acid bath and the after math
 

okay so i just did an acid bath 30%acid 70% water and i took my rock out put it in buckets with water i tested ph and ph is 8.4 or more is it now safe to put in my tank and start cycle ? or is there some thing more i need to do

what i did was put in baking soda after my acid bath to neutralize it then i hose them down and soaked in RO water for 1 day with a hang on back filter with carbon. I then took it out and sundried the rocks for another 1-2 days then back in ro water it went then back out in sun then into a bin with saltwater and a pump and a lid for 3 months. Hope that helps scott.

Definitely requires a nice long RO soak and you may as well check for leaching phosphates while you're at it.

No soaking required. Just rinse really well and it's tank ready.

If you want to soak however, there is nothing wrong with doing so.

lol, WUT?:neutral:

Why do you need to soak after the acid bath? What's the purpose?

Rinse it well and it is ready for the tank.

Acid bath
 

I did the 70% acid 30% water and it did not clean the rock the way I thought it even turned some of them dark dark brown?!? What did I do wrong

What acid did you use ?
And you say you used 70 acid to 30 water ?
Hydrochloric acid dissolves inorganic stuff, so it strips all the minerals

I found 3 and 7 acid to water to be way to strong 2 8 or 1 9 works just as well and doesn't eat all the rock I did 1 and 9 my second attempt and it worked better more rock less organics

Bottles I used said hydrochloric muriatic

I got my rock from Eli, not sure if OP is using live rock or dry rock... but here's what I did.

Removed as much dry dead matter as I could reach with tweezers.
Bathe in 1 part bleach to 10 parts tap water for 24 hrs with a powerhead.
Bathe in 1 part Muriatic acid (pool section at Cdn Tire) to 10 parts tap water for 4 hours, or until chemical reaction (bubbles) stops.
Sprinkled lots of Arm & Hammer baking soda (to neutralize acid), I let that sit for 1 hour. Stirred a few times.
Hosed down rocks and left them out to dry, few hours.
They all came out sparkling white with just minor spots of brown.
They did sit dry, in a box, inside for about 3 months before I was ready to aquascape.
Began cycle, tested PO4 at 0.03 for a month.
After a month PO4 dropped to 0.
Don't want to jinx myself, but I think there won't be any problem with leeching PO4 in the future. If there is I am ready for it.
I credit my success (so far) with the bleach/acid baths and the use of the dry rock. I'm not sure how much long term PO4 values would be if it were previously live rock.