Rock Bleaching

[thecoralreefer]

I recently posted about this in the newbie forum and realized this might be a betterr place to post this.
I am working for a maintanance company that bleaches the rock in fo tanks to keep them clean and sterile looking.
he will pull alll the rock and stick it in a bin of bleach and water,
scrub the rock and rinse w water and amquel. Add more amquel in the tank for insurance and return the rock to the tank.
I can smell the bleach on my hands after handleing it
I know this kills off any bacteria on the rock and probably a lot in the tank.
I know this is a common practice in maintanance.
But I wonder how good this is for the fish. How do these guys doing this get away w it???
Does this pose a problem "long term" for the fish?
Can anybody dispell my concerns on this practice ?
Have you doen this yourself? for how long?

 

[hoosierpat]

I worked in maintenance for years and we never bleached rock. We would bleach coral skeletons in the few tanks that had them. I don't see any problem with bleaching the rocks though. Obviously, the rock is dead after this but it shouldn't cause any harm to the fish. Using dechlorinator in large amounts will neutralize the bleach as bleach is just concentrated chlorine, or maybe chlorine is diluted bleach, I don't know which. After a dunk in the dechlor the rocks shouldn't smell at all anymore. If they do, you didn't use enough. I would bleach them in a work sink, drain the bleach water, refill the sink, then dump in a medium sized bottle of prime. Then I would empty the sink and give them a quick rinse.