Curing Live Rock - Some are now Blue??

[zmoney]

Hey guys - newbie to the forums. I am in the process of curing my live rock as I am re doing my entire 50 gallon tank. The live rock had a lot of dead crap on it so I put it on bleach and water for about a week. Most of them turned white but a few are blue? What does that mean? I am letting them dry in the sun currently. Pics attached.

They don’t smell like bleach anymore - am I safe to use them back in my new tank setup?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Was that blue there before you bleached?

I've seen red coralline algae survive bleaching....that is the red was still there, but I'm sure it was dead.

 

[zmoney]

Was that blue there before you bleached?

I've seen red coralline algae survive bleaching....that is the red was still there, but I'm sure it was dead.

Definitely was not like that before. The rock is about 6 years old and used to be purple and looked like all other live rock I’ve seen. I remember seeing red but now that’s gone and just see this blue. No clue what it is as I couldn’t find anything on the net when I searched. It’s been in the sun for 2 days now and doesn’t seem to be going away at all. I think it looks cool and don’t mind it in the tank just want to be sure nothing negative can happen?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Again, I've seen red/maroon, but never blue. This blue is new for me as well.

 

[LovesDogs_CatsRokay]

I have some aquacultured rock that is blue. Could it be the blue was just covered with coralline before and you just couldn’t see it until the coralline was removed?

 

[zmoney]

I have some aquacultured rock that is blue. Could it be the blue was just covered with coralline before and you just couldn’t see it until the coralline was removed?

Yes that’s quite possible. Is your similar to how mine looks? Is it safe to put into my tank? I’m a starting fresh and adding more new dry rock with the existing rock I have.

 

[pugcrush]

You probably had multiple shades of coralline initially. The bleached changes all their colors. Kind of like when an asterina eats purple coralline in a tank, it turns hot pink? Or when you vinegar bath your pumps, the coralline changes colors.

Have you thought about doing muriatic acid though? If there's still alot of garbage on there, I'd worry about that stuff hanging around the tank for a while. They do look relatively clean though from the pic, aside from the blue ones.

 

[LovesDogs_CatsRokay]

Yes that’s quite possible. Is your similar to how mine looks? Is it safe to put into my tank? I’m a starting fresh and adding more new dry rock with the existing rock I have.

Mine is a mix of blue and purple but the LFS that I got it from also had some that looked like yours. I don’t know if it’s safe or not.

 

[Kershaw]

Could those rocks have been real reef rock that is painted. And the bleach changes the color?

 

[zmoney]

I'm at a point that I just bought 40 pounds of new dry rock since I don't know if its safe or not lol. If I find out its ok then I guess I can add them in later.

 

[JoshuaRock]

To me it looks like you bleached it in a blue tub and the plastic leached onto the rocks. I would rather be safe than sorry. I vote new rock. That’s a really strange thing to see I must say.