Chemical Smell from rock

rrichardsmn · Mar 23, 2021

I am new to the hobby and getting things together for my tank. For rock, I purchased some dead rock and some rock that had been live, but had been out of tank for a while. I proceeded to clean the "live" rock with muriatic acid, a rinse/soak and then bleach soak/ followed by several soaks with water and prime. The rock looks the same as the purchased reef rock, but has a chemically smell to it. Even under water, I can smell the odor though it is faint and it builds up in the room some. It's been two+ weeks outside of my last soak and still smells. Any ideas on what the smell could be? I can't imagine it could be chlorine at this point, but I am at a loss for what else. How can I get rid of it at this point and would it be a problem to fish after cycling tank? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

vetteguy53081 · Mar 23, 2021

rrichardsmn said:
I am new to the hobby and getting things together for my tank. For rock, I purchased some dead rock and some rock that had been live, but had been out of tank for a while. I proceeded to clean the "live" rock with muriatic acid, a rinse/soak and then bleach soak/ followed by several soaks with water and prime. The rock looks the same as the purchased reef rock, but has a chemically smell to it. Even under water, I can smell the odor though it is faint and it builds up in the room some. It's been two+ weeks outside of my last soak and still smells. Any ideas on what the smell could be? I can't imagine it could be chlorine at this point, but I am at a loss for what else. How can I get rid of it at this point and would it be a problem to fish after cycling tank? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

Cold water rinse which neutralizes chemicals .

rrichardsmn · Mar 23, 2021

I've rinsed it about 4 times now and soaked for multiple days. Currently have in freshwater with no prime, but have done 2 rinses with prime. How much more do you think is needed to get rid of the smell?

rrichardsmn · Mar 24, 2021

Any other thoughts on this? I can keep rinsing, but curious if anyone else has run into anything like this.

mdb_talon · Mar 24, 2021

If it is a chemical smell I would lean towards chlorine from the bleach soak, but I agree it does seem odd it would still be around days later.

bblumberg · Mar 27, 2021

get some sodium thiosulfate from Amazon and soak the rock in it according to how much bleach was used. See here

https://www.edspumps.com/water-treatment/documents/Antichlorination.pdf

if you want to be accurate. Otherwise, just use excess thiosulfate. Mix well and you will know it was enough when the bleach smell is gone. Fast, easy, and safe.

rrichardsmn · Mar 29, 2021

Thanks - I soaked again with double dose of prime and let sit again and the smell is gone. Have in tank now and I think all is good.

SteveMM62Reef · Mar 29, 2021

Do you have an RO/DI System? If so use your reject water to soak/wash the rock. Another way, too not waste water, is to put it in your toilet tank, away from any mechanisms for a week. Of course without any added chemicals to the tank. Also you could soak it in your reject water from your saltwater changes.

rrichardsmn · Mar 29, 2021

yes I do have RO/DI. I read that the wastewater could potentially be worse than tap since it has the impurities concentrated. Probably wouldn't matter for this situation, but at this point, I feel rocks are finally clear of odor and testing shows no chlorine, so hopefully good to go.

SteveMM62Reef · Mar 30, 2021

The waste water has already gone through a sediment filter and Carbon Block(s). It’s a good start, to rinsing.

monkeyCmonkeyDo · Mar 30, 2021

Why did you do that? You took $10lb live rock and made it $5lb dead dry rock?
Lol
Was their pests? I would have just rigoursouly shook it in sw and placed in tank if live...
You need to cure it now...
Start over.
D

rrichardsmn · Mar 30, 2021

It had been out of water from prior owner for over two weeks and was decaying badly. It also had hair algae and other stuff that wasn't worth holding on to.

rrichardsmn · Mar 30, 2021

That's why I did do the cure in the first place.

iMi · Mar 30, 2021

I understand why you cleaned the rock the way you did, but honestly I would not put it in my tank at this point, especially if there is still chemical smell on it after all that rinsing. Do you know where that once-live rock came from and did it smell at all before you got to cleaning it. It's probably not worth the risk. That rock, live or not, is the foundation of your reef.

rrichardsmn · Mar 30, 2021

The smell is all gone. I think it should be okay since tests for chlorine, ammonia, nitrite and such all seem good. I can't imagine what else could be a problem.