I've been busy with this all week and following these instructions. At the same time I have been reading a lot of university publications on fresh water quality and active carbon. I decided on the rinses that instead of just diluting any trace remains of whatever, to actively remove with carbon any undesirable elements from the water as the rock soaks. I started the carbon after giving the copious dosage of neutralizer 24 hours to work. I'm currently also bleaching some reef rubble. Just to see what happens, before I rinse it I'll just let it turn through the carbon that I have used this week and monitor the result. According to what I have read, chlorine breaks down after a 4 second contact time with active carbon but I do not know the saturation points. This is just out of curiosity and all precise tesing will be done using my wife's nose. Its formidable.
Love your presentation. Straight to the points without adding jibber jabber ( meaning unrelated information).im Glad I watched you , it's my third video on cleaning finger coral I picked up on the beach. About 17 pieces, so I soaked in hot water, got out most of sand. Then scrubbed each price with a soft tooth brush. Rinsed, added hot water to the container and a significant amount of bleach. But, left it in kitchen sink, so, now I need to set it outside and I had no idea it takes about a week or two. Glad I watched! Cool,video, thank you.
Awesome video! Personally I like to add a wave maker when I have the rock in the bleach solution to make sure it gets everywhere and same when I’m using the dechlorinator. Just for safety measure I also sun dry it for a day after the prime soak.
Very informative video as I used pool chlorine and did exactly what BRS recommended before seeing and the 80lb of rock came out pure white. The reason is I got frustrated fighting Aptasia . Did the week in regular tap h20 with a power head and dechlorinator. Then let dry for 5 days on my terrace. Now will let dry again then use RO/DI 💧.. Will use a chlorine test strip .. Hope all goes well cause it's a very tedious project but should be well worth it for my 100 gal . 👍
What I've noticed has worked for me in the past on is putting all the rock I want to cure into a container with a lots of current and make the water salinity extremely high. Seems to kill everything on the rock. Couldn't put an exact amount of time on it but last time I ran it for about a month like this and started me and tank with this dry rock. Came out great, all algae and color of it was gone. The rock came out looking like new.
My rock has been outside in a bleach cure for 10 days now. I dindt hear you say to use a wavemaker and since you siad to do this outside I didnt use a wave maker. I kept going out side and moving the rock to make sure the bleach penetrated all of it! I am not sure now what to do! Do you think its still ok since I dint use a wavemaker? I am also unsure of just rinsing in rodi or setting in sun for a week. . Another video he rinsed and sat in sun. Is it better to do that? I watched several video and thats what they did. I know you did say thechicaly speaking you could to that but seems to me thats and xtra precation.
Hi. Thank you for this very great video. I recently bought a dry live rock from someone and he said he hasn't used them for a couple of years. Should i bleach them still or add them directly to my fowlr tank? What should i do? Thanks in advance.
If the rock was previously used in an aquarium, but is now dry, you'll need to cure the rock before adding it to an established tank. The bleach method discussed here is one of those options.
Couple of questions: 1) I have used caribesea life rocks that I want to reuse, can I bleach cure it? 2) how about sand can k cure it the same way? If it spread it thin in a tab?
We haven't tried a bleach cure on the CaribSea rock, but would presume it would go just as a bleach cure with any natural rock. For sand, it's often not worth re-using old sand. If you must, just give it a very very thorough rinse in a 5 gallon bucket with a garden hose.
I'm not 100% on this, but just thinking about makes me think yes. Reasons being, you want something to move the dissolved organics away from where they were and let the solution do as much work as possible. Get in the nooks and crannies and whatnot. That said, it wouldn't be damaging to the powerhead, so no real reason not to throw one in there :)
I'm looking at buying a used tank and planning on possibly having to nuke the tank and re-cycle, depending on how bad this "mild algae problem" is. This was google's first recommendation when I looked up sterilizing live rock. I was wondering if you could use a ridiculously salty brine to nuke everything instead of having to boil or bleach, etc. Do you think it would work to soak the live rock and sand in way too salty water for idk how long to start over? Thank you SO MUCH for all the valuable info you share and for scratching the saltwater itch in my brain I've been plagued by since having to leave behind my tanks several military moves ago. Watching your videos is as entertaining as it is educational! Thank you for sharing and showing all the good, bad, ugly, and spectacular in the tanks you care for!
It is ready to go and just needs to be cycled with the rest of the tank. :) "Curing" rock really is intended for dry rock that was once in the ocean or someone else's tank which usually means there is dried up organic material (algea, sponges, etc.) on them. Curing the rock removes those organics. Marco rock is mined from the ground from limestone aquafers and doesn't have organics on it, which means you can toss it in the tank and start the cycle right away. :)
So i have/use dry rock stacker from ARC reef i had a small out break of aptasia, i used aptasia x but want to get the unseen crap in the rocks, can I bleach those rocks? Thank you
A bleach cure should help, but before you start, I'd check out this video, which has some great details on your phosphate leaching question: ruclips.net/video/tBIWAYnk9ks/видео.html
While we haven't tried it, it likely won't work as the pH of it is near neutral and we're unaware of the effects that it could have. We have seen some reefers use hydrogen peroxide for this purpose, however.
