Adding OLD Rock

[Basssa]

I have some rock left over from my 75 g. tank, about 70 lbs, I would like to add it to my 150 to build up the display. It was reccommended that I soak it in bleach then rinse it VERY well many times, let it dry out, then add it to the tank. Essentially i am trying to kill any of the undesireable critters that were in the old tank, i.e. cyanobacteria.
It was bleached in a ratio of 1:10 bleach:fresh water, then it was rinsed and SOAKED in fresh water for days, rinsed and repeated. How many times must I do this, and how long must it dry to be safe, and WILL it ever be safe to put into my newer tank?
The new tank has inverts (mostly mushrooms, and colt) and 1/2 dozen fish, all living happily.
THANKS
Basssa

 

[King Jason]

I'm not really sure about the procedure, but bleach and my tank SCARES me! I don't know...can you ever rinse it entirely? Wouldn't the bleach get absorbed into the rock?

 

[Basssa]

I thought the residual bleach actually will dissipate after drying??? Arent those "white" rocks or nice dead coarl pieces sold at LFS "bleached" of their impurities?

 

[4angel]

I don't know if going through the trouble of rinsing the rock with bleach the way you did was really necessary. I have heard of folks that have done this with skimmers and other things and it could be a personal preference thing. However I would never try. Don't be shocked if you get cyno in the tank again. Cyno as you may or may not already know is as a result of other variables. Unless you wanted to kill absolutely every living thing on that piece of rock well you may have just done so.(Apistas however will always laugh at the bleach approach). I would rinse the rock out as much as I could and then rinse some more. organisms will eventually re-colonize the rock no doubt. In the future I would just scrub the gunk out of the rock next time save time and give a little more piece of mind.
_________________
Mercedes C11

 

[Joey French]

you cannot bleach rocks that have cyanobacteria and hope that it will not reappear in your new setup. It it everywhere. As for the chlorine, it will dissipate, so your fears of it damaging your tank is unnecessary. Bleach it, rinse it well, let it dry, toss it in.
Joey

 

[rbb213]

Let the Newly Clean Rocks sun dry for about a week.....then you could probably add them...but why wouldn't you want to cure them in a separate container and at least grow some coraline on them?...it would look better.....

 

[Anonymous]

Rinsing should be fine for the bleach- there are de-chlorinators as well but thats unecessary.

As mentioned above- the cyano is ubiquitous anyway- it's the conditions you have to change since keeping the microbes out of your tank is impossible.