Boiling live rock bad or good??

[firereef]

I plan to boil all my rock in my tank before I leave for vacation so I can kill all aiptasia, mushrooms, polyps, bubble algae in my display.

My plans...

1. Boil all liverock
2. Let dry for a day or so
3. Soak in r/o water for a day
4. Cycle in salt water (separate bin) for the month I'll be gone
5. Place in display and start with fresh rock.


I have live rock in my sump that will not be boiled and kept in there for bacteria to seed my freshly boiled rock.


Sound good or stupendous?

[NVTE]

sound good.
after boiling it. Make sure brush all the dead stuffs out and rinse it with your garden hose before drying it.
Make sure those rock in your sump is Algae and Pest free.

[Tryx]

so does actually 'boiling' rock work? I have the worst mushroom problem and I want to start over.

[slick6669]

i boiled a bunch of peices i had well i poured boiling water into a bin and tossed the rocks in there, and left it there till it was like no longer hot. and just let it sit out to dry then left it in ro water for a few days and then let it dry, and then threw it into my tank to kill a bunch of algae and aptasia i use to have which some came back... idk from were

[Tryx]

I was thinking I could borrow one of my mom's pho pots and using the BBQ grill. maybe grill a steak while I'm at it.

[wickedfish]

Tanu, who's banking your stuff?

[letsgofishin]

boiling rock is unnecessary... the misconception is the term COOKING ROCKs. which is not cooking.. not heat involved...it is a process to remove bad organisms from the rock.

yes, cooking or boiling the rocks will do that as well, but it is unnecessary... and smelly and time consuming and a a waste of energy... not to mention cookware which the wifey wont allow back into the kitchen.

youcan accomplish the same thing by drying the rocks out...

but anything that kills the rocks will also poison them... you need to clean out the dead / decaying organisms and as you might know the rock is pourus and there are organism, WERE organisms trapped into microscopic holes which will never come out...

this is where the regular 'cooking process' works... by keeping the rocks submerged in dark, circulating water, you can flush the organisms into the water and thru constant water changes and skimming you will be able to remove most of them...

if you wanted to kill off the organisms faster you can soak the rocks in heavy bleach solution ... this will help in killing the organisms and decomposing them faster... but then you will need to rinse and nuetralize the bleach.. which isnt that hard either.

but, I would suggest searching for and reviewing the process of COOKING ROCKS first to understand what is being done and accomplished before boiling the rocks..

[firereef]

Originally Posted by wickedfish

Tanu, who's banking your stuff?

Me.


Imma set up a small tank to hold the left over corals I have and have my cousin top off while I'm gone.

[xtm]

I agree, literally "boiling" rocks is unnecessary. What I have done in the past is I just let them out under the sun to dry out for weeks, then soaked them in a bin full of clean RO water for about 1 month. During this time, you will see all the gunk leach out of the rocks and your water will be dark brown. Change the water and soak them again for 2 more weeks and after that you'll have a very clean set of rocks.

The problem is as we acquire new corals/livestock, they carry some sort of algae, tiny aiptasia, and what have you, and the process starts again.

[RandyFolds]

Boiling rock is good for making your house unlivable, bad for removing organisms. In fact, horrible for removing organisms...

Heat increases solubility and decreases viscosity, which means your rock will leach everything that you are trying to remove and then slowly release it back into the water column when you put it back in the tank.

In addition, leaving rock in the sump will probably just provide footing for whatever you are trying to eradicate to come back.

Either bleaching (chemically neutralizing the bad stuff), as letsgofishin said, or drying it out and then soaking it a ton (physically neutralizing the bad stuff) is a better option than destroying cookware and making your house smell like death warmed over.

Me? I'd just buy new rock if I was worried about it. Trying to restore funky rock is not worth the trouble.

[REEForBANG]

I never knew it was that bad to boil them

[Pinoy4Reef]

any try hydrochloric acid 3%. works and was pretty cool. I soaked mine with one bottle plus water. did it for a day and then put in RO and let them dry out for a few days. then of course i cycled it

[mike810]

i let my rock dry out for a week or so. Then scrubbed it in some old tank water and let it cook in old tank water with a lid.. I'd change out the water every time I do a w/c on my tank.

If the water the rocks are cooking in stays clear and doesn't smell awful. Then the rocks should be ready to be used again.

[REEForBANG]

What a process

[pga7602]

What am I missing? Won't drying it out do the same thing? It's always worked for me.

[firereef]

Originally Posted by RandyFolds

Boiling rock is good for making your house unlivable, bad for removing organisms. In fact, horrible for removing organisms...

Heat increases solubility and decreases viscosity, which means your rock will leach everything that you are trying to remove and then slowly release it back into the water column when you put it back in the tank.

In addition, leaving rock in the sump will probably just provide footing for whatever you are trying to eradicate to come back.

Either bleaching (chemically neutralizing the bad stuff), as letsgofishin said, or drying it out and then soaking it a ton (physically neutralizing the bad stuff) is a better option than destroying cookware and making your house smell like death warmed over.

Me? I'd just buy new rock if I was worried about it. Trying to restore funky rock is not worth the trouble.

I hear ya. I have some nice flat rock that I don't want to lose or else I would buy new.

[SoCal LowBaller]

the real cooking a pretty long process. no light for a long time

[mike810]

Originally Posted by pga7602

What am I missing? Won't drying it out do the same thing? It's always worked for me.

ofc drying out will kill everything but you want to get all the dead gunk off the rocks before you put it back into your tank. Hence the cooking process.

[letsgofishin]

drying will take weeks or months... the center will be damp as it is not getting air flow or sunlight, and will stay cooler...

if you dry it out properly the organisms will decompose... turn to dust.. then rinse...

if you just dry out and kill stuff you still have 'critters' that will decompose in your tank...

yes, the regular cooking process, takes a long time.. i think it is six months... dark, dark, weekly water changes . LARGE water changes...Actually the water changes are scheduled, and grow over time

if i recall correctly... can someone find that link to the cooking rock thread? I would but my laptop is acting up right now... sorry...

[Reefkeepa1]

So if i put it chunk by chunk on a clean grill over a propane burner I can turn the dead organisms into ash?

[Slarti]

Originally Posted by Reefkeepa1

So if i put it chunk by chunk on a clean grill over a propane burner I can turn the dead organisms into ash?

Cooking rock is a misnomer and does not involve heat but putting the rock in a bucket with circulation and no light. Putting heat to the rock is actually dangerous and a number of stories floating around of people actually ending up in hospital whilst attempting to do it.

[Mr. Reef]

Celebrate the diversity in your tank. If something is taking over, get an organism to eat it. Don't kill your rock. That live rock is the key to a healthy ecosystem.

[aqs]

just going to take awhile to recycle the tank

[tanksfishtank]

I have never don't this cooking/boiling method, but my concern would be a re-cycling of the tanks once it is reintroduced?

[nuttyd]

Originally Posted by Slarti

Cooking rock is a misnomer and does not involve heat but putting the rock in a bucket with circulation and no light. Putting heat to the rock is actually dangerous and a number of stories floating around of people actually ending up in hospital whilst attempting to do it.

Agreed. Definitely read about the issues with palytoxin and heat. Might want to consider alternate method.