What to do with LR from broken down tank

[gadawgs90]

Hey y'all,
So I broke down a 150 last week and I have painted the stand and plan on setting it up with in the next week. I have about 125 lbs of rock sitting in a trash can with no water some of the rocks are covered with Xenia and gsp. The tank wasent in bad shape meaning no hair algae or anything like that. He did have diatoms on the sand. I'm obviously going to scrape or scrub the Xenia and gsp off. Do you guys think the rock sitting in the trash can with no water for a week is good enough to kill most of what's on it? I also have about 50 60 lbs of Rick that's been sitting outside for over a year I was thinking about just pressure washing that. Any insight will help thanks in advance!

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Some will say bleach and then use a declorinator on the dry rock, or even an acid bath. Personally anything that's going into my reef gets a good vinegar soak then rinsed off. Cooking them in the sun for a bit is good too.

 

[2000se]

You vinegar soak your rock? Doesn't that just melt them away? The acid in the vinegar reacts with the carbonate rock?

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I'm not gonna argue as I'm not a chemist but yes I have used it on dry or dead rock with no ill effects a handful of times. I think of it as a weaker (safer?) alternative to Muriatic Acid. I only meant it for the dry rock he has sitting outside

 

[themagicman]

Time? (one way or the other)

FWIW I'm a LIVE rock fan.

 

[2000se]

I'm not gonna argue as I'm not a chemist but yes I have used it on dry or dead rock with no ill effects a handful of times. I think of it as a weaker (safer?) alternative to Muriatic Acid. I only meant it for the dry rock he has sitting outside

well,,,, it would have some same effects only of a lesser extent.

 

[2000se]

Hey y'all,
So I broke down a 150 last week and I have painted the stand and plan on setting it up with in the next week. I have about 125 lbs of rock sitting in a trash can with no water some of the rocks are covered with Xenia and gsp. The tank wasent in bad shape meaning no hair algae or anything like that. He did have diatoms on the sand. I'm obviously going to scrape or scrub the Xenia and gsp off. Do you guys think the rock sitting in the trash can with no water for a week is good enough to kill most of what's on it? I also have about 50 60 lbs of Rick that's been sitting outside for over a year I was thinking about just pressure washing that. Any insight will help thanks in advance!

Only 1 week will not kill everything. That rock will need to be in the sun for at least a month if not longer. Now, if you add chlorine to a bath and soak it in that, it will speed up that process. Be sure to rinse a few good times in de-chlorinator water after and then a full dry for a week or so. Fully dried chlorine is safe.

The rock thats been sitting out for the year is probably lifeless.. Where was it sitting? In the dirt or on pavement? I would give it a good rinsing and it would be fine.

 

[RioReefr]

There is a good post on this forum (somewhere) from an University Chemistry Professor who had access to very high-powered microscope. He tested various household cleaning compounds (cholorine bleach, vinegar, H202, etc.). In his anecdotal experiments, he found hydrogen peroxide to be superior at destroying biological life because it reacts at the cellular-level.
In his samples, he found that just because different molds, fungi and algae turned "white and appeared clean" using cholorine bleach in some cases they were still "alive" under the microscope. Using H202, it made the cell walls of these things literally exploded and died.
Additonally chlorine is very toxic and releases nasty fumes, whereas H202 simply turns into water and oxygen after it reacts. For me personally, H202 is my preferred cleaner when it comes to my aquarium (pumps, powerheads, filter socks, etc). If you go to medical supplies store, I am sure you can purchase it by the gallon.
Cheap, safe, effective cleaning compound.

 

[2000se]

There is a good post on this forum (somewhere) from an University Chemistry Professor who had access to very high-powered microscope. He tested various household cleaning compounds (cholorine bleach, vinegar, H202, etc.). In his anecdotal experiments, he found hydrogen peroxide to be superior at destroying biological life because it reacts at the cellular-level.
In his samples, he found that just because different molds, fungi and algae turned "white and appeared clean" using cholorine bleach in some cases they were still "alive" under the microscope. Using H202, it made the cell walls of these things literally exploded and died.
Additonally chlorine is very toxic and releases nasty fumes, whereas H202 simply turns into water and oxygen after it reacts. For me personally, H202 is my preferred cleaner when it comes to my aquarium (pumps, powerheads, filter socks, etc). If you go to medical supplies store, I am sure you can purchase it by the gallon.
Cheap, safe, effective cleaning compound.

I wouldn't say safe without a caveat. H2O2 is very toxic at high concentration levels. What you buy at Wal**** is generally safe because it is a very low concentration level. When going to medical supply place be careful of the concentration level you pickup.

https://www.poison.org/articles/2012-jun/hydrogen-peroxide

 

[dkeller_nc]

There's several other issues with concentrated H2O2. One is that it's highly reactive - accidentally mixing >30% H2O2 solution with something that has an easily oxidizable organic component to it will cause a violent and highly exothermic reaction.

Another one is that concentrated H2O2 is a "watched" compound because bad people can make really nasty things with it. So at least in certain states, supply depots selling H2O2 in beauty-salon concentrations must maintain a list of customers. Whether or not you consider that to be a "problem" is a personal choice, but IMO I'd rather not deal with the hassle.

It is very true that chlorine gas is quite toxic, but the concentration of sodium hypochlorite in household bleach is such that very little actual chlorine gas is liberated in use. That's as long as you don't mix bleach with acid (any acid).

As for the OP, if you're looking to nuke the rock, I'd personally go the outdoor acid bath route with hydrochloric acid from the pool supply store. Handled with reasonable caution, it's safe to use. The "reasonable caution" aspect is pretty easy to summarize - use outside only, wear old clothes and either a face shield or safety glasses, always fill your tub or other container part of the way with water before adding the acid, and never fill the container beyond 1/2 capacity with rock and water, as the reaction of the calcium carbonate in the rock with the HCl will generate a good deal of CO2 gas and foam, which could overflow the container.

Neutralize any leftover acid solution with baking soda before disposing down the drain, or pouring out on the driveway (unless you'd like to clean the driveway while you're cleaning the rock!).