Bleach vs Acid
- Thread starter bheron
- Start date
EvMiBo
VictoriaConcordiaCrescit
I could also get this acid. I haven't actually bought it yet, but figured stronger is better. I realize vinegar will work but everyone seems to conclude that muriatic is most effective. If I'm going to do this I want to do it as good as possible. Long gloves, glasses, outside in well arrated area, backing soda for safety.
percula99
New member
I used straight vinegar I bought at Costco pretty cheap. I filled my 25 gallon Rubbermaid container with cooked rock and poured in the vinegar. It bubbled like alka seltzer for about 15-20 minutes then died down. I rinsed it all well in RO water and let it air dry in the sun on the back deck for several days.
peter fumo
New member
10% muriatic acid worked for me
Not the only way,IME Placing the rock in new salt water and treating with lanthanum chloride to keep the water PO4 free encouraging equilibration of bound PO4 species from the rock . Same idea ,accelerate the equilibration by keeping the curing water low in PO4 but lanthanum is much cheaper than GFO unless you regenerate the GFO but that's another story.
Sorry to revive this thread but was wondering the following. I have 150 pound of Tonga rock I want pest free (GSP and Paly). It all fits in a 50 gallon rubber maid bin. I don't mind paying for vinegar in a 1:1 RO/DI dosage and waiting the time. I am not a fan of such a hard chemical like muriatic.
1: How much time does one leave in vinegar 1:1 solution?
2: Does it dissolve phosphates?
3: Does it dissolve any possible metals like copper (Reason I ask is that I have 50 pounds of Marshall rock that is really nice and would like to use but it was in a fish only tank that was treated with Seachem Cupramine?
4: Can I skip bleach process?
What I was planning:
1: Pressure wash all rocks to remove detritus and surface corals.
2: Dip in RO/DI for a day
3: Rinse tube and Rock with RO/DI
4: Fill tube with 12 gallons of vinegar with rock in it and slowly add RO/DI water (about 15 gallons) With maxijet 1200 powerhead for circulation for 24 hours.
5: Rinse in RO/DI
6: Than let dry outside for 24 hours.
Thanks,
Z
1: How much time does one leave in vinegar 1:1 solution?
2: Does it dissolve phosphates?
3: Does it dissolve any possible metals like copper (Reason I ask is that I have 50 pounds of Marshall rock that is really nice and would like to use but it was in a fish only tank that was treated with Seachem Cupramine?
4: Can I skip bleach process?
What I was planning:
1: Pressure wash all rocks to remove detritus and surface corals.
2: Dip in RO/DI for a day
3: Rinse tube and Rock with RO/DI
4: Fill tube with 12 gallons of vinegar with rock in it and slowly add RO/DI water (about 15 gallons) With maxijet 1200 powerhead for circulation for 24 hours.
5: Rinse in RO/DI
6: Than let dry outside for 24 hours.
Thanks,
Z
bheron
Active member
No its great to keep this thread going! 
So I dont know how much or how long you'd need to use vingear to do the job. but to recap here's the two steps:
1) need to remove dead organic material - this is where the bleach comes in (as I've learned on this thread here) it "oxidizes" organic material, which I take to mean it "dissolves" it.
2) try to remove any phosphate that's inside the actual rock - this is where acidic materials or others can be used to try to remove a tiny outer layer or rock and phosphate along with it.
so not sure how to use vinegar for step 2. I will say when I use the muratice acid (to your point dangerous) I soak it for at least a day (or until it stops bubbling).
HTH
So I dont know how much or how long you'd need to use vingear to do the job. but to recap here's the two steps:
1) need to remove dead organic material - this is where the bleach comes in (as I've learned on this thread here) it "oxidizes" organic material, which I take to mean it "dissolves" it.
2) try to remove any phosphate that's inside the actual rock - this is where acidic materials or others can be used to try to remove a tiny outer layer or rock and phosphate along with it.
so not sure how to use vinegar for step 2. I will say when I use the muratice acid (to your point dangerous) I soak it for at least a day (or until it stops bubbling).
HTH
Vinegar will dissolve calcium carbonate and remove the surface layer, along with any copper or phosphate in it. How effective the treatment is depends on how deep the contaminated layer is. A lot of people seem to report success. Personally, I would ditch the rock given the toxicity of copper to marine invertebrates, but your treatment might work.
The bleaching process probably doesn't do much, and it could be skipped unless there were microbes in the old tank that you are trying to eliminate.
