Safe way to bleach live rock

[seldin]

I have an established reef tank. Lot's of varieties. However, sometimes, things get over run. Some stuff is sometimes a pain to get off my rock.

I would like a safe "recipe" to bleach live rock safely to kill everything on rock. However, I want to totally make sure, nothing like bleach will leach back into tank.

The reason, is being an established live rock, I do not want to sell this rock, when things like a sponge are taking over an SPS. I would like to bleach the live rock, re-cure it and place back in the tank in the exact location.

What I do now, is to just let the rock, sit for a week, and most of the time, stuff is killed. However, that is not always the case.

Thank you,

 

[ninjamini]

Sound like you are suffering from your own success. I would not kill off your rock. There is just no reason for it. There are plenty of things that will eat a sponge.

 

[seldin]

Well the problem is sponge on one rock, older unwanted polyps on other rocks. As a reef gardiner, I am glad tank does well, but weeding can be difficult. So sometimes, it is just easier to want bleach the rock.

I have plenty of live rock in display tank and also in my sump. Never worried about killing a single rock. So for some stuff, I want to do a quick kill.

Obviously, I donate and sell frags, however, sometimes, like in this instance, the sponge, is way to heavy. Also, same true for an area for brown polyps.

Also, in this case, not looking to exterminate the sponge in this tank. It does well, where I want it to. Just don't want it next to my sps.

 

[joemelo]

their really isn't a quick way to kill rock.
this is how I bleached mine. it took a few weeks.

I put 2 liters of bleach with 15 gallons of freshwater water in a brute. left it for a week. dried it for a day outside. you have to dry it so the bleach can evaporate. filled it up again with fresh and a dechlorinator like prime and left it for a week. to suck more bleach out. dry it for a day. fill it up with saltwater and cycled for a month changing the water out every week to get rid of the die off.
this will kill the rock and no bleach will leach out.

 

[NCSUsalt]

^ you're way overdoing it.

just soak it in a bleach solution for a few hours, take it out and spray it off, then soak it in fresh water with prime for a few hours. take out and let it air dry. you can do it in a day easily

 

[jaa1456]

I do sort of the same type of thing. Although I use a 5 gallon bucket. Put in bleach first, add freshwater, mixes bleach nicely. I add the rock. Let it soak for a few days. Then I let it sit in the sun for almost a week. If it rains bring the rock in so it doesn't soak up new water. Then put it in freshwater, add dechlorinator. Change the water every day for a week. Let the rock dry again in the sun for a few days. Then if it smells ok its good to go.

 

[joemelo]

the rock is dead. no matter how long you soak it in bleach or fresh you should still cycle it so you don't have huge level spikes

 

[seldin]

1) What is ratio of bleach to fresh water.

2) What is ratio of de-chlorinater to fresh water.

3) Is the de-chlorinater what is removing the bleach?

4) Is there any test to use, to make sure there is no more bleach on rock.




Thank you,

 

[Agu]

IMHO the use of chemicals is overkill and dangerous. Soak the rock in fresh water for a few days, sun bleach it until it's dry, Hose it off with a freshwater spray, and when it's dry again do a final dip in RO/DI.

Or you can do as I do. Scrape off as much as possible and just flip the rock over and bury the infested area in the sand. Kills off pretty much everything with a minimal cycle.

Save the bleach for doing laundry ........

 

[joemelo]

I've seen some people recommend something as high as a 50/50 bleach mix. I would never do that. I think I used 5% bleach. I used the recommended dechlorinator that is on the back of the product (per gallon). When you sundry it, the bleach evaporates it. The decholorinator breaks the bleach to chlorine allowing it to be removed.

As far as I know their isn't a test to make sure.
but if you followed the steps I gave you will be fine.
Don't worry, every one that takes this risk is definitely afraid of doing it. That's why a lot of people are against it...It's definitely risky

 

[MCary]

Bleaching is not the only way to kill stuff. Like said earlier, just fresh water will do a number on the critters, second steam kills. You could place the rock in a pressure cooker and steam it for 15 minutes.

I work in a laboratory. A 1-10 bleach solution will kill any microscopic organism.

 

[A Reef Scene]

I just left the rock in the sun outside for a few days. And the used a powerwasher (1600 PSI) used with olny water in it. Rock came out nice and white

 

[saf1]

Sun. Reef Scene said it - maybe others too. Just set it out in the back yard and let mother nature take care of it. May take a bit but eveything will dry out and die over a week or two. Hit up lowes or any other hardware store and buy a wire brush. Script away junk. Rinse with fresh water. Scrub again if necessary. Rinse. Then use.

Power washer is also good but please be safe. Those damn things hurt people who are not wearing or using the proper protective equipment (gloves, etc). 1600 psi is a lot

Bleach I'm sure would work but living in California we like to do things green here I'm teasing.

 

[A Reef Scene]

Mine must not be that strong has, a problem cleaning the fence of the dirt spray from the rock. Anyway the small powerwasher can be found a Lowes or home depot, forget the price though.

 

[seldin]

Reefers,

Thank you for answering my questions.

As an aside, I remember trying to get GSP off of some live rock. First, I let it dry out in air for 2 days. GSP came back in 2 weeks.

Then I microwaved rock for 10 minutes. GSP still came back.

Then, I left rock out for 3 weeks in cold weather, that did the trick. No wonder, GSP can kill SPS...

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Chris27]

FWIW, I don't measure the bleach, just a healthy pour into the bucket full o water. Bleach is good stuff for just about any type of cleaning, it will kill anything and everything - even GSP

The great thing about bleach is that it's so easy to remove once you don't need it any more. After the rock is good and dead, give it a rinse with some fresh water and let it dry, once it's dry the chlorine bonds are broken and no longer pose a threat.

 

[jaa1456]

I use bleach because some of the nasty things(like Bryopsis) for example will still come back after being dried in the sun, freshwater dips and even power washing. Don't forget most live rock is very porous and not everything will be affected by the sun/freshwater/pressure washer.

 

[theReefKing]

the rock is dead. no matter how long you soak it in bleach or fresh you should still cycle it so you don't have huge level spikes

Not true. You need to let the bleach have time to work. If you go quick into bleach, then quick into rinse you have not reached deep into the rock, and you will have phosphates (decaying matter) leaching out into your tank for months.

 

[Peter Eichler]

Not true. You need to let the bleach have time to work. If you go quick into bleach, then quick into rinse you have not reached deep into the rock, and you will have phosphates (decaying matter) leaching out into your tank for months.

Bleech isn't going to prevent that from happening regardless of how long the rock sits in it. Also, "deep in the rock" is going to be relatively void of anything other than perhaps bacteria.