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LISound · 04/01/2009, 10:23 AM

FYI.

I had some really dirty/old rock that I wanted to use. Based on an older thread with Randy...here is what i did and it worked like a charm.

First. Acid Bath.

1:10 ratio to start. put a power head in there as well to keep the water moving.
This was the most disgusting foam I've ever seen. The rock will bubble and a dark brown foam will form at the surface of the water, depending on how dirty the rock is.

I did this to remove PO4. Once the foam and bubbles stop, the acid has been used up, usually after about 20-30 min.
you can add some baking soda to see if all the acid has been nutrulized.

I dumped all the water out...be careful where you dump this as there may still be a small amount of acid.
I wasn't convinced my rock was clean, so i gave it another bath. This time a 1:5 ratio--much stronger. I was still getting the brown black foam at the surface and the water was dark brown when I was done.

I went for a third soak, just for good measure, this one didn't produce as much dark foam, so I assumed the rock was getting cleaner.

After all that, I soaked in clean RO water with a power head for 2 days.

dumped the water out and added new RO water. Now time for the bleach.
The rock was cleaner, and white. but I could still see some algae on the rock and dead worms, etc.
I soaked that in 1/4 cup of bleach to 10 gallons of water. leave the power head in there again for 2 days.

After the 2 days, I took the rock out and did it again.

2 days after that, I soaked in ro water with a dechlornator. amaquel or something like that for 2 days and repeated that 2 more times.

I then let the rock sit out in the sun for a day or 2.

After all of the above...I let the rock soak in ro water with a powerhead for week.
I smelled the water after that week and could not detect any chlorine.

I did one more water change just to be safe with clean RO water.

I added the rock to my tank with some other live rock and now, a month and half later.
No algae on any of the new cleaned rock and it's starting to color up purple.

no PO4 in the tank at all.

What I did might seem like a lot but the rock I was using was in really bad shape.
I was always getting HA, it was a mess. Not anymore.

hope that helps.

04/01/2009, 10:23 AM	#63
LISound Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: CT Posts: 781	FYI. I had some really dirty/old rock that I wanted to use. Based on an older thread with Randy...here is what i did and it worked like a charm. First. Acid Bath. 1:10 ratio to start. put a power head in there as well to keep the water moving. This was the most disgusting foam I've ever seen. The rock will bubble and a dark brown foam will form at the surface of the water, depending on how dirty the rock is. I did this to remove PO4. Once the foam and bubbles stop, the acid has been used up, usually after about 20-30 min. you can add some baking soda to see if all the acid has been nutrulized. I dumped all the water out...be careful where you dump this as there may still be a small amount of acid. I wasn't convinced my rock was clean, so i gave it another bath. This time a 1:5 ratio--much stronger. I was still getting the brown black foam at the surface and the water was dark brown when I was done. I went for a third soak, just for good measure, this one didn't produce as much dark foam, so I assumed the rock was getting cleaner. After all that, I soaked in clean RO water with a power head for 2 days. dumped the water out and added new RO water. Now time for the bleach. The rock was cleaner, and white. but I could still see some algae on the rock and dead worms, etc. I soaked that in 1/4 cup of bleach to 10 gallons of water. leave the power head in there again for 2 days. After the 2 days, I took the rock out and did it again. 2 days after that, I soaked in ro water with a dechlornator. amaquel or something like that for 2 days and repeated that 2 more times. I then let the rock sit out in the sun for a day or 2. After all of the above...I let the rock soak in ro water with a powerhead for week. I smelled the water after that week and could not detect any chlorine. I did one more water change just to be safe with clean RO water. I added the rock to my tank with some other live rock and now, a month and half later. No algae on any of the new cleaned rock and it's starting to color up purple. no PO4 in the tank at all. What I did might seem like a lot but the rock I was using was in really bad shape. I was always getting HA, it was a mess. Not anymore. hope that helps.