Turning Liverock into Dry Rock and back

[Europhyllia]

I started my tank with beautiful marcos/pukani dry rock and some liverock from an established tank.
As you know by now I also imported some very pesky caulerpa with the liverock and for over a year have been battling caulerpa in the display.
I decided to give up and start over.
Since it's a large tank with significant amount of rock I raelly like I have decided to reuse a lot of my own rock.
I just want to be 100% sure that there is no caulerpa left.
I heard that keeping it in water with a lid on for 8 weeks will kill algae but I need something more fool prove then this because I just can't take another caulerpa outbreak.
Pruning caulerpa in my display tank has been my main occupation for the last year it seems and really detracted from the enjoyment of my tank.

I've decided to take out the rocks and dry them out to kill off any trace of caulerpa (or anything else) and start over.
I rinsed them in freshwater first to get most of the bristleworms, etc. to come out from inside the rock. I also tried to pick off most of the caulerpa on the outside of the rock.
Now I have them drying out but wow they smell bad! Carcas flies are gathering on my porch and even with a brush I can't get all of the remnants of stuff off.

Is there a professional way to clean dying liverock and turn it into dry rock?

How do places like marco rocks get their rocks to be so clean (I know their key largo is mined but their marco rock/pukani started out as liverock too)

Is there a safe solution to process liverock into dry rock?

PS: The rock removal on the current tank has been going surprisingly well so far by the way. I only remove a rock every other day or so (depending on size) and have not experienced any spikes of anything so far :)

[hobogato]

i have heard of people using a pressure washer - like at a car wash. just dont use soap :)

you might be able to rent or borrow one that will hook up to a water faucet at your house, that way you know what kind of water you are using.

[Meslo]

my guess would be that the rocks you got that were clean had been drying for years if not decades.

The longer they dry out the more the "live stuff" decays and turns to powder. If it were me after about a week in the sun I would use an air compressor and blow all the stuff out I could one rock at a time. Then repeat untill the rocks turn white from sun bleaching.

Have fun :)

[hobogato]

good idea meslo, i bet that would work very well

[Europhyllia]

the pressure washer sounds more fun though! lol
I spoke to somebody who just got dry rock pukani and he said there were still sponges and stuff on his dry rock so at least for that kind it didn't sit for decades.
I do have an air compressor. I'll call Lowe's and see about renting a pressure washer. Are they expensive? Maybe I should ask for one for mother's day?

[Big_Pun]

i had about 20 pounds that i just left in the back yard in the sun and in a month it was white,i had out side for about 3 months before i reused it, i just added all back when i set the tank up at new place in nov and its all ready nice and purple

[kkiel02]

I believe any of these would work well. I would let it sit outside for a week or two. Then bring it inside to a freshwater tub(dark if possible). Then start curing it in saltwater.

[Europhyllia]

They're already turning white so the rock itself should be fine pretty fast. It's those last traces of stuff that I can't get off. I'll drive by the car wash and see what they got...

[Europhyllia]

Drying is going really well. No spikes. No more flies. lol
Once fully dried the old caulerpa comes off easy
http://www.dominopads.com/rockdrying1.jpg

http://www.dominopads.com/rockdrying2.jpg

[Bill S]

Karin, I had a similar problem with bryopsis. I used bleach (unscented). It was then left to sit in water for about 6 weeks - with regular changes. During that time, I also dosed it with anhydrous baking soda. Just wanted to make sure. Some of that stuff stayed green through the bleaching.

[Europhyllia]

Okay so the process was...?
soak in bleach (what concentration?) and then place in regular saltwater?
what is teh purpose of the anhydrous baking soda?
In fact what is anhydrous baking soda (nonwater...)?

Man it will be nice having a tank without caulerpa. Makes me giddy just thinking about it!

[Bill S]

I used about 2 cups of bleach in a 20 gallon tub. Left it sit for 2 or 3 days.

Soaked in regular changes of fresh water (hose water).

Take a box of baking soda, bake it at 300 for an hour. It drives off the CO2. Sprinkle the rock with the baking soda, then dump it into the water. Not sure why I did this, except that it was easier than using a blow torch, which I considered. The harsh chemical reaction should burn off anything that is left, and it's harmless in the tank (within reason).

[Europhyllia]

I think I might just go with the abbreviated version of bleach and then cycle. Thanks!

[RayAllen]

Karin the rock I got from you as well as the other 160lbs I have I put out on the patio. Pressure washed all sides and baked in the sun for three days. I flipped the rock over everyday so the hole rock got sun. This really worked well.

I personally like the color differences each rock has. Prefer that versus a tank full of white rock.

[Europhyllia]

Well I decided to play it safe and bleached it. around 3 1/2 cups of bleach in 20 gallons of water.
I wonder if the dry rock sellers do something similar because it turned it white (as predicted) and my used rocks look pretty much like the dry rock pukani you can buy.
Feeling good about this now. :)
Can't wait till they're dry so I can do some more rock scaping with the nylon rods and then hopefully cycle all of the structures fully assembled. :)

[Europhyllia]

Rinsed them off and getting ready to start a fresh water/RO bath with Prime Dechlorinator, then drying out and rock scaping, then cycling! :D
http://www.dominopads.com/bleachedpukani.jpg

[Mike]

After we got the 75g we had the live rock it came with sitting in a tub in the garage w/ power heads. No heater and no lights in December. I was amazed all of the aptasia came through it with no problem. Why can't we have the same success with the stuff we actually want to keep alive. :)

[chunkymonkey]

maybe a stupid question, but I'll have about 40-50lbs of rock that I'm going to be bringing back to life. So apology ahead of time...lol...I plan on bleaching all the rock, completely rinse, thhen place in a 55gallon tank with only a filter and mixed salt water. How will I know when the rock is ready? Some people say something about the smell(rotton eggs) being gone. But is there a sure fire way to tell. Also, when "back to life" am I able to place the 40-50lbs directly into my 100 gallon that already has other rock and fish, or do I slowly introduce the rocks over the course of a couple weeks?

[Europhyllia]

I will cycle the rock as if it was in a new aquarium only that I will do it in a big rubbermaid.
Once they come our of the RO/dechlorinater bath they'll be set to completely dry. I'll scrub off any remnants of stuff and then it goes into the cycling tub.
I am torn between just seeding it with live sand bacteria from my old tank or get a bottle of Fritz and be extra safe...
I'll feed it a little food and just measure ammonia, nitrite and nitrite to follow the cycle and I would consider it safe when despite food inputs and decay from the rocks all of these values drop to acceptable levels.