Cooking Rocks - When Are They Done?
- Thread starter bzb
- Start date
We are going to have to order a custom wife beater for you. With that 29 inch deep tank, you’re about to be inducted into the soggy pits club!
The inside water height will be 26 to 27". Being 6'3" has some advantages too
But I'll be sure to stock up on some diego T's just in case
If you want a 5% solution:
Then:
8.3 lb/gal x 454 gm/lb = 3768.2 gm/gal
And,
3768.2 gm/gal x 0.05 (5%) = 188.41 gm
So add,
188.41 gm citric acid to 3579.79 gm H2O
(These two equal the 3768.2 above)
= 1 gal. of 5% citric acid solution
Then:
8.3 lb/gal x 454 gm/lb = 3768.2 gm/gal
And,
3768.2 gm/gal x 0.05 (5%) = 188.41 gm
So add,
188.41 gm citric acid to 3579.79 gm H2O
(These two equal the 3768.2 above)
= 1 gal. of 5% citric acid solution
I bought some MarcoRock, new. Would you still recommend soaking in 5% Citric acid before curing or is it not necessary?
Yes. I think that a citric acid bath followed by several freshwater rinses prior to curing is a good idea.
Marco is what I’m using on the new build and will be doing this myself.
While I don’t have numbers for Marco Rocks specifically, there is reason to believe that even fossilized reef rock has some calcium phosphate on it.
I will continue looking for phosphate test results for Marco Rocks in particular.
Marco is what I’m using on the new build and will be doing this myself.
While I don’t have numbers for Marco Rocks specifically, there is reason to believe that even fossilized reef rock has some calcium phosphate on it.
I will continue looking for phosphate test results for Marco Rocks in particular.
How long should the rocks soak in the citric acid solution? I have a lot of bubbling right now mixed to the 5% concentration above.
After two peroxide baths and a several week bleach bath I'm doing the citric acid today. Did the Pukani and Figi first, a little more than an hour soak in 40 gallons. The water was nasty as hell!
Doing the Marco, Tonga and heavier stuff now in 60 gallons.
Oh, for anyone that's going to bleach. Home Depot has liquid pool Shock/Chlorinator. It's 10% sodium hypochlorite. Stronger than grocery store bleach and cheaper too!
Doing the Marco, Tonga and heavier stuff now in 60 gallons.
Oh, for anyone that's going to bleach. Home Depot has liquid pool Shock/Chlorinator. It's 10% sodium hypochlorite. Stronger than grocery store bleach and cheaper too!
[QUOTE="Adam, post: 1251625, member: 2763"
Oh, for anyone that's going to bleach. Home Depot has liquid pool Shock/Chlorinator. It's 10% sodium hypochlorite. Stronger than grocery store bleach and cheaper too!
[/QUOTE]
Great tip for the bleach.
I'd suggest power washing the rocks after the citric acid bath based on my recent experience. I rinsed my Macro reef rock with a hose afterwards and then soaked for a week in RODI before I changed the water and added bacteria. I cured my rock for three weeks before I added it to my tank, where my alkalinity spiked to 13.5 dkH before I caught on. I didn't think to check the alkalinity of the curing bath beforehand or I would have avoided that.
Oh, for anyone that's going to bleach. Home Depot has liquid pool Shock/Chlorinator. It's 10% sodium hypochlorite. Stronger than grocery store bleach and cheaper too!
[/QUOTE]
Great tip for the bleach.
I'd suggest power washing the rocks after the citric acid bath based on my recent experience. I rinsed my Macro reef rock with a hose afterwards and then soaked for a week in RODI before I changed the water and added bacteria. I cured my rock for three weeks before I added it to my tank, where my alkalinity spiked to 13.5 dkH before I caught on. I didn't think to check the alkalinity of the curing bath beforehand or I would have avoided that.
I mixed my batches up at around 5 to 6%. There was some good bubbling to start for the fist 15 minutes or so but no foam. The vast majority of the bubbles break on the surface. Now muratic acid foams like crazy, to the point the vessel overflows.
This batch was 25lbs of citric acid to 60ish gallons. Got a slow fizz now after about a half hour. You can see how high it foamed in the beginning but I haven't removed any. Not at the uniseal, but the ridge line below.
This is how the Pukani looks afterwards.
I see what you're saying about pressure washing now. I left the second batch in quite a bit longer and there was a good bit of disintegration on the Marco. Nothing crazy, but in that 11-15% that Andrew referenced. It left a chalky residue on all the other rocks and the sides of the trough. This did not happen with the Pukani or and of the other natural rocks, only the Marco. By the time I emptied the trough the water was already settling out and the convective currents from the reaction had pretty much stopped. My thinking with the Marco is that it's basically petrified coral skeleton and the mineral make up is different than the real coral rock. On all the natural rock the bath really opened up the surface of the pieces. I also want to state that I'm not at all concerned with the loss of mass. What I am concerned with is removing the PO4 as all this rock was in previous systems. The surface area has also increased dramatically and will aid greatly with bacteria colonization.
I'm not going to break out the pressure washer but I will scrub some of the rock with a brush to clean the residue up some so that when I make attachments I'm hitting solid rock. I actually hope I see that increased Alk level you got initially because that means there will be plenty for the bacteria to consume during the first several months of cycling. All this rock is going to get boxed up to keep it dry and clean until I'm ready to start building the scape and I'll be curing & cycling in the display. There's just too much rock for me to cure it in the trough. This was just the first of two batches that basically filled the trough. On the second batch I will cap the acid soak time to an hour to reduce the amount of chalking. Sometime this week I'll be starting the peroxide soak on the second batch and will update how everything goes this time around.
I've been following this thread and wanted to say thanks for all the useful tips.
I ordered Citric acid from Duda Diesel on July 6th and it arrived on the 9th.
The 50Lb bag was cheaper but minimum was 5 bags so had to order the 50lbs bucket instead.
I soaked this rock for a few days in rodi, emptied this morning and filled with 5% Citric solution.
After reading the whole thread I assuming 2 hours should be good???
Thats what I'm going with unless someone else recommends diff.
I never did weigh this rock but took some before pics to compare for rock loss.
I ordered Citric acid from Duda Diesel on July 6th and it arrived on the 9th.
The 50Lb bag was cheaper but minimum was 5 bags so had to order the 50lbs bucket instead.
I soaked this rock for a few days in rodi, emptied this morning and filled with 5% Citric solution.
After reading the whole thread I assuming 2 hours should be good???
Thats what I'm going with unless someone else recommends diff.
I never did weigh this rock but took some before pics to compare for rock loss.
I did two hours with the Marco rock and I think it may have been a little long. From Adam's experience each type of rock is a little different. Once the reaction slows down after about an hour, I think you're good. Check it, and if you are not satisfied, just leave it a little longer. Is it just the picture or is there some algae on the rock? Did you bleach it before the citric acid step? I'm not sure the citric acid will remove it. I had some old rock I dumped in to test after my Marco batch and the algae stayed was not removed, but my bath was spent and may have been too weak at that point to do much.
The rock was soaking in rodi for 2 days but bfore that it had been dry for over a year.
This was the rock before the soak
This was the rock before the soak
oh and I did not bleach at all.
