Live Rock in the OVEN?

[techlobster]

If you do want to actually heat sterilize your rock you could do it in a large pressure cooker (find a large used one at a thrift shop). At that point you are basically autoclaving it and nothing should survive.

 

[MJC]

If you do want to actually heat sterilize your rock you could do it in a large pressure cooker (find a large used one at a thrift shop). At that point you are basically autoclaving it and nothing should survive.

And don' breath in the fumes or you might die

 

[Dburr1014]

Also to add, you should not post each live rock. Just 10% bleach and if you need to Acid wash.
If there were zoa or palys on the rock, baking, boiling, pressure wash, and brushing, all that will make the toxin airborne. Breath it in and you will be sick. That means even dry rock that's been out of water for years. Be very Careful.

 

[Dburr1014]

If you do want to actually heat sterilize your rock you could do it in a large pressure cooker (find a large used one at a thrift shop). At that point you are basically autoclaving it and nothing should survive.

Do Not do this

 

[techlobster]

Do Not do this

Yeah, I should have added to make sure you do it outside using a propane burner.

 

[ca1ore]

I also think, and I don't mean it to be pejorative, that novice reefers are far too worried about pests ..... I can count on one hand the number of truly problematic HH/pests that cam along with the live rock I have acquired (and that's over 3 decades). OK, if you are tying to grow and sell 'sticks' maybe you take a different approach, but for a mixed reef tank, the little guys are half the fun.

 

[Larry L]

Yeah, I should have added to make sure you do it outside using a propane burner.

Don't do it outside either. Rocks containing any internal moisture can explode when heated.

 

[Fishfeet57]

I was taught,and have read not to use bleach... ever... and if you're buying Live rock... and then Kill everything on it... what the point of using it. .?? To clean live rock you swish it in a bucket of fresh water for about 30 seconds then cure the rock in saltwater for about a month.
If you do have a hitchhiker it will fall off in the freshwater.... please don't kill your live rock...

 

[Jeepguy242]

I want to start with dead rock. I leave it outside in th sun and rain for 2 weeks.

Then into a bucket with 50/50 bleach and tap water for a week

Then sun again for a week

Then 50/50 vinegar and ro water for a week

Then ro water for a week


No pests. Except th ich I added from a frag that I didn’t quarenteen

 

[Medic58]

Take the long way home. You will be better off and it’s safer.

 

[n21benson]

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.

An episode of Breaking Bad comes to mind ...

 

[Reef Doc]

I like using hydrogen peroxide instead of bleach, it is less toxic to humans, there are no fumes involved, if you spill it wont ruin carpet or clothes, water eliminates it easier, you dont need gloves with hydrogen peroxide, you need gloves with bleach because it ruptures and explodes your cells into mush that is why bleach feels slippery on bare fingers because the mush from your cells that just ruptured is slippery...lol.

 

[Fishfeet57]

I want to start with dead rock. I leave it outside in th sun and rain for 2 weeks.

Then into a bucket with 50/50 bleach and tap water for a week

Then sun again for a week

Then 50/50 vinegar and ro water for a week

Then ro water for a week


No pests. Except th ich I added from a frag that I didn’t quarenteen

That's some serious overkill.. base rock is already dead...

 

[aquanicssd]

I like using hydrogen peroxide instead of bleach, it is less toxic to humans, there are no fumes involved, if you spill it wont ruin carpet or clothes, water eliminates it easier, you dont need gloves with hydrogen peroxide, you need gloves with bleach because it ruptures and explodes your cells into mush that is why bleach feels slippery on bare fingers because the mush from your cells that just ruptured is slippery...lol.

Good to know...

 

[tom reilly]

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.

Why would you buy live rock and then do your best to kill everything on it?

 

[Fishfeet57]

Good to know...

You can also use plain white vinegar... however I still don't agree with killing the good and the bad bacteria on live rock... just a good vigorous swishing in fresh water dose just fine...

 

[Jeepguy242]

That's some serious overkill.. base rock is already dead...

That if I get rock from someone’s tank.

I was trying to say I kill everything

 

[Fourstars]

Something went wrong with the hobby when people started suggesting we start a tank as a dead sterile environment.

 

[Jeepguy242]

You can also use plain white vinegar... however I still don't agree with killing the good and the bad bacteria on live rock... just a good vigorous swishing in fresh water dose just fine...

until you get aptasia and it takes over your tank

 

[aquanicssd]

Something went wrong with the hobby when people started suggesting we start a tank as a dead sterile environment.

I'm coming to terms with it (like everyone else), but the reality is we're trying to replicate an environment at such a small scale... That we shouldn't be surprised when, what would normally not be a problem in the wild becomes an incredible predator in our tanks.

It's not that we can't have our cake and eat it too, it's that sometimes the second half is a little bit more difficult then we had imagined.