Cleaning Dead Corals in Cold Weather

[dougedoug]

I would like to place my corals in the sun instead of using bleach on them to get the algae off. Right now its pretty damn cold out and there is spotty sun. They have dried out in the garage. Could I hit them with the pressure washer lightly =) or is there another way to clean them where they dont eventually sit in the garage in water that would freeze. They are large pieces I could probably get to fit in a 55 gallon garbage can if needed.

 

[innerdragon103]

Is your primary goal to remove algae and basically get a fresh start on the dead corals to use them as rock? If so, look up cleaning rock with hydrogen peroxide (yup the stuff used to clean cuts). Be warned, its known as 'nuking' because it gets rid of all life on your rock (but so does sun bleaching, so whatever your preference). I did it to mine when algae got out of control too early on in the tank's life. It worked VERY well at eliminating green bubble algae and brown hair algae. Use a spray bottle, fill it with peroxide, and spray/scrub the rocks let it sit on there 5 min or so. I bought a plastic brush from the groceries intended for cleaning dishes and used that to give the rock a good scrub. Then thoroughly rinse the rock in fresh saltwater (discard the water!) and voila - rocks ready to go.

Disclaimer: I don't really know anything about dead corals except, well, they be dead