Killing LR

[eric b 125]

So I've had a 33 gallon trash can packed to the max with LR for close to a year now. It has saltwater in it, an airstone, and I've done one w/c on it. All of this rock came from a 125 gallon that crashed. Some of the rock from that tank went into a smaller tank, with the few fish that survived, and these rocks now have aiptasia on them. Now that I'm gearing up to re-build the 125, I'm wondering the best way to sterilize the rocks in the trash can (the ones in the smaller tank will be boiled before going into the bigger tank). I was thinking of just boiling all of them, since the tank will have to re-cycle anyways if I decide to reuse the old sand (most likely) or even get new sand. I was thinking about BB but not sure about that...

 

[mr. limpid]

Do you know why the tank crashed in the first place? Is the only thing wrong w the LR is the aiptasia on it? Have you been ghost feeding the LR? You obviously wanted to save the rock if you put it water and not just let dry out.

 

[jay0705]

I'd have to agree. Rt now u have lr if you boil it you have dead rock. The apatasia shouldn't be that hard to get rid of since that's all u have is lr in the can

 

[eric b 125]

well, in the small tank there's aiptasia and manajo. i have ghost fed the rock, and kept the salinity correct. the reason i didn't dry it out is because i didn't want to deal with the odor. the tank crashed b/c the temp went up to nearly 100F after the halides came on- the (then) girlfriend had turned off the a/c in the house and also the fan in that room. it might have actually breached 100F, but i can't remember. (no more MH for me, i'm going LED).
Jay- I'm well aware that boiling the rock would make it dead. I would just rather deal with this before the rock goes in the tank.

 

[saxman]

You can put the offending rocks into a bucket with several true peppermint shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni) and an airline. If the appies aren't huge, and you don't feed the shrimp, they should eat the 'nems.

 

[eric b 125]

Yeah, I hear what you're sayin saxman. My experience with peppermint shrimp and aiptasia has been sketchy at best. I really don't want to start off this re-build with a problem out of the gate.

 

[acrylic51]

Word of advice....Don't boil any LR....It could kill you.....There was a good thread on RC on that very topic.....Drying the rock out doesn't produce a horrible stench IMO.....I see nothing wrong with a good bleach bath and soaking and let her rip.....The bleach bath would kill all organisms, but I'm quite sure there is a lot of dead decayed matter already on the rock so wouldn't hurt a bit......

 

[eric b 125]

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///t/395459/killing-lr#post_3521162
Word of advice....Don't boil any LR....It could kill you.....There was a good thread on RC on that very topic.....Drying the rock out doesn't produce a horrible stench IMO.....I see nothing wrong with a good bleach bath and soaking and let her rip.....The bleach bath would kill all organisms, but I'm quite sure there is a lot of dead decayed matter already on the rock so wouldn't hurt a bit......
Sounds good Shawn. How does this sound: 1:10 bleach solution for a day, dry out in sun for a day, and soak in fresh water w/ dechlorinator for a few days? Then re-cycle...
Any concerns with phosphates after doing this?