So I had the day off so I went to home dept and got some muriatic acid it was the green kind so I don't think it was the right one I'll tell you why I got a 32 gallon brute garbage can filled it a little more than half way put in the rock and then poured the acid in it fizzled a little but nothing like I'm seeing in the forums so I left it overnight to hopefully do its job. Ive Been doing a lot of reading on the topic but a little late it seems that I should of did a bleach bath first and then the acid does this matter or should I do it over with the bleach first any advice would be great thanks.
Rock acid bath?
- Thread starter NYCTURBO
- Start date
I had a pretty bad bubble algea / aptiasia problem..
I did a 12 hr Bleach + 24 hr Vinegar (Mild Acid) + several soaks + 1 month air dry treatment for about a third of my rocks.
You use Bleach to kill everything on the rock. And acid to dissolve the phosphates. So if everything on your rock is dead already than bleach isn't required.
I used Vinegar because I couldnt find muriatic acid and I believe I read somewhere that the 'safe' versions they now sale at hardware stores are not as effective as pure muriatic acid.
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For the next third of the rocks I did 30 minutes Hydrogen Peroxide + 30 minutes vinegar + overnight soak and then back in the tank.
I did like one rock a week that way.
Some of those I actually did only partial rock dips because they had corals on them.
For the the last third I did manual algae removal and kalk injections for the aptiasia as these had the most corals on them and I wanted to keep coraline and bacteria colonies in the tank.
I did a 12 hr Bleach + 24 hr Vinegar (Mild Acid) + several soaks + 1 month air dry treatment for about a third of my rocks.
You use Bleach to kill everything on the rock. And acid to dissolve the phosphates. So if everything on your rock is dead already than bleach isn't required.
I used Vinegar because I couldnt find muriatic acid and I believe I read somewhere that the 'safe' versions they now sale at hardware stores are not as effective as pure muriatic acid.
____________________________________________
For the next third of the rocks I did 30 minutes Hydrogen Peroxide + 30 minutes vinegar + overnight soak and then back in the tank.
I did like one rock a week that way.
Some of those I actually did only partial rock dips because they had corals on them.
For the the last third I did manual algae removal and kalk injections for the aptiasia as these had the most corals on them and I wanted to keep coraline and bacteria colonies in the tank.
So I bleached the rocks and had an acid bath hosed them off in the back yard.they look great clean and white nothing on them. can anyone tell me how long I need to keep them out in the sun to bake them? Also how do i make them live again seed them with live rock from my 30 gallon how is it done put them in a tub with salt water and for how long? How do I know when it's safe to put them back in the Dt. Sorry lot of questions but i got the rock for my 90 gallonn upgrade i want to make sure the rock is safe before i start the build any advice would be great.
- Location
- Queens, NY
Yikes that's a lot of chemistry for clearing rocks, why are you doing this? removing pests, algae or nutrients?
I guess this is a method for people who have little time and want to reuse immediately? If I had rocks with unwanted stuff on it, all I would do is leave it in a tub of seawater with an air pump and let it sit there in the dark until everything dies off. Light is life. Then dump all the water out with 100% water changes and leach nutrients out of the rocks until the water is clear (zero NO2 and PO4). Then you can restock it in your tank and reseed with a new piece of live rock for light dependent organisms (ie coralline algae), but you don't need to reseed it as it's still live and full of active bacterial and other heterotrophic organisms that don't need light to live.
Baking in the sun doesn't eliminate the nutrients from the rock, as there are plenty of worms/critters that have died and dried up in the tiny cracks.
That's the official way of treating/clearing live rocks, but if you just want to clean it, what I do is simply place the whole think in the toilet reservoir, for as long as it takes till it clears off. The tap/fresh water kills everything and flushing dumps the leachate with total water changes. Just keep flushing, but watch out if the rock starts to dissolve into fresh water, you might lose a little.
