Cleaning live rock

[nurps]

Hey, I have an established tank already. Well, it’s full of Dino’s lol, but it’s established. Someone getting out of the hobby gave me about 50lbs of live rock. When I looked at the rock, I noticed a lot of bubble algae, and critters, and aptasia. How do you clean this, ro water soak and scrub? Bleaching? I do plan on smashing it up and adding it to my tank in the future because my tank does need more rock.

 

[BryanM]

Opinions all over the map on this, but if you want to keep it live, not much you should or can do.

If you want it essentially dead, there's plenty of posts around here about that.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Opinions all over the map on this, but if you want to keep it live, not much you should or can do.

If you want it essentially dead, there's plenty of posts around here about that.

Yes there are. From acid, to bleach to RO. I'm not sure of the details yet, but I've got about 150# of very dead, very dirty rock. I'll end up pressure washing, drying, bleaching, drying, pressure washing again, drying, then cure it over a span of months in a Brute (with some bacteria in a bottle, a raw shrimp, a heater and a powerhead).

 

[exnisstech]

Opinions all over the map on this, but if you want to keep it live, not much you should or can do.

If you want it essentially dead, there's plenty of posts around here about that.

This is pretty spot on.
Anything you do to kill the nuisance stuff will kill the rock and it will no longer be live rock. unless you target the aiptasia and bubble algae individually and not the entire rock.

 

[nurps]

This is pretty spot on.
Anything you do to kill the nuisance stuff will kill the rock and it will no longer be live rock. unless you target the aiptasia and bubble algae individually and not the entire rock.

That’s fine with me. I don’t need it to be live. I plan on get a hammer and chisel and aquascaping with it before putting it in my tank. If I knew what all the little critters were that I saw on it were, and that they were safe for my tank, I wouldn’t mind. But I 100% know there’s bubble algae and aptasia on it, and I don’t have that in my tank currently. I saw a bunch of little bug like things crawling in and out of the holes. Too big to be copepods. Probably safe, for my tank, but it made me think of what else might be in those holes lol.

 

[vandy]

That’s fine with me. I don’t need it to be live. I plan on get a hammer and chisel and aquascaping with it before putting it in my tank. If I knew what all the little critters were that I saw on it were, and that they were safe for my tank, I wouldn’t mind. But I 100% know there’s bubble algae and aptasia on it, and I don’t have that in my tank currently. I saw a bunch of little bug like things crawling in and out of the holes. Too big to be copepods. Probably safe, for my tank, but it made me think of what else might be in those holes lol.

10:1 ratio of water to bleach in a brute trash can worked for me to get rid of pests from a previous break down. You can up the bleach if it’s really bad. Let it soak for a week +. Use prime to neutralize the bleach, wash the rock, then soak with just water and prime in the trash can. Then take it out and let it air dry