nasty rock

[ckmullin]

Originally Posted by Realshow

So using the acid will eat off all the rotting matter.
Then follow that up with lots of rinsing.
Does the acid have a residual effect on the rock?
How long should the rock soak for after the acid bath & before entering into the tank?
Do I just start a regular cure on the rock afterwards?
Where is a good place to pick up some of the acid?

1. after treatment throw it in a bucket of tap water and add some baking soda and let sit for an hour or so (get any small pockets of lowered PH water out of the rock)

2. No residual effect but that it will/can change the structure/look of the rock since your throwing a lump of calcium carbonate into acid.

3. I've soaked for different time periods from an hour to overnight. 2-4 hours is good...but depends on what your trying to get off. I've let it go for 10-12 hours for a tough piece and also to experiment. Let the rock soak in tap water and the baking soda for a again a good couple hours...depends on how big the rock might be.

4. Don't need to cure the rock afterwards because it's (should be) 100% dead. What you might want to do is seed the rock to get life growing on it once again.