Cleaning live Rock

[Trickman2]

So I just broke down my 90 gallon to rebuild it back up. I pulled all of the live rock out and need to give it a good cleaning. Recommendation on how to clean it up? My last fish died about 7 months ago and I turned the lights off and kept the tank running. I had a serious infestation of vermetid snails. I am assuming that without a food source they are dead now. Tank is drained and live rock is in a drum with a pump.

Sand is coming out and being discarded. It is a complete reset but not planning on getting rid of 70-100 lbs of live rock.

So let's hear some thoughts? Freshwater rinse? Etc.

 

[User1]

If time isn't a concern you could just set it outside in the sun / elements and let mother nature take over. Then just rinse / wash and you start the cycle. If you need something sooner you can always power/pressure wash , then you could do a quick soak in bleach, then power/pressure wash, rinse, and be done. Make sure to use dechlorinator.

Edit: Per @jda below I guess I should have asked what is your intent. To start with "clean" rock and cycle from scratch, start to end? If so, then what I suggested is only one way. There are others like acid baths, etc. On the other hand if you want to try and salvage the "live" rock has it is currently and not restart a cycle, then has @jda stated you can't do bleach, acid, sun, etc. That will clean/kill everything and you will need to restart the bacteria/cycle again.

 

[jda]

If you do any of this, you will kill the bacteria and microfauna on the rock. This will make it be less effective at denitrification for quite a while, as well as add more phosphate to your aquarium.

You already started to "cook" it. This does not mean getting it hot or using an oven, but is an old-school term for starving the bad stuff on the rock with darkness while submerged in saltwater. This is very effective. You can google "cooking rock" and see tons of posts, but ignore the idiots that put it in the over or boil it... this is not what it meant.

The first thing that I would do it take a rock, put it in a gallon of fresh saltwater and see how much phosphate it releases. If it is very much, then I would cook it for longer with more water changes.

 

[Trickman2]

Yes, I heard of cooking it and was the main reason I kept the tank running. Do you think a quick freshwater rinse would nuke it?

 

[Cnidoblast]

3 week closed bucked ro water soak should get most of your pests off but could do the bleach method

 

[K. Steven]

Are you only trying to get rid of vermetids or is there another pest you want to eliminate?

 

[choss]

if you really want to reuse the rock as dry rock, sit it in the sun for a few days, then give it a nice bleach bath for a week. Then muratic acid bath. Then soak it in RODI etc. It will be sterile and ready for a cycle when you need it.

 

[don_chuwish]

I always suggest vinegar.
Blast the rock with a hose as much as possible, get rid of all the easy stuff.
Put the rock in a tub with tap water, a gallon of vinegar and a powerhead to keep the water moving. Leave it for a day or two.
Take it out and blast it with the hose again - you'll see lots of stuff just falling off the surface.
Repeat if you think it's necessary.
Put it in a tub with just RO water and let it circulate for a day or two.
Drain & refill with saltwater if you want to let the rock 'cure' before putting it in the tank.
Or you can just put it in the tank to cure - just leave the lights off. Let it go as long as you have the patience for.

 

[jda]

Yes, I heard of cooking it and was the main reason I kept the tank running. Do you think a quick freshwater rinse would nuke it?

A quick rinse or even power washing will not kill off the bacteria too much. If it has a lot of gunk on the surface, then a power wash might be a good idea.

EDIT: I am collecting rock for about a 900G build. It takes me about 9 months to get all of the gunk off of used rock and also get the bound phosphate out of it. I mostly do this with series of 100% water changes in the container after "swishing" the rock, but also will use some AlO2 media.

 

[Trickman2]

A quick rinse or even power washing will not kill off the bacteria too much. If it has a lot of gunk on the surface, then a power wash might be a good idea.

EDIT: I am collecting rock for about a 900G build. It takes me about 9 months to get all of the gunk off of used rock and also get the bound phosphate out of it. I mostly do this with series of 100% water changes in the container after "swishing" the rock, but also will use some AlO2 media.

What is AlO2 Media? I think the vermetid snails are dead now. Not 100 percent sure but at least the population is down for sure. I may use a plumbing blowtorch again on them to be sure. The last time it was getting bad I took some of the worst rocks out and torched them. Was like rice crispy treat with a Snap, Crackle and pops. Was satisfy to say the least as I had been plagued by them. I really don't want to nuke all my rock by using vinegar. The main tank is going to get a vinegar bath but seems like a bad idea for the rock.

