Anyone ever microwaved live rock?

[mbbuna]

microwaving and boiling rock does more harm then good. they will both kill things in/on the rock but the nutrients are still left behind to rot and foul the water. if you want to start over from scratch with this rock and kill everything/eat away all organics, fill a tub with enough water to cover the rock and add 1/2cup to 1 cup of bleach to it and let it set for 24 to 48 hours then rinse 2 or 3 times with water and let air dry for 48 hours

 

[Robgixxer]

dude even if you clean the microwave when you are done i don't think your food or whatever you put in there will ever taste right again! :lol:

 

[Untamed12]

I thought this thread started off weird....but then it went off completely!

My $.02...My Live Rock is the single most expensive living thing that I purchased for my tank. I went to great lengths to preserve as much life on that rock as possible. I would no more microwave it than I would microwave any of my fish.

 

[Malifluous]

Dont use bleach cos u may never remove the residue. Just soak it it freshwater for 2 days.

 

[mbbuna]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12479694#post12479694 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Malifluous
Dont use bleach cos u may never remove the residue. Just soak it it freshwater for 2 days.

bleach is very easily diluted and it evaporates away completely, hence why i said rinse 2 or three times and then air dry.

if you just soaked it in water it may kill the aiptasia but all the organics will be left behind to rot and foul the water.

 

[Malifluous]

Given the proper precautions the bleach can be completely removed from the rock. I just dont think the OP needs anymore difficulties. The porus nature of the rock will make it difficult to rinse all that chlorinated dead stuff out. Bleach is not going to dissolve the biomass into nothing. Especially if you try to bleach a rock with a lot of biomass.

 

[RicksReefs]

the only precaution needed is to give it a few days in the air. chlorine is a natural gas and will gas off after a day or two.
chlorine does indeed burn up (oxidizes) organics. it doesn't vaporize it to nothing, but does go a long way in reducing the organic load.

 

[Gtstricky]

Give this a try: http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idProduct~RS7911.html

 

[tkeracer619]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12479694#post12479694 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Malifluous
Dont use bleach cos u may never remove the residue. Just soak it it freshwater for 2 days.

Not correct.

Bleach is a very powerfull tool, especially when talking about destroying organic life in rock. In no way is it harmfull or a pain to deal with. I have 100lbs of rock drying as I type this that was treated with bleach. 300lbs of the rock in my 360 display were done this way as well and 6 months later you couldnt tell me which ones they were. It just requires a peice of live rock to seed it back into live rock..

 

[iron coral]

yes bleach can be a good tool if you can use it properly. in the end is just Sodium hypoclorite and in a dilute enough solution after enough time it will revert to NaCl. the key is making sure you rinse the rock enough times after words to make sure no NaOCl is left.

 

[IslandCrow]

The bleach is probably fine. After rinsing, I'd add some Amquel to a separate bucket and let the rock sit in there for a day or two. I've done the freshwater soak to kill aiptasia, and it seemed to work just fine. That's probably what I'd try first.

 

[Malifluous]

My point is that someone with the experience level where microwaving the live rock is an option probably should not be bleaching their rocks at this point.

 

[pledosophy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12507208#post12507208 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Malifluous
My point is that someone with the experience level where microwaving the live rock is an option probably should not be bleaching their rocks at this point.

That's kind of elitist. This forum is for helping people after all.

IME bleach is easy to use. Just add a capful to the ten gallon tank, let it sit for a day. Dump out the water and add fresh water then let that sit for a day. Dump out that water, add fresh water and some dechlorinator and let that sit for a day, rinse out the rocks and they are good to go. You can buy a chlorine test to if your worried about it, they sell them at pool stores.

IME with aiptasia if you have some on one rock then you will probably soon have them on other rocks in the system, after reintroducing the clean rock to the system I would add a peppermint shrimp or two to help keep things under control (that is if a peppermint shrimp will work in your tank).

Personally I use a bic lighter on my aiptasia and it works wonderfully. about 30 seconds under the lighter the things are gone. Never had one return.