Sterilizing Live Rock

[byee]

I recently shutdown my 10 year reef tank because the live rock was over taken by mojano and a blue leathery stuff in my 120 gallon tank. Tried various different chemicals to resolve the mojano problems but if got progressively worst.

Since the kids are older, they've lost interest..... I just decided to sell it but kept some of the unique pieces of liverock.

I'm now in the process of setting up my new 45g OBD cube tank and don't want the mojano nor the blue leathery stuff to affect my tank.

Whats the best way to 'sterilize' the live rock? I thought of boiling the rock in a pot to sterilize the liverock but also heard I can soak it in bleach for a few days.

Which method is better?

[Aquattro]

I would boil it vs bleaching, it's tough to get all the bleach out afterwards. Also soaking it in fresh water should kill anything on it without getting having to fill big pots to boil it

[toytech]

Don't poison yourself by boiling live rock indoors please , its an outside kinda job . I cleaned all my rock for easy transport and future setup by bleaching it all in 5 gal pails . Fill with rock ad water to the top of the rocks 2 or 3 cups of bleach
and then soak for 2 days . Drain and refill with fresh water only , soak for 2 days
then drain and let dry . Bleach is chlorine and sodium and it brakes down very quickly and can also be neutralized with tap water conditioner .

[byee]

A friend suggested I soak my liverock (dried now) in a vinegar & water solution for a week.

I wondering how effective this method is in comparison to boiling or chlorine. I'm shying away from the chlorine simply because I'll need to neutralize the chlorine.

Has anyone tried using vinegar to sterilize liverock?

[asylumdown]

Hmmm, never heard of it but it's an interesting idea. The only thing you should think about is whether or not a week is truly necessary because vinegar and water is essentially just a very dilute weak acid. The acid will react with the calcium carbonate in your rocks and begin to dissolve the top layers of them, but you'll have far more rock than you'll have acid, so I bet long before a week is up your rock is just going to sitting in a water and acetate bath not really doing anything.

If you want to use an acid you could try using muriatic acid. There's quite a few how-tos online and it's much, much faster and I think quite a bit more effective. It's also super easy to neutralize when it's all said and done. You'll just need to do it outside and be extra careful.

[byee]

Originally Posted by toytech

Don't poison yourself by boiling live rock indoors please , its an outside kinda job . I cleaned all my rock for easy transport and future setup by bleaching it all in 5 gal pails . Fill with rock ad water to the top of the rocks 2 or 3 cups of bleach
and then soak for 2 days . Drain and refill with fresh water only , soak for 2 days
then drain and let dry . Bleach is chlorine and sodium and it brakes down very quickly and can also be neutralized with tap water conditioner .

Toytech,

I'm leaning towards boiling the LR since its dead rock now. No need to think about neutralizing the chlorine from the bleach or vinegar.

Just curious, what happens when the LR is boiled?

I'll boil the LR outside using the side burner of my BBQ. Do you know, if 'whatever' is in the rock or gases produced will ruin my wife's pot?

Thanks!