Dry Pikani bleach than acid bath

[Bblinks]

Originally Posted by nbreau

Not looking to hijack the thread but could you please explain the purpose behind this process ? Is it necessary or does it simply speed up the cycle time ? I'm setting up a 90 gallon and ordering about 60lbs from Eli and wondering if I can simply let it cycle in the new take over a few months with seed rock or should I be doing this process prior ?

thanks,
Nick.

Acid dipping is necessary due to the left over organics in the rock which will cause a phosphate spike even long after the tank has been cycled. lots of people run into algae problem with there newly set up tank and ultimately give up after months of battling green hair algae (gha) with no success not knowing that it would've been prevented simply by curing your rock prior to placing them in to your tank. There are a few ways of curing your rock and one of them is to acid dip them then run them in a bin with saltwater, heater and pump for a month or two before placing them in your tank or some will skip the acid dipping part and just do the latter but thats all personal preference. There are a hundred ways to skin the cat but if you are getting dry rock especially pukani, you will need to do this.