Live Rock in the OVEN?

1MJG1 · Mar 5, 2018

so i just picked up some new live rock a month ago. Pressure washed it 3x with 1 week of sun dry in-between. Going to do an RO soak for a couple days than was thinking of putting the rock in the oven for a couple hours, followed by pressure washed and dried again. thoughts? I'm curious if my reasoning is wrong or not. i basically just want to be 100% positive nothing gets into the tank, too much invested and right now its (knock on wood) pest free. Ive seen a ton of invasive polyps that overtake everything like pulsing xenia and I'm scared to death of stuff like that as well as the usual hitchhikers. TIA.

Potatohead · Mar 5, 2018

This will not go well - Do not cook live rock. Cure it for 2-3 months in new saltwater changed every two weeks.

CNDReef · Mar 5, 2018

Acid wash it and bleach it, should be all you need to take care of any living organisms on it

Artillerydrill · Mar 5, 2018

This can be risky to your health..

HolisticBear · Mar 5, 2018

Their are various prep steps like bleach, acid washing, power washing, lanthanum chloride that one can do.

After one too many Breaking Bad episodes, this process got nicknamed cooking

Grelby · Mar 5, 2018

Moisture inside the rock can expand and blow the rock apart.

aquanicssd · Mar 5, 2018

Currently soaking mine in regular (not easy pour) bleach.

Rinsing in distilled or RO water, whatever's easier/cheaper at the time.

Then soaking in either fresh, non contaminated salt water (mainly to ensure you don't have a pH imbalance from various exchanges) or water from a water change for a few hours/days/weeks depending on what you're trying to accomplish.

Mines just a few rocks going into an established tank. So im rinsing in salt water just to make sure the addition doesn't throw any parameters around.

But yeah, like above. DO NOT boil/cook/heat/inhale anything regarding rocks that were previously live if you're trying to clean pests. That's where some of the horror stories come from. A fresh water dip should kill most of your concerns, but not all.

aquanicssd · Mar 5, 2018

aquanicssd said:
Currently soaking mine in regular (not easy pour) bleach.

Rinsing in distilled or RO water, whatever's easier/cheaper at the time.

Then soaking in either fresh, non contaminated salt water (mainly to ensure you don't have a pH imbalance from various exchanges) or water from a water change for a few hours/days/weeks depending on what you're trying to accomplish.

Mines just a few rocks going into an established tank. So im rinsing in salt water just to make sure the addition doesn't throw any parameters around.

But yeah, like above. DO NOT boil/cook/heat/inhale anything regarding rocks that were previously live if you're trying to clean pests. That's where some of the horror stories come from. A fresh water dip should kill most of your concerns, but not all.

I had some extremely gnarly cyano that was embedded deep within the rock. I let them soak in fresh water and it was still there. So I moved to a bleach solution.

Fudsey · Mar 5, 2018

Ya DO NOT bake your rock ! ! ! As @Grelby stated it could actually explode in your oven. Not to mention the stuff it could release into the air making you and anyone in your house very sick.

jhoop · Mar 6, 2018

Nothing ! will live past bleach.

NanoCrazed · Mar 6, 2018

jhoop said:
Nothing ! will live past bleach.

Believe it or not, worms will... I had a tank once that was pretty infested with worms so decided to tear down and bleach... like a whole bottle into a 10G... worms kept trucking and flipping me the finger despite all that

aquanicssd · Mar 6, 2018

NanoCrazed said:
Believe it or not, worms will... I had a tank once that was pretty infested with worms so decided to tear down and bleach... like a whole bottle into a 10G... worms kept trucking and flipping me the finger despite all that

Good to know.....

NY_Caveman · Mar 7, 2018

+1 on rock exploding at high heat. They are very lightweight and porous (remember they are skeletons, not really rock).

EHerbert · Mar 7, 2018

Please forgive me if I'm not understanding but isn't all this bleaching, baking, sun drying defeating the purpose of starting with live rock? Why not just start from scratch and cure some dry rock?

MJC · Mar 7, 2018

DO NOT COOK ROCKS IN THE OVEN.
THE TERM COOKING YOUR ROCKS DOES NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH A OVEN.

ca1ore · Mar 7, 2018

EHerbert said:
Please forgive me if I'm not understanding but isn't all this bleaching, baking, sun drying defeating the purpose of starting with live rock? Why not just start from scratch and cure some dry rock?

Haha, yes, that was my reaction as well. Vendors do sell dry live rock (which is about the stupidest term in the hobby), so perhaps that is what folks mean? I suppose tanks do go very wrong sometimes, and need a reset - and killing and sterilizing existing rock may be a necessary part of that reset - but buying live rock and then killing it seems singularly pointless to me.

CNDReef · Mar 7, 2018

I buy live rock from hobbyists for $1/lbs
Do you think it’s worth it not to kill it and infest thousands of dollars in corals on a 50/50 shot the live rock is clean?

EHerbert · Mar 7, 2018

ca1ore said:
Haha, yes, that was my reaction as well. Vendors do sell dry live rock (which is about the stupidest term in the hobby), so perhaps that is what folks mean? I suppose tanks do go very wrong sometimes, and need a reset - and killing and sterilizing existing rock may be a necessary part of that reset - but buying live rock and then killing it seems singularly pointless to me.

Thanks... I thought it was me... hahaha "Dry live rock"... so where's the live part? Yeah, I understand a reset... we've all been there. But I'm sticking with the live rock, dealing with the die-off and going through the process. I think an enormous amout of aiptasia May drive me to those extremes but worms, etc., can be minimized with their natural predators...

ca1ore · Mar 7, 2018

Toomanyfish said:
I buy live rock from hobbyists for $1/lbs
Do you think it’s worth it not to kill it and infest thousands of dollars in corals on a 50/50 shot the live rock is clean?

I guess it depends on what it is you are getting for $1/lb. If it's just formerly dry rock with some bacteria on it, then who cares. If it's rock that has grown sponges, coralline. etc., then I would never kill it - that seems pointless to me. BUT, I'm an old school reefer and really like the micro fauna and flora that grows out of good live rock. YMMV.

EHerbert · Mar 7, 2018

ca1ore said:
I guess it depends on what it is you are getting for $1/lb. If it's just formerly dry rock with some bacteria on it, then who cares. If it's rock that has grown sponges, coralline. etc., then I would never kill it - that seems pointless to me. BUT, I'm an old school reefer and really like the micro fauna and flora that grows out of good live rock. YMMV.

If I plan on investing thousands of dollars, I'm certainly not gonna cheap out on the foundation of the reef I'm creating. Plus, I like the flora and micro fauna that comes with real live rock. Yeah, It's more expensive but the end justifies the means.