Still trying to clean my rocks - now I'm worried.

[niqolas619]

I'm still trying to get my rocks to put in my new tank all clean. I'm the guy that had some mold, so I scrubbed them down with some diluted bleach (20 to 1).

Well, I got all the mold off, but now the rocks reak of bleach. I originally cleaned and soaked them about a week ago. I've been letting them soak, pretty much nonstop, since then. I change the water out at least once a day and give the rocks a good rinsing. They still smell like a bottle of bleach. Is there anything else I can do? Should I just keep soaking them? Are there certain types of rocks (i.e. my rocks) that will just absorb too much bleach to ever get rid of it all?

I'm still cycling my tank, so I'm not in a huge rush to get them into the tank, but I would like to know what I'm in for here and see if I should just be ready to shell out the cash for some more rocks (I live in the city of Chicago, so I don't think I can really just find any rocks around here!).

[Chrona]

Soak the rocks in a dechlorinating solution. My LFS sells these jugs of general purpose dechlorinator you can mix with water and soak the rocks in.

[cocoa_pleco]

you can get a fair amount of new slate for 5o bucks at lfs's. If i were you, I wouldnt use the rocks if they reak of bleach, but if money is tight, do what chrona said

[jeffs99dime]

Soak the rocks in a dechlorinating solution. My LFS sells these jugs of general purpose dechlorinator you can mix with water and soak the rocks in.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
this will fix your problem

[Chrona]

Or if you can't find jugs of that stuff, you can always get water conditioners like Prime or Aquasafe, etc. I don't think the dechlorinating agents in the conditioners last as long though, so you may need to do several applications.

[niqolas619]

Thanks for the help, guys - that dechlorinated water was the key. I didn't feel like going to the store, so I just used the water conditioner. I think the bleach is pretty much gone now, cuz the rocks smell like rocks. I'm gonna let them soak for another day, just to be sure.

Now I just gotta wait for the tank to cycle. It's been about 10 days, so hopefully I can get fish in a month, or so. I'll let you guys know how it comes along. Thanks again.

[jweintraub]

Just out of curiosity.... what do rocks smell like?

j/k!

[Lady Hobbs]

One of the reasons I don't use bleach in anything in my tank but I know others do. I would go with what the above poster mentioned and soak in de-chlorinated water. Your rocks may have been more poreous and that's why the bleach smell remains.

One way to tell if your rocks are safe for your aquarium is to pour vinegar/water solution over them and if they fizz, don't use them. Since you have previously used them without a problem, then that should not be an issue.

You could also put them outside and let the fresh air get to them for a week.