Clorox is not just a solution of disolved chlorine gas, it contains very strong detergents which is what actually whitens cloths. In fact, “bleach” is a brand name for the detergent sodium hypochlorite. These detergents are also what gives Clorox an almost soapy feel if you touch it bear hand. These detergents take time to fully rinse off of the rock so please share that information.
Clorox is the brand name. Bleach is the solution. Your point is not lost and he did point that out. He said use the regular stuff and none of the scented or stuff with any additives.
I have recently started to use baking soda in high concentration to rub and soak the rock and then microwave my rock to literally steam heat the rock an open the pores a bit.
This is one of three commonly used methods. The other two being an acid bath or a natural cure. I'd suggest watching those two videos first before making a decision on the direction you'd like to go to cure your rock. If you're not pressed for time, I personally prefer the natural cure and avoid using bleach or acid.
After bleaching, and rinsing, my rock will go into a storage bin for later use (months). Do I still need to test for chlorine/pests? Or can just rinse and let dry and call it a day?
Bleach is very effective, but not 100%. Once you're done with the bleaching process, I'd suggest soaking it in heated, circulated saltwater and monitor for any further phosphate/nitrate leaching into the water column. Once that stops, that's when I'd suggest adding it to an already cycled system.
Can someone help me please ,I bleach my rock I have done as instructions on the video ,now my skimmer overflows ,is that mean that i have to change the water in the tank?or there is anything that I can do ???please help 😭
Depends on the amount of organic matter in and on the rock. With wet live rock, you're not just eliminating single celled organisms. 10% would work for no more than 24 hours for dry rock that has been thoroughly cleaned before storage (like live rock recycled from an old setup). I bought cheap live rock from a store, and they were wet. I'll need a larger ratio to oxidize at all the aiptasia and bristleworms that are hiding in the rockwork
@ted.r 😂😂😂yeah I recently got it and thankfully my rocks were not glued. I ripped the corals apart and bought a grill brush and scratched every rock. A lot of work but the only way I got it off. I also add vibrant liquid to help not bring it back
Definite no on scented. You want just bleach, no other chemicals. Unless you want a scented aquarium later ;P Not sure how the corals would react to that scent though
Also wondering about rock sitting outside that has possibly gotten weed killer on it at some point , also gets a lot of rain. Would bleach or peroxide would work?
BulkReefSupplyCom ok thanks, use acid every week for pool so have that readily on hand. Might give that a try followed by bleach and lots of rinsing.....
Confirming 1 part bleach (~5.25% wt) to 10 parts water is about right coming out to (~0.48%wt), National Institute of Health (NIH) recommends 0.5% for disinfectant; I know ambulance that uses twice this strength for decontaminating pooled blood.
The table saw clip made me cringe. You shouldn't use the miter gauge if the work piece is against the fence. Also I didn't see a riving knife being used, but it was hard to see in the clip so it might have been there.
This video helped me clean so much old rock I received from a friend! Thank you!
We're glad it was helpful!
I've been busy with this all week and following these instructions. At the same time I have been reading a lot of university publications on fresh water quality and active carbon. I decided on the rinses that instead of just diluting any trace remains of whatever, to actively remove with carbon any undesirable elements from the water as the rock soaks. I started the carbon after giving the copious dosage of neutralizer 24 hours to work. I'm currently also bleaching some reef rubble. Just to see what happens, before I rinse it I'll just let it turn through the carbon that I have used this week and monitor the result. According to what I have read, chlorine breaks down after a 4 second contact time with active carbon but I do not know the saturation points. This is just out of curiosity and all precise tesing will be done using my wife's nose. Its formidable.
Love your presentation. Straight to the points without adding jibber jabber ( meaning unrelated information).im
Glad I watched you , it's my third video on cleaning finger coral I picked up on the beach. About 17 pieces, so I soaked in hot water, got out most of sand. Then scrubbed each price with a soft tooth brush. Rinsed, added hot water to the container and a significant amount of bleach. But, left it in kitchen sink, so, now I need to set it outside and I had no idea it takes about a week or two. Glad I watched! Cool,video, thank you.
Awesome video! Personally I like to add a wave maker when I have the rock in the bleach solution to make sure it gets everywhere and same when I’m using the dechlorinator. Just for safety measure I also sun dry it for a day after the prime soak.
Thanks Fellers for all the info you give..