 

[jda]

Aluminum Oxide. It is more powerful than GFO and it will not unbind like GFO will. I only really like to use it when cooking rock.

 

[Trickman2]

Aluminum Oxide. It is more powerful than GFO and it will not unbind like GFO will. I only really like to use it when cooking rock.

How long do you use the aluminum oxide for? Can I cook it for a week and still get some positive effects?

 

[K. Steven]

How does aluminum oxide compare to lanthanum chloride?

 

[jda]

I have no idea how it compares on absorption.

I run it in a reactor for a few days and it will bind all that it is going to by then. If the rock has a ton of phosphate in it, then the stuff might get full in just a few hours. Usually a 3-4 500ml (this is a lot) treatments on a 180G tank full of used rock will get the water and rock down to about 2-3 ppb. Sometimes, it starts out well over 200 ppb. I just keep going until I am less than 3 ppb.

 

[sloanhaus]

if you really want to reuse the rock as dry rock, sit it in the sun for a few days, then give it a nice bleach bath for a week. Then muratic acid bath. Then soak it in RODI etc. It will be sterile and ready for a cycle when you need it.

I don’t think acid should ever be recommended to someone without giving disclosures. It’s extremely dangerous and can damage anything it touches.Bleach works fine and you reduce the harmful affects although you still need to make sure you do it outside and avoid inhaling the fumes. I am currently cleaning my rock and have them in a trash can with 10:1 water to bleach ratio. Again, I and many others don’t believe acid is the right way to go about it unless you are skilled in using it, one mistake and you could end up blind or in a burn facility.

 

[RichReef]

It all depends on how long your new build will take. If you want it fast and want to make sure the snails are all gone you will need to kill the rock. Bleach, acid, vinegar, doesn't matter. It will all kill them. Don't worry about re-seeding the rock. That's not very difficult with all the products out there now. Some make it seem like it takes forever but it doesn't.

 

[Luvnreefs]

I have a 5 month old tank, still dealing with diatom daily, only feed corals once a week and it's not broadcast I feed them each reef roids for now and will change to meatier food when tank is more stable and. Corals have more growth, they are fed with a Turkey baster then when done and they begin to release " left over " I use a separate baster to suck up the goo they release back so it's not staying in the water I do water changes about 15 percent weekly and have done a few 50 percent changes ..I'm running a 29 biocube with skimmer, Rio rhf8 upgraded recycling pump and have about 25 lbs live Rock and 1 inch live ag sand. Filter media is ceramic pellets in a bio bag and new pillow stuffing type material "forgot actual name" changed weekly with wc. have 15 blue hermits. 2 peppermint shrimp 2 turbo snails a fighting conch snail hes temporary to help with sand clean up 3 margarita snails 2 emerald crabs 1 green chromus I red fire fish 1 small spotted goby blue damsel, I am very OCD with cleaning scraping glass daily vacuum sand weekly with water change, tooth brush rocks weekly with wc, o remove diatoms,Turkey baster inside rock before and after wc AI prime HD lighting used in acclimation mode 15 percent white is max at 4 hours a day other blue spectrums ran 8 hrs a day no red or green yet. My biggest concern is nitrate. I cant get them below 40 regardless how clean I appear to make the tank. I was pondering slowly removing sand and going bb but i believe the lr I was sold was much more dirty then I was lead to believe..I have also found a clay type material stuffed deep within the rock that's grey and is constantly falling apart in the water..not sure if it's natural or a scam to make rock weigh more,LFS after research has been found to be a tad shady, found this stuff only by a coral falling off a ledge and into a hole where I put my hands and felt it..at which point I investigated deeper to locate and see what it was..all my other parameters are great my corals look great believe it or not. But I know all can be better and if I dont stop this issue soon I'll battle a nightmare soon enough, I am thinking about removing LR to clean under it and that will be the first bit of sand I remove..any assistance I can get is greatly appreciated and if I forgot any details needed please ask away and thank you in advance. No sump yet I'm building one to fit space I have and will be adding gfo and carb reactors then.