Boing base rock

[stanski13]

Could someone help me on how long I should boil my base rock to get off anything that's on them?

 

[stingythingy45]

I wouldn't boil it.
Just let the organics on it help start your cycle.
Sounds like you need to purchase a good book.

 

[Bobbofin]

Put it in a bucket with a powerhead for a few months and let it cook. Or just buy Marco Rock.

 

[Jocko]

Are you setting up a new tank or trying to clean some rock in an existing tank?

 

[stanski13]

setting up a new tank.

 

[reeferpj]

were did you get the rock? do you need to boil it does it have pests and algee all over it

 

[stanski13]

im jsut lettign the rock soak in water for a day or so

 

[reeferpj]

ohhh your cooking it not boiling it lol. in salt water or fresh? are you getting it ready to put in the tank? is it live or dead ?

 

[stanski13]

it is dead and i am getting ready to put it into the tank. Do you think i should put it in with a bucket of live rock. I just put my power head in my tank to circulate the salt around right now. Then im going to put my sand and rocks in.

 

[reeferpj]

you could do that or just put 1 piece of rock in with it. your setting up a new tank so your gonna get a cycle eather way you could just set up the tank with all your rock and let it cycle in the tank or you can do it in a bucket up to you. me id set up the tank and let it cycle then theres only one tank/buchet that you need to test. but this will take some time eather way you do it

 

[JohnK]

If the rock is dead, I would soak it in bleach solution. Boiling will kill anything (but it's already dead) but probably leave a good amound of decaying organics behind. Bleach will kill anything AND dissolve the organics completely.

Now if you are worried about bound up phosphate, then that's another story. For that acid soak is the only thing that will do anything.

 

[Jocko]

I'm with stringthingy on this. If you're setting up a new tank and the rock is already dead, I'd just cure the rock in the tank itself. Let it power your cycle.

 

[jpnasty]

boiling is a last ditch effort in my book. i had bought about 200ish pounds of rock covered in aiptasia and probably tens of thousands of fire/bristle worms, after six months of trying to get rid off all of them i ended up boiling the rock and it did the trick. the down side was it took about a year to come back to life

 

[inverted]

Bleach is good, but it will not remove certain things such as bound copper, or bound inorganic phosphate. It should remove organics well though. If you want to do it fast and get rid of everything, the most efficient way is bleach then acid. You can do 1:10 bleach : water in a bucket, with a powerhead for 24hours, then rinse very well. From there go 1:10 muriatic acid (from a hardware store and remember add acid to water and do so slowly). You can leave it for 20 minutes or so. Some people do longer, up to 3 hours, but this shouldn't be necessary unless the rock is really bad. You can neutralize the acid with backing soda, then rinse very well. Wear gloves and goggles though. And don't do it on your living room floor LOL.