So I have this rock

[Eric_n_Ga]

Actually about 100lbs of rock. Was in a guys system when I bought the tank. It's dry now and I was going to clean it but figured I'd run my idea by the group to see if I am way off or not.

I have 5 , 5 gallon bucks of assorted rock , some is old live rock,some artificial rock and some looks to be life rock .

I was going to soak in bleach and (well) tap water in the buckets for a few days to kill anything , spray with pressure washer to remove dead things and what not. Let dry , now I should have nice clean critter free , organic free rocks to start off with .....right ?

 

[qasimja]

souunds good to me

 

[hiimsean]

I’ve got some rock and I plan on using Muriatic acid on. It’ll remove phosphates or anything that has been embedded in the rock.

 

[Adam]

I would order some sodium precarbonate on Amazon and soak the rock with that before the bleach. Its basically oxiclean with no detergents. When mixed with water it makes peroxide. That peroxide will disintegrate organic material rather than just bleaching it white. After rinsing hit the rock with a bleach soak for several days. Then rinse it several times and let it air dry.

If there's a lot of algae and crud on it I'd pressure wash it first or after the peroxide.

The last optional step would be to do a citric acid soak to help remove phosphate.

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

Cool. Got citric acid and sodium precarbonate on the way .

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

Before I started the cleaning process I stacked up a pretty decent rock work idea . That's 45" long and 16" tall .

 

[bzb]

That bucket looks super gross.

The rock layout looks nice.

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

That bucket looks super gross.

The rock layout looks nice.

That one bucket is pretty gross

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

Couldn't find an exact amount to mix so I went about a lb per bucket of rock ...that sure did make a mess . They are soaking now , still foaming. I sure am glad I didn't put that rock in my aquarium that way. If you have never cleaned rock ,just bought it and put it in your tank you would be amazed at what's on it . I'll never do that again.

 

[Adam]

Imagine having to do this amount... twice!

 

[ActiveAngel]

For those interested, last time that I did this I collected some data, with interesting results.

Muriatic acid bath, 10%, for 15 minutes, followed by a rinse in a bath of water with bicarbonate. All rocks were Pukani, I weighed them and recorded data for each individual rock.

For those who don’t know, there are two major classifications of Pukani. These are ‘internal’ and ‘external’, the latter of which is where you get lots of cool branches, patterns, holes, and designs. Internal Pukani is rather bland.

Anyways, my results, to a shocking degree of consistency across 100% of samples, with no outliers, was an 11% reduction in dry mass for internal pukani, and a 13% reduction for external Pukani. This indicates, that in the above conditions, you can expect to lose approximately this much when following similar steps. A portion of these percentages, of course, is dissolving organic matter. But likely, this is largely lost rock that is dissolving away.

I suspect Fiji rock, one of the most popular live rocks out there, is likely similar to internal Pukani at 11%. But no testing done yet.

 

[Adam]

I used

For those interested, last time that I did this I collected some data, with interesting results.

Muriatic acid bath, 10%, for 15 minutes, followed by a rinse in a bath of water with bicarbonate. All rocks were Pukani, I weighed them and recorded data for each individual rock.

For those who don’t know, there are two major classifications of Pukani. These are ‘internal’ and ‘external’, the latter of which is where you get lots of cool branches, patterns, holes, and designs. Internal Pukani is rather bland.

Anyways, my results, to a shocking degree of consistency across 100% of samples, with no outliers, was an 11% reduction in dry mass for internal pukani, and a 13% reduction for external Pukani. This indicates, that in the above conditions, you can expect to lose approximately this much when following similar steps. A portion of these percentages, of course, is dissolving organic matter. But likely, this is largely lost rock that is dissolving away.

I suspect Fiji rock, one of the most popular live rocks out there, is likely similar to internal Pukani at 11%. But no testing done yet.

I used Muriatic acid when I was setting up my first tank. I was shocked how much loss there was with the pukani. That is why I switched to peroxide via sodium precarbonate. Mixed strong like Eric did makes one hell of an oxidator. It takes longer, a day or two, but there's no rock mass loss. Follow that up with a bleach soak and all organic material should be gone.

It's my hope that a weaker citric acid soak will help with phosphorus without dissolving much of the pourous rock. I'm planning on mixing it at 5% and doing a test. But for marco or other solid rock I don't think it's as big of an issue.

 

[lshin037]

Thanks for the data, @ActiveAngel . The way muriatic acid dissolves coraline when soaking equipment in it, i knew it had to dissolve live rock to a degree. Im assuming if left overnight, the reduction will be even more.

As for bleach, whats the concentration everyone uses? Also, once soaked for days, do you have to soak it in rodi for a few days to get all the bleach out to make it safe enough to put it in a tank?

 

[ActiveAngel]

Thanks for the data, @ActiveAngel . The way muriatic acid dissolves coraline when soaking equipment in it, i knew it had to dissolve live rock to a degree. Im assuming if left overnight, the reduction will be even more.

As for bleach, whats the concentration everyone uses? Also, once soaked for days, do you have to soak it in rodi for a few days to get all the bleach out to make it safe enough to put it in a tank?

Yes, definitely soak it in freshwater (preferably RODI) after the bleach for a couple days, before doing any acid. Otherwise, you risk forming deadly chlorine gas. Yet another reason to do it in a well ventilated outdoor area. And personally, I would do another fresh water bath after the acid as well.

and either of the freshwater baths, you can also use a Dechlorinator (water conditioner)

 

[Adam]

As for bleach, whats the concentration everyone uses? Also, once soaked for days, do you have to soak it in rodi for a few days to get all the bleach out to make it safe enough to put it in a tank?

I usually mix it pretty strong, around a cup per 5 gallons. Get unsented, non-detergent bleach. Also keep the container(s) out of the sun as it will break the bleach down faster. After several days of soaking I rinse it several times with tap water and do a final few day soak in RODI water. If you're concerned about any residual bleach you can add Prime to the RODI soak. If you're going to do an acid wash do it next followed by another several day soak in RODI.

*Edit* BRS also has a good video on this topic.

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

I plan on soaking mine in freshwater with prime then dry them completely before aquascape process

 

[snowmansnow]

I don’t have anything of consequence to add to the thread, but the title “So I have this rock,” is one that lends itself to steering the conversation in any number of directions...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ActiveAngel]

I don’t have anything of consequence to add to the thread, but the title “So I have this rock,” is one that lends itself to steering the conversation in any number of directions...

Yes, lol. I completely agree.

Poor titles bother me, albeit mildly. To me, they are akin to click-bait. In reality, and in the context of ARC, I’m sure many people just don’t want to go through the effort to think of a subject line. I’d prefer to see simple titles that like “How do I clean 100 lbs of dry rock?”

Thankfully though, it’s a non-issue. People here can be themselves, and that cool!

 

[snowmansnow]

No! I love this title haha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

I just try to keep it interesting .