The bleaching process probably doesn't do much, and it could be skipped unless there were microbes in the old tank that you are trying to eliminate.
Thanks Bertoni, I will leave out the branching Marshall rock. I planned on leaving rock in 1:1 vinager solution well over 24 hours. I did this with some new Marco dry rock over a year ago. Shouldn't the acidity of solution be effective on microbes more so after 24 hours of acidity? Rock has tons of palys, gsp, and even aptasia here and there but it would be nice to get rid of any others stuff I can't see. Although I will leave Marshall rock out I will try to do a 48 hour dip and heavy rinse and use it in a smaller thank with a few corals to test out.
If you are trying to remove phosphate, I would use this procedure:
1) Place the rock in a tub outside.
2) Put on chemical-resistant gloves and goggles.
3) Add 10 parts water to cover the rock.
4) Add 1 part muriatic acid. Be careful. The fumes are toxic.
5) Let the mixture sit for 20-30 minutes.
6) Neutralize any remaining acid with baking soda. The bubbling will stop when the acid is gone.
7) Dispose of the water, but check with your sewer district to see what they have to say.
8) Rinse the rock well. In most places, tap water is fine.
1) Place the rock in a tub outside.
2) Put on chemical-resistant gloves and goggles.
3) Add 10 parts water to cover the rock.
4) Add 1 part muriatic acid. Be careful. The fumes are toxic.
5) Let the mixture sit for 20-30 minutes.
6) Neutralize any remaining acid with baking soda. The bubbling will stop when the acid is gone.
7) Dispose of the water, but check with your sewer district to see what they have to say.
8) Rinse the rock well. In most places, tap water is fine.
hitawaah
Member
bleaching & acid bath times and ratios
bleaching & acid bath times and ratios
I have Just finished the process of bleaching and then the acid bath. I did a little test just to see what difference leaving rock in the acid makes. I have about a hundred pounds of pukani dry live rock. The bleach really got most of the organics out of all the little crevices and off the rock. I used a gallon of bleach to 10 gallons of water for 24 hrs then rinsed with high power water flow to remove any hard to get little pieces. Next I set up 2 tubs for the acid bath same solution ratio as bleach using muratic acid 10:1. The acid bath helps get rid of calcium carbonates and phosphates which is what I really wanted(pukani has been known to leach phosphates really bad) I didn't want algae problems immediately or later. Most of my rock I let it set for about 30 minutes in the acid and was very happy with the results. The other tub I took about 10 pounds of rock three different pieces and let one set for 6 hours, another for 12 hours, and the last one almost a day. At 6 hours the piece wasn't to decayed but I could see it was smaller, at 12 hours it was quite visible that the rock was decaying pretty bad it was getting brittle. The last rock that had been in 24 hours was severely decayed with a lot of the rock missing and what was left was extremely brittle and easy to break. Pukani is very porous to begin with so I didn't want to lose a bunch of the rock I just wanted to remove the outer layer and phosphates. That's just my personal experiment. Every rock is composed differently so depending on what you have you might have to adjust your times or your ratios.
bleaching & acid bath times and ratios
I have Just finished the process of bleaching and then the acid bath. I did a little test just to see what difference leaving rock in the acid makes. I have about a hundred pounds of pukani dry live rock. The bleach really got most of the organics out of all the little crevices and off the rock. I used a gallon of bleach to 10 gallons of water for 24 hrs then rinsed with high power water flow to remove any hard to get little pieces. Next I set up 2 tubs for the acid bath same solution ratio as bleach using muratic acid 10:1. The acid bath helps get rid of calcium carbonates and phosphates which is what I really wanted(pukani has been known to leach phosphates really bad) I didn't want algae problems immediately or later. Most of my rock I let it set for about 30 minutes in the acid and was very happy with the results. The other tub I took about 10 pounds of rock three different pieces and let one set for 6 hours, another for 12 hours, and the last one almost a day. At 6 hours the piece wasn't to decayed but I could see it was smaller, at 12 hours it was quite visible that the rock was decaying pretty bad it was getting brittle. The last rock that had been in 24 hours was severely decayed with a lot of the rock missing and what was left was extremely brittle and easy to break. Pukani is very porous to begin with so I didn't want to lose a bunch of the rock I just wanted to remove the outer layer and phosphates. That's just my personal experiment. Every rock is composed differently so depending on what you have you might have to adjust your times or your ratios.
