Bleaching rocks

0

00accordvtec

New member
can someone tell me how to bleach live rock. Bought a nice size piece of rock and when i took it out of bag it was loaded with bristle worms trying to get to water.
 
Bristle worms are your friends. Why would you pay a premium for live rock and then kill it? If you are that worried, start with dry rock - it will slowly become live. In the end, you will still end up with bristle worms and a whole bunch of other neat stuff. Yes, there will be the occasional bad guy, but that is easy to deal with when it happens.
 
I concur. Live rock is just that---full of stuff! 99.999% of it is good, and bristleworms are some of the best.
 
I wouldn't boil live rock under any circumstances. That sounds messy and smelly, and could send chemicals into the air. If you want dead rock, just let it dry out.
 
I had a lapse in judgment and let some aiptaisia into my tank once. I broke down everything, bleached the rock, replaced the sand, replaced ALL the plumbing and started over. I didn't want to chance it with aiptasia and bleach was my only (And quick) guarantee!

I just filled some trashcans with rock and tap water. I then added bleach (1/2 gallon bleach to each 40G trashcan). I used A LOT more bleach than you'd need, but it was worth it for me. THey ended up staying in there for a week..only intended for them to be in the for a day.

I then rinsed them off with a hose and let them dry. Repeated that and they were good to go into a curing tank. I filled the tank with the rock and fresh saltwater. I then added a gallon of ammonia and let nature handle the rest. I started skimming after a week and it was pulling out some nastiness. When everything was clear, I added some live sand from a trusted source and, again, let nature do it's thing. I ended up with live rock that was pest free.

It was a lot of work and a major expense, but well worth it, imo.

Oh, and bristle worms are your friends. :)
 
Bristleworms are great, keep them! Glad to see the majority of the hobby is getting rid of the old philosophy about keeping your saltwater tank devoid of life just because it isn't aesthetically pleasing..
 
Why do folks so quickly want to bleach, acid dip, boil or just plain kill thier rock until dead in the face?!? I bought my live rock because it was just that.. LIVE! And, I am trying like crazy to keep it that way. You'll never get anywhere if you 'start over' everytime some problem comes up or something pokes it's little head out of the rocks.. Sometimes I just sigh and shake my head..
 
Hey, some people like to start out clean from the get-go.. I would do the same too, I nuke many live rocks with bleach,propane torch,boiling water,power pressure washer and then some. I don't want anything that aren't suppose to be in the rocks now and later have sleepless nights and busying asking forums and googling on how to get rid of this and that...pest..

Just NUKE it and you be a happy person and no sleepless nights.
 
<----- happy person that sleeps well - and didn't nuke, boil, fry, bleach, implode my rock.

I think that part of the fun and 'magic' of live rock, and the reef, is what lives inside.
 
The ocean is a messy place. We call it 'life'. ;) I had 52 distinct species of hitchhikers on my live rock, including aiptasia, and the only one that ever caused any problem was caulerpa macroalgae.
 
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