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Waffen06
01/01/2017, 12:27 PM
I have some rock that was in a tank for about a year. After the last fish passed my son lost interest so I shut down the tank. The pump and heater were off on it for a few months but the rock was kept submerged. Yeaterday I took down the rest of the tank and the rock sat in freshwater overnight. Id like to add this rock back to my main display, after a good rinse would it be okay or do I need to do a bleach soak first?

bertoni
01/01/2017, 05:45 PM
I would cure it separately, since it might have a fair amount of organic debris on it. The bleach step might help remove some of the organics, but I'd be cautious.

ReefsandGeeks
01/02/2017, 11:00 AM
+1, I recently added a few rocks I used to have in my tank but removed when moving and rescaping. My rock was stored dry in a bucket for about a year. I let mine cure in a bucket of water with a powerhead and occasionally tested the bucket water for ammonia. If the bucket tested positive, I simply duped it out, refilled and ran for another weekish. repeated this process until no ammonia or nitirite. Took about 2 months for my rock, but I may have been able to do it sooner with more water changes. I wasn't in a hurry though. Rock has been in my tank for a few days with no apparent ill effects.

Bananafish
01/03/2017, 10:26 AM
I would not bleach it. The good stuff inside will die - and that's the most important part. If you have plans to reuse the rock, you might do what I did: After SuperStorm (Hurricane) Sandy, I lost all my tanks and animals. No power for 2 weeks. Anyway, as a step toward rebuilding, I brushed off my rock and kept it submerged with heat and a powerhead. My plan was to start back up after the holidays. Long story short, that never happened. But I kept feeding my rock with some flakes now and then and kept the water level up. No light, no water change, just top off. Ended up doing this for FOUR YEARS. When I set my tank back up in August, I had only a 2 week cycle, AND all my corralines came back except the green ones.