Very informative video as I used pool chlorine and did exactly what BRS recommended before seeing and the 80lb of rock came out pure white. The reason is I got frustrated fighting Aptasia . Did the week in regular tap h20 with a power head and dechlorinator. Then let dry for 5 days on my terrace. Now will let dry again then use RO/DI 💧.. Will use a chlorine test strip .. Hope all goes well cause it's a very tedious project but should be well worth it for my 100 gal . 👍
Ah thanks! finally!! It took me forever to find this!
What I've noticed has worked for me in the past on is putting all the rock I want to cure into a container with a lots of current and make the water salinity extremely high. Seems to kill everything on the rock. Couldn't put an exact amount of time on it but last time I ran it for about a month like this and started me and tank with this dry rock. Came out great, all algae and color of it was gone. The rock came out looking like new.
My rock has been outside in a bleach cure for 10 days now. I dindt hear you say to use a wavemaker and since you siad to do this outside I didnt use a wave maker. I kept going out side and moving the rock to make sure the bleach penetrated all of it! I am not sure now what to do! Do you think its still ok since I dint use a wavemaker? I am also unsure of just rinsing in rodi or setting in sun for a week. . Another video he rinsed and sat in sun. Is it better to do that? I watched several video and thats what they did. I know you did say thechicaly speaking you could to that but seems to me thats and xtra precation.
Do I need to put a lid on the container or leave it open ?
Also would like to know the answer to this question!
Hi. Thank you for this very great video. I recently bought a dry live rock from someone and he said he hasn't used them for a couple of years. Should i bleach them still or add them directly to my fowlr tank? What should i do? Thanks in advance.
If the rock was previously used in an aquarium, but is now dry, you'll need to cure the rock before adding it to an established tank. The bleach method discussed here is one of those options.
Ok thank you.
Couple of questions:
1) I have used caribesea life rocks that I want to reuse, can I bleach cure it?
2) how about sand can k cure it the same way? If it spread it thin in a tab?
Oh almost forgot , thank you In advance:)
We haven't tried a bleach cure on the CaribSea rock, but would presume it would go just as a bleach cure with any natural rock. For sand, it's often not worth re-using old sand. If you must, just give it a very very thorough rinse in a 5 gallon bucket with a garden hose.
If I use this method should is still and a power head for water movement
I'm not 100% on this, but just thinking about makes me think yes. Reasons being, you want something to move the dissolved organics away from where they were and let the solution do as much work as possible. Get in the nooks and crannies and whatnot.
That said, it wouldn't be damaging to the powerhead, so no real reason not to throw one in there :)
I'm looking at buying a used tank and planning on possibly having to nuke the tank and re-cycle, depending on how bad this "mild algae problem" is. This was google's first recommendation when I looked up sterilizing live rock. I was wondering if you could use a ridiculously salty brine to nuke everything instead of having to boil or bleach, etc. Do you think it would work to soak the live rock and sand in way too salty water for idk how long to start over? Thank you SO MUCH for all the valuable info you share and for scratching the saltwater itch in my brain I've been plagued by since having to leave behind my tanks several military moves ago. Watching your videos is as entertaining as it is educational! Thank you for sharing and showing all the good, bad, ugly, and spectacular in the tanks you care for!
Is the Marcos reef rock safe to use as is to start up a reef tank or does it still need to be cured?
It is ready to go and just needs to be cycled with the rest of the tank. :) "Curing" rock really is intended for dry rock that was once in the ocean or someone else's tank which usually means there is dried up organic material (algea, sponges, etc.) on them. Curing the rock removes those organics. Marco rock is mined from the ground from limestone aquafers and doesn't have organics on it, which means you can toss it in the tank and start the cycle right away. :)
@@BRStv Awesome! Thanks so much for the info!
So i have/use dry rock stacker from ARC reef i had a small out break of aptasia, i used aptasia x but want to get the unseen crap in the rocks, can I bleach those rocks?
Thank you
Intéressant, merci !!! 👍👍👍
If you have live rock and it’s leaching phosphate and you bleach cure the rock with this help?
A bleach cure should help, but before you start, I'd check out this video, which has some great details on your phosphate leaching question: ruclips.net/video/tBIWAYnk9ks/видео.html
Can you use isopropyl alcohol to kill algae on reef rock? I have the 99% alcohol.
While we haven't tried it, it likely won't work as the pH of it is near neutral and we're unaware of the effects that it could have. We have seen some reefers use hydrogen peroxide for this purpose, however.
will it kill dinos?
Clorox is not just a solution of disolved chlorine gas, it contains very strong detergents which is what actually whitens cloths. In fact, “bleach” is a brand name for the detergent sodium hypochlorite. These detergents are also what gives Clorox an almost soapy feel if you touch it bear hand. These detergents take time to fully rinse off of the rock so please share that information.
