so i bleached some rocks

[teen]

so i bleached some LR that i was trying to turn to base rock to put in my reef. now the rocks that i bleached smell like a pool. i used a 2 gallon bucket and added the smallest amount of bleach and let them soak overnight. i rinsed them a few time this morning then let them soak in the dechlorifier for like 2 hours. now im baking them under a heat lamp to try and get them dried out.
will the bleach smell go away soon?
does the smell have to be gone before i add them to the tank?

 

[cannonman]

Just one question.. why did you want to turn the live rock into base rock?

 

[teen]

i wanted LR form my fowlr that was covered in all sorts of weird algae to put in my reef. rather than introducing all this algae and stuff into my reef, id rather just put base rock in my reef and let it become live. you cant tell the difference after a few weeks, and i need more area to put corals on.

 

[bojik]

It will turn to liverock again more or less. Try soaking it in the dechlorinator again. A heavy dose and let it soak in while your at work or over night. Just to be on the safe side.

 

[anonome]

I have done this in the past also. Soak the rock in dechlorinator, strong dosage, for a few days . It worked for me. Next time you can do the same if you leave the rock out of water for a week or two to dry up. Does the same without all the bleach. Then scrub in fresh water.

I have a box in the closet with old rock from previous tanks and occasionally will use a piece or two if I need a ledge for that coral that I just can't be without. Within a few weeks you can't even tell it was dead rock. ***)

 

[teen]

well i added a lot of dechlorinator and let it sit for a few hours. baked it pretty much all day so that it dried out and it didnt smell like bleach anymore and now its in the tank. everything looks fine (corals and fish) and there were already snails on it so everything should be fine.

 

[anonome]

If it didn't smell like bleach anymore you should be fine.

 

[teen]

just smelt like hot rocks. they kinda have a distinct smell.
i even had my lil brother and dad smell it, i just asked them if it smelt like a pool and they said it smells like a rock.

 

[bojik]

Yay! Sounds like it worked out well for you.

 

[chipmaker]

They could have been scrubbed under regular tap water just fine if yur intent was to kill algae. Once under sand they will not grow any algae anyhow. Seems crazy to arbitrarily kill live rock to get base rock though, but the old saying different strokes for different folks fits it just fine.

 

[teen]

there was crazy green algae on these rocks. not something i was about to put in my tank even if it was dead. i left the rock outside to dry then wet it down and scrubed it with a toothbrush and there was no effect. so i decided to bleach them.
anyways, the rock have been in the tank and everything is perfect. besides them being bleach white, but it should only take two or three weeks for them to blend in.