Do I need to bleach?

[DiefsReef]

I got this used rock with the original tank I bought and its been dry for at least a year.
Should I bleach it before i put it in a tank to cycle? New tank setup so it will be cycled for some time with nothing else in the tank but other Reef Saver Dry Live rock.
My plan was to hose it down and let it sit in ro/di salt water for a bit before putting in the tank and starting the cycle.

 

[andrewey]

You have two options here. 1) would be to bleach with the option of acid rinsing for phosphate followed by dechlorination/drying followed by rinses to remove the nitrate/phosphate created by the deomposition of organics in bleach. 2) cure the live rock normally.

Either way, I would not add that rock into a tank to cycle without selecting one of the above options or you face an uphill battle with nutrients.

Just make sure you understand the difference between curing and cycling first, then decide if you want to employ bleach

 

[R.Weller]

I would soak this, along with your reef saver dry rock, in circulating RO freshwater for a few weeks until your phosphate readings are as near 0 as you can get. You will need to do 100% water changes to pull out the dried compounds from the rock as it will reach equilibrium in the water column. If the rock is all dry, there's no reason to use salt. I've recently done this with some dried pukani that I picked up & it took 3 water changes over 6 weeks.

I've also tried just using a hose in the past, & while you do remove dust from the outside surface, you will still be fighting phosphates long after the ammonia -> nitrate cycle resutling in algae battles until the phosphate is finally removed from the base rock. It might take longer to get started in the beginnnig, but it's worth it to limit the fight with hair algae.

My experiences anyway...

 

[joec]

Set it out in the sun for a month, rinse

 

[DiefsReef]

You have two options here. 1) would be to bleach with the option of acid rinsing for phosphate followed by dechlorination/drying followed by rinses to remove the nitrate/phosphate created by the deomposition of organics in bleach. 2) cure the live rock normally.

Either way, I would not add that rock into a tank to cycle without selecting one of the above options or you face an uphill battle with nutrients.

Just make sure you understand the difference between curing and cycling first, then decide if you want to employ bleach

Thank you for the response. I think I'm going to go with curing. Again thx for the help!

 

[DiefsReef]

I would soak this, along with your reef saver dry rock, in circulating RO freshwater for a few weeks until your phosphate readings are as near 0 as you can get. You will need to do 100% water changes to pull out the dried compounds from the rock as it will reach equilibrium in the water column. If the rock is all dry, there's no reason to use salt. I've recently done this with some dried pukani that I picked up & it took 3 water changes over 6 weeks.

I've also tried just using a hose in the past, & while you do remove dust from the outside surface, you will still be fighting phosphates long after the ammonia -> nitrate cycle resulting in algae battles until the phosphate is finally removed from the base rock. It might take longer to get started in the beginning, but it's worth it to limit the fight with hair algae.

My experiences anyway...

Thx for the response! I will go with curing the rock. I wanted to avoid curing because I wanted to get the scape setup while dry but I'm really worried about this old rock so guess I have to soak.