What does soaking dead rock in bleach do?

[lmfbs]

I've got dry rock that came from another tank, to go into a new tank. I've heard a lot about bleach soaks to cure the rock, but what does the bleach actually do? Presumably it doesn't remove phosphates, and I'll need to cycle the tank anyway.

So - what does a bleach soak do, and how do I do it? What % bleach, for how long?

 

[ReefinIt]

Bleach will get rid of organics from the rock. Rock that was live and left to dry typically has a lot of dead things in it. If your rock was alive at one point and left to dry, I would bleach it.

I had rock from an old tank sitting outside for nearly 2 decades as well as some from a tank shutdown. I bleached it then dipped it in cleaning vinegar. The vinegar takes off a layer of the rock.

My process was 1 gallon bleach in about 10 gallons of water soaked it for about a week. Drained the water, rinsed with hose, and let dry, then soaked another week in freshwater with dechlor. After that I used pure vinegar for about 30 seconds and soaked it again in freshwater.

 

[lmfbs]

Bleach will get rid of organics from the rock. Rock that was live and left to dry typically has a lot of dead things in it. If your rock was alive at one point and left to dry, I would bleach it.

I had rock from an old tank sitting outside for nearly 2 decades as well as some from a tank shutdown. I bleached it then dipped it in cleaning vinegar. The vinegar takes off a layer of the rock.

My process was 1 gallon bleach in about 10 gallons of water soaked it for about a week. Drained the water, rinsed with hose, and let dry, then soaked another week in freshwater with dechlor. After that I used pure vinegar for about 30 seconds and soaked it again in freshwater.

If I need to cycle the rock anyway, can't the dead things just be my ammonia source?

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

It can also just be your problematic algae source.

 

[Rookums Reef]

If I need to cycle the rock anyway, can't the dead things just be my ammonia source?

You wanna start fresh and you'd S.A.B. at what can still come back after insane periods of perceived dormancy.

 

[lmfbs]

It can also just be your problematic algae source.

I've had it soaking in heated salt water for 48hrs. So far phos is still 0, or possibly very slightly towards 0.03, and ammonia is <0.15 (Salifert tests).

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Ok, but there’s also a conga line of people in the nuisance algae forum that have low to undetectable phos and nitrates.

Was the rock in one of your previous systems?

 

[lmfbs]

Ok, but there’s also a conga line of people in the nuisance algae forum that have low to undetectable phos and nitrates.

Was the rock in one of your previous systems?

Not my system, a friend's. They don't have any serious algae issues beyond the kind of usual nuisance stuff that can pop up occasionally. But you've convinced me, I'll give the rock a bath. Just in tap water + bleach? How do you know when it's done?

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Reefinits protocol above is pretty much the established path. Search function will spit out plenty other threads with variations and more detail.

If you’re satisfied with the provenance of the rock and not in a rush your other option is a longer RO then seawater cure.

Good luck whichever route you take, hope it goes well.

 

[lmfbs]

Reefinits protocol above is pretty much the established path. Search function will spit out plenty other threads with variations and more detail.

If you’re satisfied with the provenance of the rock and not in a rush your other option is a longer RO then seawater cure.

Good luck whichever route you take, hope it goes well.

Perfect, thanks so much!