Live rock curing questions!!

[AllAboutThatWrasse]

I am picking up about 100lbs or dry rock for my new Red Sea 750 build off of Craigslist. Now I have made the mistake before of buying live rock from a LFS and inherited problems from the rock. I want to start this time fresh with clean rock. So I have no idea what could have been growing on the rock at the time it was taken out of a tank. Im asking because I've never tried this and want to hear from experienced hobbyists who have done it before. What is the best way for me to take this rock and cure it? To ensure there will be nothing on it when it comes time to place it in my DT. All help is greatly appreciated, Thank you

 

[azbigjohn]

You can search Bulk Reef Supply's videos, they just did a video on the different methods. I believe the best was a 10% bleach solution for 24 hours, then scrub and dechlor. Then just put in a trash can with salt water and circulation for 6 weeks or so, in the dark...

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Also do some reading on muriatic acid. Don't mix cleaning methods btw.

As for curing. That's easy. Put in tup with sea water and power head.l and Wait.
You can use dr Tims fishless cycling method.

 

[Idoc]

You could perform a Muriatic acid wash of the rocks you received from the other person's tank. This will clean off all organics and kill off any unwanted hitchhikers you might encounter in the rocks. This basically turns your rock into "dry rock" and will require you to cycle it again in order to obtain the beneficial bacteria.

You can obtain Muriatic acid from Home Depot/Lowes...it will either be in the pool section (don't get granular) or the paint area where it is in gallon jugs for cleaning concrete driveways, etching, etc...

100lbs of live rock will probably take 2 large trash cans....

1. Put rock in trash can only to about halfway up the inside. Then add water from hose to just cover the rocks about 6-8 inches...estimate about how many gallons it took to do this.
2. Then slowly pour in the muriatic acid (on't splash it)...DON'T add the acid first and then the water!!! You will want about a 10gal water to 1gal acid mixture. Use long rubber gloves and definitely use eye protection (gotta throw that in there since I'm an eye doc...lol)
3. Slowly the bubbles will start to rise and may overflow the trash can. These fumes are terrible and toxic, so stay up-wind. Best to do this where a little spillage isn't going to cause any damage...I actually did it in the street by my driveway near a street drain!
4. Only let them soak for about 30-40 minutes max...this process will kill all the organics and remove most of them, but it will also dissolve some of the surface of the rocks. I initally did it for about 20 min on some rock and it wasn't enough...had to do it again for about 30-40 min and that did the trick. If you have a "lighter" rock like Pukani, you may want to go even less time.
5. When you are done, slowly pour in about 2 big size boxes of Baking Soda (walmart brand is cheapest) into each trash can. This will be plenty to neutralize the acid to make it harmless for the city drains. Then, I took my hose and filled the trash cans with even more water (overflowing) to just be even more sure things were neutralized and diluted. Then tip the cans and drain off the "milky" water!
6. If the rocks were heavily crusted with algae (like the stuff I got from someone), then I used a hard stream of water on each rock and used a scrub brush to wipe off anything remaining.

I went from heavily green coated rock to beautiful white rock...

It sounds intimidating, but really it's no big deal...if you take those simple precautions. The slow pour of the acid is the key....I had a few splashes, and in about 5 min, started to feel a little "burn" on my arm! No biggie...just washed it off with water and no damage done! lol

Hope this helps!

 

[AllAboutThatWrasse]

Thanks you all for your thoughts and video suggestion! One thing that either they didn't mention in the video or you don't need to do it is. Do I need to change the water out after the bleach soak weekly or anytime? So I think I'm going to try the acid and bleach method (not together at the same time). I just want the rock to be clean and free of organics. I'm not worried about cycling it after the fact. If doing so can I do the soaks and rinses all with fresh water. Like when in the bleach solution for a week and then the remaining weeks?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yes you can rinse in tap yes. With bleach you should leave it outside in the sun.

 

[azbigjohn]

If you go to the home page and search for "rock reincarnation" you will find detailed instructions for doing both. I would do bleach first.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'd just drop it in a bucket and cure it personally.
It all works. Left long enough the bacteria will reduce the possible phosphates, nitrates will come out with water changes. Phosphate RX and lantnthanum chloride will blast the po4 of the rock as well and the po4 come out in the water change too.

So many good methods.

 

[64Ivy]

Though note that if your going to do it that way, it can take forver. I went the lantnthanum way to condition my rock and was still getting PO4 readings four months later.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Though note that if your going to do it that way, it can take forver. I went the lantnthanum way to condition my rock and was still getting PO4 readings four months later.

True. But I also cycled my qt tank just by dumping it all in and had nutrients so low I couldn't keep corals in it four months later
No skimmer or mech filter. No gfo lanth, etc.