I guess this is a method for people who have little time and want to reuse immediately? If I had rocks with unwanted stuff on it, all I would do is leave it in a tub of seawater with an air pump and let it sit there in the dark until everything dies off. Light is life. Then dump all the water out with 100% water changes and leach nutrients out of the rocks until the water is clear (zero NO2 and PO4). Then you can restock it in your tank and reseed with a new piece of live rock for light dependent organisms (ie coralline algae), but you don't need to reseed it as it's still live and full of active bacterial and other heterotrophic organisms that don't need light to live.
Baking in the sun doesn't eliminate the nutrients from the rock, as there are plenty of worms/critters that have died and dried up in the tiny cracks.
That's the official way of treating/clearing live rocks, but if you just want to clean it, what I do is simply place the whole think in the toilet reservoir, for as long as it takes till it clears off. The tap/fresh water kills everything and flushing dumps the leachate with total water changes. Just keep flushing, but watch out if the rock starts to dissolve into fresh water, you might lose a little.
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The reason I cleaned the rock the way i did was because I picked it up from a member who had a crash? he said he lost power and everything died? He never cleaned the tank or took the rock out of the tank it smelled bad! there was all sorts of goop and mold on it and I diddent want to take a chance with it because of a New 90G build Im in the process of doing upgrade from my 30G.The rock has nice shapes and it would be shame to just throw it out.i have about 30 pounds in my 30 gallon an the plan is to clean the bad rock and put it all together in the 90G I hope this is a good plan? I just don't know hot to make sure the rock is safe before I put it all together and in the new build. Is the next step putting it into a tub of salt water and for how long? Any advice is appreciated.
- Location
- Queens, NY
Oh I see,
Then I would've just cured it with the tub of clean seawater, a pump and some time, saving the trouble of bleaching and acids.
Now that you've effectively killed your rock, I guess you need to recycle it as if you just received a shipment of dry rock, which ironically enough is the same method as curing. I guess there's little difference between the two.
SO, set up a bucket or tub in your garage, and cure/cycle it like I mentioned earlier. Once the water is clean, you can move them into your new tank as cured live rock. Don't add anything from your old tank until the new rocks/sand in the new tank is cycled, otherwise the nutrient bloom might kill some of your current pets.
I personally didn't pay for any of my rocks, but everytime I went on vacation to the Florida Keys, I would bring back a suitcase of dry rocks, which I would just pick up along the road. I also brought back 50 lbs of pink sand from Cancun and I had to explain to the airport guards that "la playa is para me fishies." Sand from the Bahamas was easier.
Then I would've just cured it with the tub of clean seawater, a pump and some time, saving the trouble of bleaching and acids.
Now that you've effectively killed your rock, I guess you need to recycle it as if you just received a shipment of dry rock, which ironically enough is the same method as curing. I guess there's little difference between the two.
SO, set up a bucket or tub in your garage, and cure/cycle it like I mentioned earlier. Once the water is clean, you can move them into your new tank as cured live rock. Don't add anything from your old tank until the new rocks/sand in the new tank is cycled, otherwise the nutrient bloom might kill some of your current pets.
I personally didn't pay for any of my rocks, but everytime I went on vacation to the Florida Keys, I would bring back a suitcase of dry rocks, which I would just pick up along the road. I also brought back 50 lbs of pink sand from Cancun and I had to explain to the airport guards that "la playa is para me fishies." Sand from the Bahamas was easier.
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- Location
- Rocky Point, NY
You guys do realize that "hosing" and "the toilet reservoir" is raw tap water.
Better to use RO water for rinsing, soaking, etc. Tap water has all that nasty stuff (heavy metals, ammonia, phosphates, etc.).
As far as murat acid, I've used it when I made agrocrete rock. I used RO water and acid at a 4:1 ratio. 24-48hr soak. Then, soaked it in straight RO for 48hrs, twice. Then let it dry for a week.
Better to use RO water for rinsing, soaking, etc. Tap water has all that nasty stuff (heavy metals, ammonia, phosphates, etc.).
As far as murat acid, I've used it when I made agrocrete rock. I used RO water and acid at a 4:1 ratio. 24-48hr soak. Then, soaked it in straight RO for 48hrs, twice. Then let it dry for a week.
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