Cleaning "rock" - Did I do something wrong?

[cmantis]

I had to clean my "rock" so I soaked it in 50/50 bleach water for a couple days. However its not really rock its dead coral and now its like chalk. There was a lot of 'sand' that was created and it comes off really easily when I rub it with my hand. Seems like soaking it in bleach probably wasn't a good move.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

it should be fine, i would give it a good scrub with a plastic bristle brush and rinse it very well through a few stages of rodi water. Such as rinsing/dipping in a separate container of rodi x 4. just the way i am i would do a 5th and possibly 6th dip just to make sure....

 

[cmantis]

Well it seemed like the bleach really ate away at it.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

thats what it does. the main point of bleaching rock but it will be fine as long as you get rid of the bleach in the rock by rinsing dipping it many times in rodi water and getting rid of the garbage that can be brushed away

 

[Brando457]

Id throw it in 50/50 vinegar mix and then as Tony said hit it in a bucket of RO for 3 days, let it dry out in the sun or somewhere it cant get wet again. Then back in RO water and dry out again. Good to go

 

[Jan]

1:10 - bleach:water does the job for me. Soak them in RO/DI for a couple of days and let them air dry really well so whatever bleach is left will dissipate. Now you have nice clean rock to seed and watch all new bio grow.

 

[dacaptain78]

I just finished bleaching my rock. After the bleach bath I rinsed the rock in my slop sink and scrubbed with a brush. Then I soaked it a few times in dechlorinated tap water. Then it air dried on my basement floor for about a week. Finally I gave the rock a few RODI soaks and it was good to go. I also used copious amounts of dechlorinator during the soaking process just to be on the safe side and get rid of the bleach.

 

[peteyboyny]

I have cleaned rock in a muriatic acid solution 4:1 - RO/di-Acid. Then a good couple of RO/di soaks like said above. No problems so far.