dipping rocks

tcarter1936 · May 16, 2015

I've got a two year old mixed reef and I've been battling nudibranch, asterina stars,bristle worms,and With a new house. Once we find one. (Ours is already sold).I'm tearing down my 180 gallon. I'm setting up a few temporary Rubbermaid hdpe bins and a frag tank at work. What a perfect opportunity to eradicate these pests.
but where do I start? ...
I'm contemplating a large bayer dip with all rocks and coral. Note fish with be housed in a separate system. I'm worried about the rock soaking up the bayer. Or would I be better off with fresh water. My rock is covered in coraline alge. Please offer some advise or help me avoid catastrophe.

tcarter1936 · May 16, 2015

Nobody ?

Tahoe61 · May 16, 2015

So the question is do you want to recycle the rock?

If the pest are bad that is what I would do, you're going to have a lot of die off. Acid wash seems like a good idea and recycle in another bin.

Coralline grows back fast.

tcarter1936 · May 16, 2015

I was hoping to not have to cycle however acid wash would definitely kill it. If I'm looking at another cycle I May just get new dry rock and start over. I'm already in the process of moving so I can cycle my upgraded tank without coral. Just looking for simpler option

Daniel@R2R · May 18, 2015

I wouldn't dip. I'd do the acid wash. Here's my reasoning even if the dip is successful (and I honestly have the safe fear of the rock soaking up some of the bayer), you're still going to have a cycle from all of the pests you're killing. So I would do an acid bath and then dry it.

zwulfke · May 18, 2015

I vote acid or bleach (gasp) yes bleach ... I just did mine and they are nice and white and after being in 1/10 mix for a day then soaked for a day then left in the sun for a week they are nice and clean. I pressure washed them now I am just about to cycle my tank.

redfishbluefish · May 18, 2015

Do not dip the rock in any coral dipping solution....it will poison the rock until that compound leaches back out. In the mean time you'll kill inverts.

Regardless of water, vinegar, or bleach dip, you'll need to re-cure the rock. All will cause death in the rock.

pickupman66 · May 19, 2015

so a few years ago my hundred an 80 gallon reef which was SPS Donin ant was infected with flat worms.unfortunately for me because my coral was so interested I could not get them off the rocks. So I made a massive bear dip in an ice chest and proceeded to get my rocks and everything. while I was fortunate to be able to save the coral washing the wrong proved extremely difficult after the bath and we ended up killing every single invert in the tank. But on a bright note we killed all of the Acropora eating flatworms. if you are going to be taking down your tank I would advise either lane to rock out to dry and then pressure washing it or acid wash but either way I would completely start over on your rock. I would not bother with dipping it in Bayer

eVANS · May 19, 2015

I'm not a fan about the whole vinegar thing tbh... I mean if you're going to bleach the heck out of it until it becomes dry/dead rock why not just get some clean dead rock without the die off/acid. I do a full soda water bath. I take each rock and soak each one for about 2 minutes turning 2-3 times. That seems to get rid of most of the baddies.

stiky · May 19, 2015

I have two solutions for you. One is to put all the rock in your oven and cook it. Numerous recipes can be found online as I forget how long and how hot. But make sure it's dry or else when it goes in the oven the trapped moisture will explode the rock like tnt in the pores. It's startling but I haven't had any huge explosions lol. Second, take all live rock out and put in a large garbage can full of old water. Heater and a power head. No light whatsoever. Eventually things will run out of food but this is more effective for killing algae than pests. You could let it dry completely and do the lights out garbage can trick. I've done it. Every time you do a water change replace the garbage can water with the old saltwater you just drained. Do not chemically treat the rock. You've heard of rocks sucking up phosphates. It will do the same with toxic medications and you will forever leech chemicals back into your tank. At that point might as well just throw away all the rock. So hats my story. Take it or leave it. Haha. Good luck.