Acid bath for dry live rock?

[elementJ]

Hi all, I'm a beginner here getting ready to set up my very first tank soon . I decided to go with the BRS Pukani dry rock but from what I've read about it everyone recommends giving it an acid bath. No biggie, however, as I'm researching how to give the rock a proper acid bath I'm finding mixed statements on how best to go about this, or the best step by step to follow.

So my questions are how long does the rock need to be 'bathed' for? After this what steps should be taken next (this is where I'm finding the most variance in answers)?

And lastly, after giving the rock an acid bath is it best to add the rock to my tank to start cycling or is it best to cure/cycle the rock separate from the tank?

Thank you in advance for the help, there's a wealth of information out there unfortunately oftentimes it can be confusing or contradicting.:headwallblue:

 

[Ghost25]

I used a 1:10 dilution of acid. Only soaked for about 30 min as after that the acid had been consumed (the acid will react with the calcium carbonate in the rock), but no harm in going a little longer. I rinsed the rock a few times with tap water after. Definitely cure the rock for a few weeks, mine continued to release phosphates after the acid wash.

I cured in regular tap water with a lanthanum chloride phosphate remover and frequent water changes. Honestly, I probably should have cured it even longer but I got impatient.

Here is a video documenting how I set up my tank including acid bath on Pukani dry rock. Not meant as a tutorial just to give you an idea of what I did and what you can expect.

 

[tonyjd34]

Question.. If you still have to cure the rock after the acid bath, why not just skip the bath and cure the rock? Aren't phosphates going to be bound with calcium carbonate throughout the entire rock anyways and it would continue to leach even after an acid bath?

 

[elementJ]

Thanks Gost25 very helpful video! By chance do you know what your phosphates were testing at the end of the curing?

tonyjd34 - from what I understand an acid dip is mainly to disintegrate all the dead 'stuff' on the by eating the outer layer of rock. By removing it this way it speeds along the curing process and helps overall reducing the phosphate levels in the end, with out it going straight to curing (I believe) the same thing would happen overtime. It's what causes the horrible smelly water, I personally don't have any experience with this but I'm doing the acid bath to ensure I don't have major algae problems later on down the road.

 

[LJLKRL]

I bought dry rock from Reef Cleaners for my tank upgrade. I did not cure it or give it an acid bath. There was nothing visibly dead on the rocks, so what would the purpose of this be? I can understand doing this if I had gotten the rock from another reefer who used it in a tank and then let it dry out, but not for the dry rock I bought.

 

[joecc]

I've read to only leave in the acid for 20-30 minutes, no longer, and also read to leave it in acid for a few hours. It's bit confusing.

There doesn't seem to be a consensus about how long?

 

[jmm]

The acid bubbles and "boils." When it is finished and calm, the procedure is over or at least the acid is used up.

Lots of acid and the time is short. Just a little acid and it takes longer. If you overdo it the outer layer of rock will be lace-like and too delicate.

It can be stopped by neutralizing it with baking soda. Dilution is the next step and then you can safely pour it out.

 

[joecc]

At 10:1 water/acid ratio, how long? At 20:1, how long?

Anyone with knowledge care to estimate, please?

 

[Ghost25]

Thanks Gost25 very helpful video! By chance do you know what your phosphates were testing at the end of the curing?

Sorry I don't really know because I did a series of water changes with lots of lanthanum chloride at the end of the curing. It would have been better to let the rock sit in plain water for a few days to see how much was still leaching but I threw it in the main tank with GFO and that seemed to be enough to keep phosphates undetectable.

At 10:1 water/acid ratio, how long? At 20:1, how long?

Anyone with knowledge care to estimate, please?

Time isn't really a deciding factor, if you pack the rock reasonably in a container and then add enough acid to cover it you can just wait until the acid stops reacting (about 30 min).

If you have way more acid than rock then more rock will be dissolved (the total amount of acid is more important than the concentration). All this assumes you are using a standard calcium carbonate based rock.

 

[elementJ]

I bought dry rock from Reef Cleaners for my tank upgrade. I did not cure it or give it an acid bath. There was nothing visibly dead on the rocks, so what would the purpose of this be? I can understand doing this if I had gotten the rock from another reefer who used it in a tank and then let it dry out, but not for the dry rock I bought.

Curing the rock and or doing an acid bath gets rid of all the dead matiral on the rock. Unless you get man made rock that hasn't been near saltwater ever you're rocks are most likely going to have this dead matter on it, and honestly it will vary from rock to rock. For some it's never a problem and they can get away without curing.The problem usually is when the rock is put into the water, the organic begin to breakdown and phosphates will begin to leech out (some rocks more than others and Pukani is notorious for high levels of phosphates), high phosphates can lead to big algae problems later down the road. I've read a few posts about people who didn't cure their rock and they battled high phosphates and stubborn algae for months some even over a year. My whole take on it is I'm willing to put in the extra effort and time to cure the rocks to nip phosphates in the butt immediately rather than take a chance and potentially lead to a headache later on, I absolutely hate algae so if I can eliminate the potential growth of algae now I'll do it! Better safe than sorry, that being said from what I've read a lot of people are perfectly fine without curing just depends on the rock and where it was grown/ harvested.

 

[FPSD]

I used a 1:10 dilution of acid. Only soaked for about 30 min as after that the acid had been consumed (the acid will react with the calcium carbonate in the rock), but no harm in going a little longer. I rinsed the rock a few times with tap water after. Definitely cure the rock for a few weeks, mine continued to release phosphates after the acid wash.

I cured in regular tap water with a lanthanum chloride phosphate remover and frequent water changes. Honestly, I probably should have cured it even longer but I got impatient.

Here is a video documenting how I set up my tank including acid bath on Pukani dry rock. Not meant as a tutorial just to give you an idea of what I did and what you can expect.

Thanks for the info!

 

[tkeracer619]

I would not acid bath it. I would cure it in a bin and work on phosphate removal via lanthinum chloride during the cure. It's great rock but does take some extra effort in the beginning.

 

[Ou8me2]

If you buy dry rock from reefcleaners you don't have to do anything but wash it off with water to get the dust off. It's already cured of all the dead stuff and treated for leaching of phosphate. I've ordered 3 different times and not once did any of the dry rock leach phosphates.

This alone is why I bought rock from reefcleaners and not any other dry rock source. The price was great also. John was great to work with also and I just told him what I was doing and what sized tank and he did a stand-up job of getting me the perfect shapes and sizes. Plus they sent me a 10% off code for my clean-up crew which I highly recommend those also from reefcleaners.