Clorox is the brand name. Bleach is the solution. Your point is not lost and he did point that out. He said use the regular stuff and none of the scented or stuff with any additives.
AWESOME....Thanks for the video as always...
Can you do the same thing with sand?
I have recently started to use baking soda in high concentration to rub and soak the rock and then microwave my rock to literally steam heat the rock an open the pores a bit.
@@BRStv darn..I never though of that. Thanks.
Yeah, don't do this. Not only could the rock explode but people have poisoned themselves by heating up coral toxins on the rock which go airborne.
I live rock from the ocean. it sat outside in the weather for 13 months in north Ohio. Do I still need to cure?
Yep, you'll definitely want to cure that rock before using it
Hello I did that with 2 little rocks I had for a week and one came out white like a thick white, ,does anyone know why?
You bleached it.
Thanks for the information...
If we’re cycling from zero with the same rock... then I should go for bleach process???
This is one of three commonly used methods. The other two being an acid bath or a natural cure. I'd suggest watching those two videos first before making a decision on the direction you'd like to go to cure your rock. If you're not pressed for time, I personally prefer the natural cure and avoid using bleach or acid.
After bleaching, and rinsing, my rock will go into a storage bin for later use (months). Do I still need to test for chlorine/pests? Or can just rinse and let dry and call it a day?
I would dry the rock completely, or use a dechlorinator to ensure you remove the bleach from the rock.
So after I do the bleach cure for a week and get it dry as well as use some decholinater is it safe to put in a tank that is already cycled ?
Bleach is very effective, but not 100%. Once you're done with the bleaching process, I'd suggest soaking it in heated, circulated saltwater and monitor for any further phosphate/nitrate leaching into the water column. Once that stops, that's when I'd suggest adding it to an already cycled system.
Can someone help me please ,I bleach my rock I have done as instructions on the video ,now my skimmer overflows ,is that mean that i have to change the water in the tank?or there is anything that I can do ???please help 😭
Thanks for another great video!! This is great info
My experience in microbiology labs is in support of the 10% bleach amount. You should not need more.
Depends on the amount of organic matter in and on the rock. With wet live rock, you're not just eliminating single celled organisms. 10% would work for no more than 24 hours for dry rock that has been thoroughly cleaned before storage (like live rock recycled from an old setup). I bought cheap live rock from a store, and they were wet. I'll need a larger ratio to oxidize at all the aiptasia and bristleworms that are hiding in the rockwork
Can you also bleach sand??
will Seachem Prime Concentrated Conditioner work? thanks
Yes it will
Will it kill vermitid snails?
In our experience, it will kill the snails themselves, but their calcareous tubes will be left behind.
Great vid! Came at the right time for me
Do a video on turf algae ! 👍
A full out nuclear war is needed to kill turf algae.
@ted.r 😂😂😂yeah I recently got it and thankfully my rocks were not glued. I ripped the corals apart and bought a grill brush and scratched every rock. A lot of work but the only way I got it off. I also add vibrant liquid to help not bring it back
Has anyone done this in NZ? If so - What brand bleach did you use? - Cheers
Just use pure bleach.
Good information! Should bleach be the original or can you use the scented stuff?
Definite no on scented. You want just bleach, no other chemicals. Unless you want a scented aquarium later ;P
Not sure how the corals would react to that scent though
@@barryrichards5015 lol
Also wondering about rock sitting outside that has possibly gotten weed killer on it at some point , also gets a lot of rain. Would bleach or peroxide would work?
BulkReefSupplyCom ok thanks, use acid every week for pool so have that readily on hand. Might give that a try followed by bleach and lots of rinsing.....
what about old rock that has been sitting outside for about 5 months?
Fernando Alexander sounds like the perfect candidate to me
@@wittyharp2869 I was thinking the same thing, I will work on that. Getting back to the hobby cant wait😬
When I’m bleaching the rock should I mix the bleach with RODI water as I’m assuming the tap water would kill the rock?
What do you think the bleach is going to do?
Confirming 1 part bleach (~5.25% wt) to 10 parts water is about right coming out to (~0.48%wt), National Institute of Health (NIH) recommends 0.5% for disinfectant; I know ambulance that uses twice this strength for decontaminating pooled blood.
Excuse me if I'm wrong but I think dechlorinators are usually for chloramine, not for sodium hypochlorite (bleach).
just use hydrogen peroxide or ascorbic acid. edit: to neutralize sodium hypochlorite ofcourse..
That table saw cut was not done in the safest way...
Did half the people commenting even watch the video ffs!
Never use table saw like that.....
The table saw clip made me cringe. You shouldn't use the miter gauge if the work piece is against the fence. Also I didn't see a riving knife being used, but it was hard to see in the clip so it might have been there.