Dry Rock Turned a Little Gray

[paulthomas]

I bleached my rock, which made some of the pieces ghost white. After running water with lots of dechlorinator, carbon and a big piece of Poly Bio Filter pad through it for a week, the bleach smell is gone. But some of the rock turned a grayish/brownish color. I think it might be some kind of mold. Should I not worry about it? I figure I should be fine once I get saltwater and a skimmer on it.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[IPWitan]

I have bleached concrete/marcite and it turns a little gray. I cannot see how it is a bad thing, considering it will change colors to brownish/tan as soon as it sits in your tank for a month anyway. Did you try a simply dechlorinator, e.g. amquel? No use in using costly carbon when amquel works. Just remember that the rock will absorb Cl, so you must make sure it is all out. It sounds like you let it sit for a while, which is what it needs.

As far as the coloring of the rock, perhaps the true color change will be from white to diatom brown to cyano red back to tan/brown and then either coralline red or hair algae green

Good luck.

David

 

[paulthomas]

I'd like it to go from the color it is straight to a deep purple, thank you.

I used Prime, IIRC. I threw the carbon and pad in there to absorb whatever was neutralized (I hope). I think it worked. The Poly pad turned brown, which is the color stage before it turns black and is done.