Proper Approach to Bleaching Rock: Tips Needed

[gmpolan]

Never done it before and about to do an entire 150 gallon stock tank full. Lets here your do's and donts and any tips if you got em or else im just filling it up with a bleach/water mix then letting the rock dry out.

 

[mr difficult]

Yes, That's right it don't take a lot of bleach as you would think. I would just do a couple good rinses after bleach soak then set out to dry it's pretty easy.

 

[lilrobb]

My approach will be to blast the tub with Ozone - I just bought a nice unit. LOL
And it being a gas it will dissipate and leave no residue.

 

[acroholic]

A 5% bleach solution should do the job. 1 part bleach to 19 parts water.

 

[gmpolan]

Goodness I didn't know it was that little, I'm over here sitting on a couple cases from Costco ha

 

[giulianom]

Has anyone ever tried hydrogen peroxide? The stuff kills live skin tissue and foams up on anything organic, so I wonder...

 

[gmpolan]

Hmm interesting question....

So how long does it need to sit in the bleach soaking and drying?

 

[carlitosreef]

What about white vinegar

 

[acroholic]

Vinegar is for dissolving/removing mineral deposits. Bleaching live rock oxidizes organics.

 

[carlitosreef]

Acroholic;675836 wrote: Vinegar is for dissolving/removing mineral deposits. Bleaching live rock oxidizes organics.

Oh ok thanks for clearing that up.

 

[gmpolan]

Still no answer on this but how long does it need to sit in the bleach soaking and drying?

 

[acroholic]

gmpolan;675910 wrote: Still no answer on this but how long does it need to sit in the bleach soaking and drying?

In reality, not long....I would think a few hours would be fine, but I would probably set it up and let it soak overnight. Next day set up a rinse tub or bucket and just dunk the pieces after you take them out of the water/bleach mix and put in a sunny spot. A couple days baking out in these 95+ degree days should dry it out pretty fast.

 

[lilrobb]

And just some geeky facts:
Contrary to popular belief the rinse is not to get the chlorine off the rocks, it is to get the oxides off.
All types of nastinesses get oxidized by the chlorine and will end in your water, while chlorine will evaporate and just leave some salt behind.
After all chlor is a gas...

 

[acroholic]

Or instead of just dunking and drying, you could refill the tub with water and let it soak overnight again, then remove and dry out. Either way.

 

[jef4y]

Acroholic;675506 wrote: A 5% bleach solution should do the job. 1 part bleach to 19 parts water.

I'm wondering if it needs to be that strong. In a 150 tub, that'd be 7.5 gallons of bleach. That seems like a LOT. Honestly I'd think in a 150 you could accomplish the same thing with maybe 1%-2% (1.5 - 3 gallons).

Just thinking that if you added even a miniscule amount of bleach to a living tank you could/would nuke it. It doesn't take much to kill off bacteria.

Obviously 5% would be very effective, but would it be overkill?

 

[acroholic]

JeF4y;682761 wrote: I'm wondering if it needs to be that strong. In a 150 tub, that'd be 7.5 gallons of bleach. That seems like a LOT. Honestly I'd think in a 150 you could accomplish the same thing with maybe 1%-2% (1.5 - 3 gallons).

Just thinking that if you added even a miniscule amount of bleach to a living tank you could/would nuke it. It doesn't take much to kill off bacteria.

Obviously 5% would be very effective, but would it be overkill?

A 5% bleach solution dip is what has been standard as a recommendation for disinfecting/bleaching of new freshwater plants in planted tanks to kill algae and prevent any unwanted algae introductions when they are placed in the tank.

Frankly, I don't know if a less concentrated or more concentrated solution would be better or worse. I use this dilution because it has worked well for me over the last 20+ years for general rock, plants cleaning and algae killing.

My personal opinion is that bleach is cheap and you only get one chance to do it right. If you are bleaching live rock, you obviously don't want anything to live, so why worry about adding bleach to a tank? Go ahead and nuke it. Afterwards, just soak it in clean water longer, or let it dry out longer, or use more Prime to detoxify the chlorine.

 

[reeferboy83]

Since this approach can be done to rock one would assume you could also do this to old sand as well to rid the sand of bacteria?

 

[acroholic]

reeferboy83;682841 wrote: Since this approach can be done to rock one would assume you could also do this to old sand as well to rid the sand of bacteria?

You sure can.

 

[legalreefer]

Let it dry out completely. I let my rock sit in the tub with a pump for a few days and let it sit out in the sun for a few more.

 

[gmpolan]

so i just finished running thru the cycle and washing, it sat outside for almost 5 days and two of those days it rained. Some of the rock smells like bleach still, any thoughts or is this ok?