Ms. Mermaid
Active Member
I am pretty sure there is a thread for this but not sure... I need to know how soon can you place the rocks back in the tank after doing the Acid Bath on them?
Acid bath for rocks
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vetteguy53081
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Bleach for me and for decades have been the bath of choice and when run through cold water (which neutralizes bleach) makes it white and ready to return to tank. Just assure you can no longer smell bleach on the rocks.
Cold water doesn’t ‘neutralize’ bleach. You can use bleach and cold water to sterilize medical instruments...
And bleach won’t remove surface trapped phosphates in the rock. That’s what the acid wash is for.
In fact, bleach first to decompose organics, then acid to remove the top layer of rock with phosphates. Neutralist with baking soda until the bubbling stops (when you add a new back, if it doesn’t bubble, the acid is gone) then big rinse in tap water.if you air dry, the chlorine will dissipate. If you want to put it straight in, a 2-3 hour rodi soak will be sufficient
And bleach won’t remove surface trapped phosphates in the rock. That’s what the acid wash is for.
In fact, bleach first to decompose organics, then acid to remove the top layer of rock with phosphates. Neutralist with baking soda until the bubbling stops (when you add a new back, if it doesn’t bubble, the acid is gone) then big rinse in tap water.if you air dry, the chlorine will dissipate. If you want to put it straight in, a 2-3 hour rodi soak will be sufficient
vetteguy53081
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Neutralization with cold water came straight to me from Julian Sprung and I ran a Full Line Pet store for 11+ years and it always worked when used bleach.
In checking with Kimberly Clark here in Wisconsin, they too said that is why they recommend COLD water rinse in washer when using bleach. I'm going off of reliable sources and not proven fact but I can say, so far it has been SAFE
In checking with Kimberly Clark here in Wisconsin, they too said that is why they recommend COLD water rinse in washer when using bleach. I'm going off of reliable sources and not proven fact but I can say, so far it has been SAFE
Scubabum
Well-Known Member
When I used Muriatic Acid on my Pukani, I neutralized then rinsed in RO/DI water for 24 hours and had Zero issues.
I’m an Infectious disease guy that uses cold water and bleach to sterilized surfaces covered in biological hazardnlevel 3 microorganisms...
I think we are dealing with two different understandings of ‘neutralized’...
Washed off and ‘neutralized’ are two different things
KrisReef
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I did bleach & acid on some dirty live rocks that folks were giving away. After these treatments (don't mix bleach with acid, you get chlorine gas!) i put the rock in a barrel of water to soak/cure. I did a couple of water changes, and let it sit for a few months and was going to toss this safe, washed, soaked and cured rock back in my tank but the little voice whispered in my ear; "Test for phosphates."
Now you might think I'm mad listening to voices, but I had a new Hanna ULR Phosphorus Checker and I was dying to use it, so I broke out the test vials and filled one with barrel water and added the reagent and the vial instantly turned the most fabulous color of blue that the Checker could not measure because it was greater than 200ppb (>0.613ppm).
I recommend people soak and test their rock to be certain what they might be putting back in the tank after an acid or bleach treatment.
