Live rock massacre to kill brown clove polyps

Bendor

Bendor

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Remove all affected rocks, muriatic acid, Ro and then revive in holding tank:

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Yup I was going to suggest that or a butchers band saw.

Who wants the star polyps? LOL

With regards to the treated rock. Sun bake the treated rocks for at least a week and blast with a hi pressure hose. Then sun bake again.

No need to cycle as the rocks will have very little die off if you have a mature filter system.
 
So far so good. Rock with polyps (and lots of aiptasia) out. Started getting a bit carried away.

I now have easier access to the aiptasia that's left. I ran out of lemon juice so I used lime, works just as well. Usually tries sticking the needle straight down their throat but jabbing them in the neck works way better. They don't even really retract until I pull the needle out and then they collapse rather than retract.

I'm currently soaking removed rock in RO water. From what I've read an hour 50% muriatic acid bath with a good amount of shaking dissolves and removes most of the superficial and deep organics. Thereafter a few RO dips and washes gets rid of the acid and most of the organics. Then cycle in 26 degree salt water with weekly water changes to get the rock back to live status with effective aerobic/anaerobic bacterial colonies.
@Nemos Janitor
 
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Yes that is a way. But honestly it is a bit pointless cycling the rocks to add bacteria. Where is the bacteria going to come from? Can only come from the die off of the rocks and you have nuked all of that.

Here is a pic of a structure i did that was prepped the way i say and has been in my tank now since November. Never cycled the rocks, just added when the tank was changed. In fact all the rocks were treated and only coral and filter moved across.

Marine Aquariums South Africa - View Single Post - Rock
 
Nemos Janitor said:
Yes that is a way. But honestly it is a bit pointless cycling the rocks to add bacteria. Where is the bacteria going to come from? Can only come from the die off of the rocks and you have nuked all of that.

Here is a pic of a structure i did that was prepped the way i say and has been in my tank now since November. Never cycled the rocks, just added when the tank was changed. In fact all the rocks were treated and only coral and filter moved across.

Marine Aquariums South Africa - View Single Post - Rock
Click to expand...

Help me out here. I thought the point of cycling the rock is to make sure all the organics inside the very porous rock has been eaten so there is no more ammonia spikes from decaying material.

I'm sure if I sun tan and powerhose it like you suggest my current healthy bacteria colony could handle the left over material but I have so many other problems I don't want to add another one.
 
If you feel uncertain I understand. Try one rock the way I say and let us know.

My tank must have in excess of 150kg rock. Had no problems.

Will take a video tomorrow and upload so that you can see what the rock looks like +- 8 months down the road.

IMO the treatment will kill all bacteria. You still have to rinse/soak the rock to get the acid out. I used tap water. The pH of the water would really have to be low for any TDS or PO4 to bind to the rock.
 
It is also important to make sure that your PO4 in the tank is <0.04, preferably 0 before you return the treated rock. This will prevent PO4 sinking to the treated rock.
 
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Ok, so I had already bought the acid and I was interested to see what would happen...


5l muriatic acid in 20l RO in a 50l drum. Boiled over like a coke float, roughened my garage floor a bit but my yellow gloved hands were ok. Had to fetch something in town quickly. 2 hrs later! Removed rock, a bit smaller I must admit. Sprayed it down and all the soft stuff and coralline algae came off. Mostly white now.

It looks squeaky clean and I'm very tempted to just put it back in the tank. I have about 15 kg rock and substrate in there that is mature.
 
Bendor said:
Ok, so I had already bought the acid and I was interested to see what would happen...


5l muriatic acid in 20l RO in a 50l drum. Boiled over like a coke float, roughened my garage floor a bit but my yellow gloved hands were ok. Had to fetch something in town quickly. 2 hrs later! Removed rock, a bit smaller I must admit. Sprayed it down and all the soft stuff and coralline algae came off. Mostly white now.

It looks squeaky clean and I'm very tempted to just put it back in the tank. I have about 15 kg rock and substrate in there that is mature.
Click to expand...

PIC's bud Pic's :thumbup:

Yes you must now rinse the rocks off in water, normal water is fine. Blast them with a power cleaner and rinse again. You don't have to use RO water. Let them dry in the sun and rinse and blast again. Place back in your tank. Process about 10-14 days. The sun process must really dry the rock.
 
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