Rock Renewal

[ShelbyJK500]

I decided to start fresh with a collection of liverock I had gotten over the past couple months. I kept some alive that I know doesn’t have any pests. I’ll use that to seed the rest later.

I soaked the rock in a 1/5 strength of bleach for 24 hours. I then rinsed the rock thoroughly in clean water and let it sun dry for 72 hours. It’s now been soaking for 72 hours in de-chlorinated water (Prime).

I had planned on completing the rock renewal with a muriatic acid bath. The rock actually looks pretty good and clean. I’m wondering, are there any major advantages to the acid bath? Many people have mentioned it eliminates any phosphates in the rock. Has anyone had experiences either way. Since the acid bath will erode a good layer of the rock away, I’d rather skip it unless the benefit outweighs the loss of rock surface??

After 24 hours of bleach soak...

After sun drying…

 

[Wicked Color]

muriatic acid? I wouldnt do that.

 

[Wet Paycheck]

Muriatic acidis just HCl, it won't de phosphatize anything.

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Not a fan of RC...but it's good for researching stuff. Here is one of the links (the most helpful one) that I used in my research. I thought it was interesting how the acid bath made the rock even more porous which could be beneficial or not, depending on the rock.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1914426

Wicked...why not??

 

[Off The Deep End]

hmmm interesting thread.

 

[miwoodar]

I'm going to side with RFH (and Shelby)...http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php. RFH: "Problems involving phosphorus and subsequent algae growth can be among the most difficult to solve in a reef aquarium, especially if the live rock and sand have been exposed to very high phosphate levels, after which they may be acting as a phosphate reservoir. "

RFH, bertoni, and others have added their thoughts to another RC thread on the same subject (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1587539). I'm doing the same with a few old pieces of live rock that had been removed from my tank over the years. I'm also doing a few rocks with aiptasia deep within unaccessible crevices.

Shelby, mine stayed in the acid bath for only a few minutes each. You would have to leave them in for a LONG time to appreciably reduce their size.

 

[Wicked Color]

its making it more porous because it is disolving the most soluble parts of the rock, leaving the rock less able to PH balance, or contribute any soluble minerals to the water column.

 

[miwoodar]

abc

 

[Wicked Color]

I am not going to argue with you, and I dont know or care what the monaco approach is. I keep my system the way I see fit, and it seems to work pretty well for me, guess I will keep it to myself. Go ahead and soak your rocks i whatever you want.

 

[miwoodar]

def

 

[ShelbyJK500]

hmmm interesting thread.

I thought so!

I'm going to side with RFH (and Shelby)...http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php. RFH: "Problems involving phosphorus and subsequent algae growth can be among the most difficult to solve in a reef aquarium, especially if the live rock and sand have been exposed to very high phosphate levels, after which they may be acting as a phosphate reservoir. "

RFH, bertoni, and others have added their thoughts to another RC thread on the same subject (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1587539). I'm doing the same with a few old pieces of live rock that had been removed from my tank over the years. I'm also doing a few rocks with aiptasia deep within unaccessible crevices.

Shelby, mine stayed in the acid bath for only a few minutes each. You would have to leave them in for a LONG time to appreciably reduce their size.

That second link is another one I gleaned quite a bit of info from before posting. Lot's of back and forth and good info on there. Interesting thoughts from initially skimming over the other link. I saw several people that ended up using the acid bath to clean their rock when they narrowed their problems down to rock leaching phosphates.

If I do the acid bath I was planning on doing that initial links recipe. Made sense to do it that way. Adding acid and letting it "foam" and then adding more when the foam subsides and do this until you're about 1:10 ratio. OP on that thread said it took about 3 hours to get to that concentration. Do you think a few minutes of soaking would do the trick??

 

[ShelbyJK500]

its making it more porous because it is disolving the most soluble parts of the rock, leaving the rock less able to PH balance, or contribute any soluble minerals to the water column.

That is an interesting perspective. I think if I do take the plunge I'm not going to soak as long as other have. Hopefully that would prevent the rock from being eroded too much creating this issue.

I am not going to argue with you, and I dont know or care what the monaco approach is. I keep my system the way I see fit, and it seems to work pretty well for me, guess I will keep it to myself. Go ahead and soak your rocks i whatever you want.

So, I didn't think this was going to get heated. Hopefully you weren't directing the last sentence at me? I'm here to get educated and to get perspectives from experienced reefers...not just do whatever I want! :wall:

 

[Wicked Color]

No it was directed at miwoodar telling me I am wrong, and its not heated, I am just not going to debate it too much, both of our opinions have been voiced, I am sure you will be fine either way.

 

[miwoodar]

ghi

 

[Wicked Color]

I know I said I didnt want to debate but.....
You add CO2 to a reactor to accelerate the dissolution, thus adding minerals to the system.
The fact is everything you put in saltwater is going to oxidize, erode, or dissolve if given enough time. Living organisms burrowing, osmosis, and diffusion are also at work.

 

[miwoodar]

Dude, I just provided an unsolicited apology in my last post. It was an apology that was not even necessary in my opinion but I wanted to be nice. I'm here to make friends and I'm a genuinely good guy. You can have the thread - I deleted my posts.

FWIW, you just puppeted my point about why CO2 is added to a CaRx and the rest of my position (also) aligns with the most respected authors in the hobby. The information is out there. If you choose to ignore it, that's not my business.

 

[Wicked Color]

Point taken, I apologize, we are just dis-agreeing.

 

[dv3]

its always fun when to smarty pants disagree ...lol

im sure you guys are both right ...there surely is more than one way to do things in this hobby ..just because mine is right doesnt mean you guys are wrong ..its your $ spend it how you want ....bwhahaha

 

[drtymnky]

personily i prefer to soak my rock in chicken blood under the full moon with 3 candles lit in a triangle and ask john waynes ghost to spit his blesed chaw in to my eye never had a problem with my rock yet

 

[chrislorentz]

I have muratic acid !