is the only way to remove the undesirables.

The last tank I set up a year ago I bleached all the rock from the same source and now I only have in the tank what I want. I seeded it with coraline algae, copepods, and all the other critters that I wanted.

I have seen a lot of tanks but I almost never see a tank free of something unwanted.

Use live rock and roll the dice.

 

[SMSREEF]

They tested curing dry rock with four methods and the impact on phosphates. Bleach was the best at phosphate removal without using acid and bleach (I did not want to use acid)...

I just bought 50 lb of rock on OfferUp with a used tank. I think bleach is a good way to make sure it is free of pathogens and start process of dissolving organics. The BRS video kept me away from acid too.

With that said, I plan rinse and use chlorine remover, then will let it cook in saltwater in a bin outside to build up beneficial bacteria.

Question, when doing this outside, is it a problem that the temp is 90 and down lower at night? Will I have die off when I set my tank up at 78 degrees inside?

Or should I leave it outside till it stops stinking, then bring inside and cycle at 78 degrees?

Later when I set up, I plan to use some live rock in the tank to seed the dead rock and add to the biodiversity, no bleach will be used! but I’ll quarantine first to make sure no aptasia or other hitchhikers are put into new tank.

 

[mcarroll]

It's still not a good idea.

 

[siggy]

It's still not a good idea.

nice to see you back

 

[SMSREEF]

It's still not a good idea.

Would you have just cycled rock that was in someone else’s tank and then sat in a garage for who knows how long, rather than bleaching like I just did? I guess I should have posted the question before dumping in the bleach earlier, but just noticed the thread after doing it.

Or would you not use this rock in the first place?

I really don’t have money to start my 60 cube with a tank full of live rock, which honestly would have been my preference.

 

[W1ngz]

I just pulled 2 rocks out of my 75 last night covered in palythoa and GSP. I don't want the palys in my 90 cube that I'll be moving to in the next few weeks. I do like the shelf rocks that they are on, and plan to use them as part of the main rockwork, not as single isolated pieces, which would be more suitable for managing GSP.

Both those rocks are soaking in a few gallons of tap water with bleach for the weekend to kill off the palys safely.

 

[mcarroll]

The "old way" of sitting it in a barrel of salt water with a pump and forgetting about it for months

I don't like the whole bleach and acid thing that's gotten popular. I think people are seeing it as another shortcut...

This thread seems to have gotten lost since the first post, eh?

LOL

Folks, order some healthy live rock if there's none for sale around you.

All of the fear of hitchhikers is really unfounded and semi-irrational. The ones that are legitimately harmfuly are exceedingly rare. Most if the hitchhikers that get hyped aren't really bad.

If you are sooooo uncomfortable with USED live rock, then please just don't buy it.

It's not a good shortcut (or wise) to buy it and bleach it, for reasons mentioned in the opening post.

Many folks do it, but it's a stunt that does nothing but risk health and enable your cheap-streak.

There are tons of other ways to be cheap in this hobby and almost none of them carry any risk at all.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I personally prefer to use dry rock in my tank, but I fully agree that it makes no sense to bleach rock that is already alive with microfauna and kill it off. Instead, either get dry rock or quarantine and observe your live rock for pests (and remove any if you see them) and then add it with all those beautiful hitchhikers to your reef for biodiversity.

 

[ReeferReefer]

I don't really see people bleaching live rock unless they are trying to make it dry rock.

I see people bleaching dry rock to clean it off though.

Personally I don't use bleach at all on my tank. If I am cleaning I just use vinegar. I will probably use bleach when I do TTM for QT.

 

[Jon Fishman]

I like a little bleach to sip on while I do my tank maintenance