Seeding dead rock and more questions

[tuberider]

That's odd, I use Oxi Clean to bleach coral, rock, plastic plants, and have never had anything turn green, I'd just bleach 'em then if that's the case.

 

[LeviT]

I had the same thing happen... well sort of. The rock I was nuking had all sorts of algea on them and the only green that I had after 2 overnight soaks appeared to be where there was some sort of slimy algea before I started. I planned on scrubbing them down and trying straight bleach next but just haven't had the time so let me know how that works for you.

 

[badbread]

There was some green sea grass looking algae on the rocks pre-oxyclean, I'm guessing the oxyclean did something to it and made it spew all over the rocks... It's really weird, only the top part of the rocks got covered in this green stuff and the bottoms are a nice and clean tan color... Maybe because all the fizzy bubbles only hit the bottom parts of the rocks?

The green color isn't slimy at all, almost looks like it was spray painted on...

How should I bleach the rocks? 5 gallon bucket with a healthy splash of regular old chlorox? warm water? cold water? does it matter? How long should I let it sit? Until they are clean?

Thanks!

 

[badbread]

After reading a quick google search, another quick question; After bleaching should I let the rock sit in a bucket of de-chlorinator for a couple days?

 

[iani]

Bleach until clean. Rinse the rock out a few times and yes let it soak in declor. You probably don't need to let it soak for a few days. If you want to really be careful. After all of this let the rocks dry out completely.

 

[tuberider]

[quote author=badbread link=topic=4831.msg59239#msg59239 date=1224187023]
After reading a quick google search, another quick question; After bleaching should I let the rock sit in a bucket of de-chlorinator for a couple days?
[/quote]

As an example this is what I did at a stop this morning.

Chucked dead ornamental coral in a bucket, filled it with hot tap water and added about 1/4 c of bleach (for some reason Clorox seems to work better than generic). Let the corals soak for about 20 minutes, pulled them out of the bucket, rinsed with hot tap water, then into another bucket with hot tap water and a cap full prime. After about 15-20 minutes of soaking, I pulled them out re-rinsed with hot tap water and placed them into yet another bucket where they drip off and let any leftover bleach oxidize. Place back in tank, total time the corals were out of the tank 45-50 minutes ;D If you want to be on the safe side make sure the rocks dry out completely.

One of the keys is to use very hot water, it really speeds things up including the breakdown of the bleach.

 

[badbread]

Thanks a lot Jeremy, a bottle of dechlorinator just happened to come with the tank as well!

 

[Vincerama2]

If I ever reset my tank, I'm using 100% dead rock. No seeding. Why? Aiptasia. The end.

V

 

[badbread]

[quote author=Vincerama2 link=topic=4831.msg59263#msg59263 date=1224198979]
If I ever reset my tank, I'm using 100% dead rock. No seeding. Why? Aiptasia. The end.

V
[/quote]

Hence the reason for nuking this beautiful live rock that came with the new tank

 

[Elite]

[quote author=Vincerama2 link=topic=4831.msg59263#msg59263 date=1224198979]
If I ever reset my tank, I'm using 100% dead rock. No seeding. Why? Aiptasia. The end.

V
[/quote]
You wish.. My tank are 99% base/dead rock.. After a month I have Aiptasia in my tank.. Where the hell they came from?? I wish I have an answer...

 

[bluenassarius]

dang phong, you got bad luck. i heard they don't die even when dried out. whip out the trusty torch and burn em. make sure they and their kids don't grow

 

[Elite]

hehehe... the peppermint shrimp took care all of them. I only have one left in the overflow. When I switch tank, it will die too ;D ..

 

[badbread]

So I took out all the rocks and after a few more days of oxi-cleaning, bleaching, rinsing, de-chloring, rinsing, drying out on a towel with a massive fan the dry, clean, white, and killed rock is now in the tank.

After I took the rocks out of the tank I did some major sand bed stirring to suspend all the nasty milky water making junk(already rinsed the sand a lot before this as well) and siphoned all the water out.

The tank is now full of RO, at 1.025 @ around 78 degrees.

So now what? The rocks were completely sterilized, and the sand was bought dry and rinsed heavily. Do I just wait now until the cycle begins? Should I introduce a small live rock from my 14G to jump start things?

 

[Elite]

Toss in a small piece of raw shrimp and wait for a week or two.. put in some chaeto after that.. That's how I cycled my tank..

 

[A_Lee]

I'd second what Phong said, and throw a small piece of meaty food into the tank. Adding a piece of mature rock into the new tank will help seed the new tank with nitrifying bacteria - go for it!