How long do you cure dry pukani?

[Rick.45cal]

Vinegar and bleach together?

BAD IDEA. Mixing acid and bleach will create chlorine gas.

That should have been bleach bath then an acid bath. Not together. It also won't let me edit that to fix that

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Glad to hear.

I can edit it

 

[Rick.45cal]

Thanks you, I wouldn't want anyone hurt from a misunderstanding.

 

[Brian Kim]

Vinegar and bleach together?

BAD IDEA. Mixing acid and bleach will create chlorine gas.

Hi Randy, glad you saw this...I actually did put them together and it's been soaking for roughly 2 hours. I removed them as soon as I saw your post and rinsed them in running water for a good 30 min.
Should I just start my muriatic acid treatment now? I ran out of bleach and vinegar lol

 

[spllbnd2]

So if I am reading all the information correct people are using muriatic acid bath first, followed by a fresh water rinse and soak. Then doing an a bleach bath followed by another fresh water rinse? All while keeping the rock in heated water between baths?

What are the ratios when performing each of the baths?

Cheers,
Alex

 

[SVP]

spllbnd2, its bleach first up to 24 hrs if your rock has a lot of organics in/on it. The bleach will help remove the organics. I like to then rinse them off with tap water (no biggie on using public water with trace elements) because after the fresh rinse it gets an acid dip removing the the outer layer of the rock ridding yourself of calcium carbonate but mainly removing phosphates. Then I rinse with ro/di water really well and put the rock in saltwater with pumps(I don't use heaters cause I live in Florida). I use phosfree to bond to the phosphates. I use a capful 2 times a week. The check with a hanna tester once a week. Some people use filters to rid the tub of particulates/snow or you can do water changes. My ratios of bleach was 7:1, my ratio of muratic acid was 10:1. Remember after your done with the acid to render it safe/neutral with sodium bicarbonate or arm and hammer baking soda. It takes a lot of baking soda and it foams up when you put it the acid in the tub, when it no longer foams when you add it then the acid is neutral. Hope this clarifies things a little more for you.

 

[NanaReefer]

Wow! All I did was cure mine for 4wks in SW. Good flow and bacteria added along with a bag of carbon. In the tank it went. No algae issues ever.

 

[SVP]

Wow! All I did was cure mine for 4wks in SW. Good flow and bacteria added along with a bag of carbon. In the tank it went. No algae issues ever.

Funny thing about phosphates leaching into a tank it might happen right away or a year or two from now. There is no direct timeframe as to when the rock starts leaching but if does start it will make you miserable. I've read a lot of posts that nice aquariums that had been set up for years all of the sudden have hair algae or other algae problems to the extent that the tank had to be taken down. Ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure. .

 

[spllbnd2]

My ratios of bleach was 7:1, my ratio of muratic acid was 10:1. Remember after your done with the acid to render it safe/neutral with sodium bicarbonate or arm and hammer baking soda. It takes a lot of baking soda and it foams up when you put it the acid in the tub, when it no longer foams when you add it then the acid is neutral. Hope this clarifies things a little more for you.

Thank you for the info SVP. And with the ratios are they 7:1, 7 parts bleach to 1 part water? And the same on the muratic acid?

Picked up a nice 27 gallon tub to do this with some rock next weekend.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[SVP]

Thank you for the info SVP. And with the ratios are they 7:1, 7 parts bleach to 1 part water? And the same on the muratic acid?

Picked up a nice 27 gallon tub to do this with some rock next weekend.

Cheers,
Alex

No just the opposite 10:1water and acid & 7:1 water and bleach

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

I bought 40 lbs of dry Pukani rock from BRS a month ago. Carefully cleaned, rinsed it and put in a bin with high heat (85) and low salt (1.010). Also threw in Aquavitro seachem's seed for a week. Rock cycled in 2 weeks. Took the rock out again and cleaned the decay that was now visible. Water was extremely yellow.

Put it back in the bin with proper salt and heat. No ammonia or nitrite. Nitrate was at 5ppm and phosphate was at .2
This rock in now in the display. No ammonia, nitrite and 2-3 nitrate. Phosphate is at 0-.1

Bought another 40lbs of BRS Pukani rock and I plan on doing the same procedure and documenting it with videos and pics to see if this was a lucky anomaly or a good secure way to clean this type of rock.

I got this advice from a person who personally used multiple types of dead live rock.

 

[spllbnd2]

No just the opposite 10:1water and acid & 7:1 water and bleach

Thank you for the clarification on the ratios. I wasn't sure which way they went.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[SVP]

Thank you for the clarification on the ratios. I wasn't sure which way they went.

Cheers,
Alex

My fault it was late, I saw your post and wanted to help. Been there myself but didn't notice I put the ratios backwards. As soon as I saw your post I was praying you hadn't done anything yet with those backwards ratios. Lesson learned by me for sure trying to help do more harm if one isn't careful. Take it easy GL!

 

[SVP]

Thank you for the clarification on the ratios. I wasn't sure which way they went.

Cheers,
Alex

My fault it was late, I saw your post and wanted to help. Been there myself but didn't notice I put the ratios backwards. As soon as I saw your post I was praying you hadn't done anything yet with those backwards ratios. Lesson learned by me for sure trying to help do more harm if one isn't careful. Take it easy GL!

 

[Makers Marc]

Quick question: I'm curing Pukani outside in brute trashcans with saltwater and a powerhead. How important is a heater in the Phosphate removal process?

I live in TX and right now and it gets only to 45-50 degrees at night, 60-70 during the day. I'd rather not buy a heater just for this, as I already have one in my soon to be upgraded 75g.