Second hand live rock cleaning

[Jake_the_reefer]

So I have a buddy who used to be into reading and he gave me 40 lbs of live rock that had been sitting in his garage for a few years now. He is convinced "oh the bacteria is still good on it just rinse it and use it"

but of course I know the rock needs a deep cleaning. I soaked the live rock in bleach water for a few days and gave them a deep scrubbing with a steel brush but there is still some purple from the coraline algae that was once alive on it and most of the rock is stained brown.

I have some pictures included and what i am wondering is now that the bleach is completely off and dried can i start to cure and use this live rock or should i do a better cleaning method other than bleach.

 

[Mike.P]

You can give them a good long boil, if you have the time... Or soak them in vinegar for a couple of days, that may get the rest of it off. Sometimes it's just there for good though, especially when they've been sitting a long time. I would just start curing it, and eventually new coraline will grow over it. Be sure to dump in a good amount of chlorine remover when you begin, even if the bleach has dried off.

 

[KrisReef]

I had rock like this. I filled the bucket with saltwater and let it stand for a day. I tested phosphates and they were off the chart. So,
I'd put your rock in some fresh saltwater and test the water to see if you have either high phosphates or nitrates. If you don't you should be good to go. If you do you may want to try and lower those before you add it to a tank to cycle.

 

[Mjrenz]

You should be fine to start curing it after using bleach if you are 100% certain it was not exposed to anything toxic while it was in his garage

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

You should be fine to start curing it after using bleach if you are 100% certain it was not exposed to anything toxic while it was in his garage

They were in an air tight container for those years. So I'm assuming it has not been exposed to any toxic materials. I'll still do heavy testing.

 

[kapnkush608]

Muriatic acid cuts a little deeper into the surface of the rock.

 

[Jinko]

Make sure you run a bunch of phosphate remover when you cure it, there will be a lot of phosphate bound up in the rock no doubt.