How to clean dead rock?

[rhkingsfan]

I have some dead rock sitting in a bin and I would like to add some to my established 100 gallon. How do I clean it? Im pretty sure there are a lot of dead organics on the rock.

I want to avoid using really strong acid or something related. Would leaving it in vinegar for a few days work?

[hollister]

You could boil it it hot water then sun dry a few days then rinse off.

[sirreal63]

Do not boil it, it isn't pasta. Boiling rock can cause it to break apart, sometimes violently. Scrub any visible stuff off it, vinegar isn't strong enough to dissolve any sponge or algae, but will help dissolve the outer layer of rock. Bleach is better with organic material. How you do it will depend on how bad the rock is.

[swcc]

I would just spray it off good and use a brush on the outer layer...then set it up in a container of salt water with flow. Seed it(dead shrimp, food, ammonia) and let it cycle and cure over the next couple months(basically cycle and cook the rock). Google live rock cooking to understand the process as you do not actually cook them in an oven or with boiling water.

[tkeracer619]

Never boil live or dead rock. In fact. Never boil anything that comes out of a reef tank. It can be quite dangerous even deadly should you boil the wrong thing.

The proper procedure here is to scrub as much as you can and then put the rock in a tub with fresh water and a half or so cup of standard bleach per 5 gallons. Let it soak for 24 hours. Rescrub the rock and resoak in a fresh batch of water bleach for another day if you need to. Do not use no drip or scented bleach. Only use standard Clorox bleach.

Let the rock completely dry and then soak it in saltwater with a power head and feed it some flake food for a few weeks. You really want to cycle the rock outside the tank but it may not be necessarily required.

"cooking" as swcc stated has nothing to do with heating the rock but a method to remove phosphates from the rock. If the phosphate test shows high phosphates on the vat of rock you can also use lanthinum chloride to cheaply precipitate the phosphate out of the rock. This method should be used outside of the aquarium but is much faster then cooking should you need it.

[rhkingsfan]

Thanks for the input guys. As this rock is going into an established tank, i dont think i need to create a cycle with the rock (going in for aesthetic purposes). I just want to make sure it doesnt leech phosphates. Im going to go the bleach route and then decide whether to vinegar dip it for another day.

[sirreal63]

If you are worried about phosphates, first determine if they are even there. Soak the rock in RO/DI water for a week and test for PO4. Make sure the rock is physically clean and no debris is left. If PO4 does leach out, then consider either the acid bath or the Lanthanum Chloride treatment.