Cooking rocks

[Duke13]

Ok, I had about 12 pounds of LR in my old 10 gal nano. I let the tank get out of hand and had to take the tank down. The rock was covered with hair algae and bubble algae (green kind, not red).

The rock has been sitting in a tub, completely dry for the last two months. I'd like to reuse the rock but I'm really paranoid that the stupid algae spores will come back.

I've since filled the tub with fresh water, added a pump and put the lid on it.


Do you guys think this fresh water 'cook' will do the trick or do I need to scrape the rocks? I've heard some people have used vinegar or bleach? I could care less what's on these rocks, I just want all traces of algae gone.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Al

 

[musty baby]

You will have to eliminate what is feeding the algae. Cooking rocks will kill the vegetative material, which is what leaving it dry for two months did, but it will not eliminate the potential for it to spring back up again.

If you've got the algae under control in your 40, I'd say scrub it, rinse it, cook it, and reuse it. If it were me, though, I don't think 12 pounds of rock would justify the trouble.

 

[acidlittle]

I agree with Ryan. I had 50+ lbs of rock that I cooked this summer. It worked pretty well, but you definitly should scrub them before and after you cook them, then rinse them off. And then if you are placing this back into the tank, put them in an easy spot to remove them should they start to regrow the bubble algae.

But to totally solve the problem....get an RODI system. I had the same issues until I got the RODI now I'm sad I never have hair algae for my Lawnmower to eat! but he likes flakes now so it's ok!

GL with the rock cook

 

[Duke13]

I have no problems with my 40. I do have an RO unit. However, the rock I bought for the 10 was uncured and all the 'good stuff' starting sprouting up after a few months.

Thanks for the replies so far.