# WHAT TO DO WHEN ROCKS ARE TO BIG TO BOIL?



## joker4466 (Oct 10, 2008)

I JUST SETUP MY 115G TANK AND I WANT TO ADD SOME BIG ROCKS FROM AROUND MY AREA.THEY ARE TO BIG AND HEAVY TO BOIL ON THE STOVE.
I WAS WONDERING HOW TO MAKE SURE THERE CLEAN AND SAFE TO PUT IN MY TANK?
ANYONE HAVE BIG ROCKS IN THERE TANKS AND ANY TIPS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.THX


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## maxmator (Aug 6, 2008)

you can bake them! i did 20, 30 min.


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## Donfish (Dec 24, 2007)

But be careful when oven heating rock, if there is moisture in them they can crack and explode when that water turns to steam under pressure. Boiling 212Â° F, oven is hotter hence more pressure, use a low temperature.

Anybody that has ever camped and built a fire ring out of rocks will know what I mean.

Instead of heat you can bleach them in a tub after scrubbing them with vinegar and a brush. Use lots of dechlor afterwards and let them soak a bit.


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## joker4466 (Oct 10, 2008)

EVEN IF I BAKE THEM THE ROCKS MIGHT BE TO HAEVY TO FIT ON THE RACK.I DO NOT WANT TO BLEACH THE ROCKS.BLEACHING JUST SEEMS LIKE IT CAN LEAD TO OTHER PROBLEMS.


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## Aura (Oct 29, 2005)

I've never baked or boiled any of my rocks. If I pulled the rocks out of the river, I might put a small splash of bleach, but otherwise I just soak in hot water (big bucket outside), scrub well with a stiff bristle brush, and rinse several times.


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## joker4466 (Oct 10, 2008)

would a quik dip in a bucket with a little bit of bleach and water be ok and then put in really hot water in another bucket and then scrub and rinse a few times do the trick?

i might try that.


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## Renthorin (Mar 17, 2009)

I have about a few large rocks that were too big to boil. Put them in a five gallon bucket and scrubbed them with a brush for a few minutes.

Dropped them in the tank and every fish died!!!

Kidding. No problem with any of the fish.

Where are you getting these rocks? Unless you are digging them out of a sewage ditch they probably just have dirt on them and nothing dangerous. Do a good scrub with warm water and call it a day.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

joker4466 said:


> EVEN IF I BAKE THEM THE ROCKS MIGHT BE TO HAEVY TO FIT ON THE RACK.I DO NOT WANT TO BLEACH THE ROCKS.BLEACHING JUST SEEMS LIKE IT CAN LEAD TO OTHER PROBLEMS.


Bleach is the easy way and causes no problems. Soaking in water with a some vinegar will remove any bleach. If you let the rocks air dry there will be no bleach rsidue.


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## BenHugs (Jan 13, 2007)

I put some sort of safe mat in the bath tub and bleach away but like mentioned above make sure the rocks are bleach free when they are put back into your tank.


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## joker4466 (Oct 10, 2008)

BenHugs said:


> I put some sort of safe mat in the bath tub and bleach away but like mentioned above make sure the rocks are bleach free when they are put back into your tank.


thx i think i will do that.try it in the tub.how much bleach should i add to a normal average tub full of water to be effective enough?
enough till the water smells like bleach?
to rinse them can i just do the same thing with the vineger and water to get the bleach off?
plus in tub it would be really easy to keep rinseing till i didn't smell bleach anymore


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## Renthorin (Mar 17, 2009)

To make water safe for human consumption it is eight drops to a gallon. I think that would be sufficient for fish too.

I would not bother rinsing with vinegar, just water. The bleach will come off easily enough and you won't have rocks that smell like vinegar...which is acetic acid after all. Not much more friendly than bleach to fish I would imagine.


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## BenHugs (Jan 13, 2007)

I always just pour the bleach directly on the rock then fill the tub that way it goes from 100% then eventually all the way down to 0% after several rinses and made safe for your fish :thumb:


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

If you want the bleach to sterilize the rock and burn off any organics, use lots of bleach, and do as mentioned above, pouring the bleach over the rocks and adding water. I use enough to make the water feel sippery. If you do this in the tub, drain off the bleach water before adding any vinegar to the rinse water. There may be a (small) release of chlorine gas which you might find unpleasant.


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

Bleach is chlorine. After a good rinse in water, just pop them in a bucket or tub with some Prime (or other good dechlorinator) and they will be just fine for the tank.


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## BoostedX (Mar 1, 2009)

How long should they be left in the decholor???


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

When I did mine, I left them in the declor overnight, then gave them the sniff test the next afternoon. They had no detectable chlorine smell. I gave them just a quick rinse in tap water and put them in the tank. I also did a standard dose of the prime into the tankjust to be safe. Fish were fine and the water tested zero chlorine over the next couple of days.


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## BoostedX (Mar 1, 2009)

Sweet thanks Malawi...


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## joker4466 (Oct 10, 2008)

ok ,my plan is to get the rocks in the tub.add bleach directly to the rocks then fill tub with water.let soak for a couple hours.them empty and fill tub with plain water a couple times to get the bleach off.then let them dry totally for a day.then put back in tub with water and some prime.


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## Renthorin (Mar 17, 2009)

If you love your tub, like I do mine, put an old towel down before you add the rocks. Keep in mind the towel will be bleached.


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## sleepy09 (Jan 15, 2009)

> How long should they be left in the decholor???


Until you can't smell any bleach on them. If you smell bleach on them after they soak change the water and add more declorinator and let them soak longer.


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## dww-law (Jun 1, 2007)

Boiling, bleaching, or cooking rocks are waste of time. Wash the rocks with a high pressure nozzle and put them in the tank. The fish will be fine.


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## bobberly1 (Dec 2, 2006)

I would question whether they even need to be sterilized as long as they've been washed. I can't imagine what living organism on a rock could harm a tropical aquatic animal. ANyone have any specific organisms they're concerned about? Otherwise it just seems like a waste of energy.


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## Dobbs92 (Dec 15, 2008)

Will the bleach method be safe with very porous rocks? I'll be using Dakota Sandstone, which with my pieces anyway, has the consistency of Texas Holey Rock.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

I used to think bleaching wasn't necessary until I introduced snails into some tanks by not bleaching. 
Depends on where you get them from, but not always a waste of time. And, yes, I gave them a good 
scrubbing. Still got snails. If you pick them up from a creek bed, etc, bleach 'em. :thumb:


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