So.. I bleached a rock - now what? How safe is it?

[JonnyJ]

Around 2 months ago I removed a rock from my sump that I have been saving for a long time for an upgrade that never happened. It's an amazing shape and couldn't part with it. - im not going to toss it but obviously won't use it until I know it's safe.

I noticed it had thousands of aiptasia forming in my sump so I removed. I probably should have just let it air dry but I ended up just using bleach.

I used 1 cup of bleach to 5 gallons of water. Let it run a day and it became bone white.

I removed it and let it air dry without rinsing outside for the past 2 months. I truthfully forgot about it.

After reading more I realized I missed a step that people say to do - rinsing before letting dry.

I took it in a week ago and have it in a 5 gallon bucket with water and carbon running with a powerhead. I smell zero bleach. Been doing a water change on it every other day.

I have read that bleach evaporates?

Does anyone know what I need to do to get this ready for my future upgrade?

Let me know what you think.

 

[JonnyJ]

Should I be soaking in water or salt water?

Should I be rinsing and air drying again?

 

[andylee]

How attached to it are you? You can soak it in water with Amquel or one of the chlorine removers that freshwater people use. I would agitate the water (fresh) periodically or put a small powerhead in it.

If your are really attached to it, you can buy a chlorine test kit and be sure that readings are 0 before you use it. It would be really bad to wipe a tank because of a rock.

 

[duke62]

i really doubt there is any bleach left on the rock.

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

I agree with duke on this one J man, if you think about it, most people use bleach on sump socks, I wash my socks with bleach , then I run a rinse cycle of just water and they air dry, ready for use in 24 hrs

 

[Reef Fixations]

yup, chlorine evaporates but it would be best to soak it in RO water and put an airstone in it. The bubbles will create more surface area as well as circulation and will accellerate the rate of how quickly any chlorine is evaporated.

If you wanted to be really safe, you could do it for a few days and just top off the water because it will most likely evaporate pretty quickly as well.

That is pretty much all that people do to dechorinate tap water without using any additives whether it be for drinking, freshwater fish or even watering household plants.

A while back I watched a video on YouTube.... I'm pretty sure I did a search on "how to dechlorinate tap water" and the details above are what they showed in the video. I've bleached rocks a few times and never had an issue reintroducing the rock into a tank.

 

[JonnyJ]

Well this sounds like good news. I'm attached. It's going into my upgrade.

Planning my 40x20x10 as we speak.

I'll put an air stone and some chlorine remover tonight and pick up a test. Then I'll cycle it up in a bin. My upgrades a few months away. Just wanted to know.

 

[Boomer]

Jonny, when I use to bleach things like this all I did was rinse it well in hot water. Any worries just put it in a bucket of RO/DI water and add some Amquel and let it sit for an hr, then re-rinse it.

 

[JonnyJ]

I have it in a bucket with fresh water an airstone and some amquel.


I'll treat it for a few weeks anyways.

Thanks for the help!