# Moss Rock - Limestone



## boxbox (Jul 26, 2012)

Hi, so I am setting up an mbuna african cichlid aquarium and today I went to a landscaping company looking for rocks.
Most of their rocks had a lot of mica flakes on them, so I didn't think those would be appropriate for my aquarium, However
I did find this one rock that was called Moss Rock, a limestone rock. I know limestone is okay to use in african cichlid tanks, 
so I decided to buy 150lbs of it, I found some pretty amazingly shaped pieces. At first their were some small spiders on the rock
but we got them home and pressure washed them down, it removed layers of dirt and any trace of the little spiders and even what seemed to be a little bit of dead 
moss. We pressure washed each rock for atleast 5-10 minutes a piece, I stuck the hose into all the little holes and crevices to flush out
the rock as best as possible. There is still some slight moss on some of the rocks as well as a little bit of dirt in some of the crevices.
Now I've read a lot of mixed opinions about bleaching really porous rocks, so I'd like some advice, how should I go about cleaning these 
rocks even further? would it be possible to soak them in a VERY diluted bleach/water solution for an hour or two just to loosen up a bit of moss
so I can brush/pressure wash it off more easily, or should I just try to fill a tub with hot water and soak them in that? (boiling might not be an option
as some of these rocks are 14"-20" and I just do not have a pot big enough for that haha.) I've attached some pictures so you can see these unique rocks.  

































Thanks everyone, 
Kay.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

If your goal is to remove the last bit of moss, I might not do anything further. I did not find bleaching helped with that at all. It might make the moss white, but it will still be there. Scrubbing is the only thing I found that removes moss/algae effectively.

Residual moss is probably not terrible. I'd be more interested in removing residual dirt, but those look pretty clean to me.

If your goal is sterilization and to kill any fauna then you can soak in a bleach solution. Just dry thoroughly and treat in a pot of clean water with dechlorinator before adding to the tank. When finished, you don't want to smell the bleach any longer.


----------



## Storiwyr (Apr 24, 2012)

That is awesome looking rock. Nice find!


----------



## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

Awesome looking rocks :thumb:

There is nothing wrong with bleaching them. As long as you apply a liberal dose of dechlorinator to the tank after you introduced the rocks, it will take care of any residual bleach, and there will be no harm to your fish.

Is bleaching necessary? In my opinion not. The chance that those rocks introduce microorganisms that are harmful to fish are probably less than that your fish get struck by lightening. Any little insects or worms the fish will consider a tasty treat. Moss is the next best thing to algae. Small amounts of it I usually leave on the rocks I put in tanks, and the fish will nibble it right off like they do with algae in the lake.


----------



## boxbox (Jul 26, 2012)

Thank you all for the responses.  I did soak them in a very small amount of bleach over night just to be cautious, then I let them dry for a day, and I think I might be extra cautious and soak them in a bucket with a generous amount of Prime before I put them into my tank.


----------

