Bleach or boil?

jenajet · 10-10-2007, 09:32 AM

Okay, not sure how or when but one of my biggest and nicest pieces of lr has been overtaken by colonial hydroids. Tried kalking but doesn't kill them all and they come back. So I'd like to keep the rock but not at the risk of the hydroids taking over my tank. So can I boil or bleach it? The boiling I have a feeling will make my house rancid but is it safe to bleach rock and then soak and clean for a few days in water conditioner to neutrilize the bleach? I know it's gonna kill everything (which I hate because I have some pretty yellow and pink sponges as well as red feather dusters) But somethings gotta be done for good.

ReefNeck · 10-10-2007, 11:17 AM

I would never use bleach on anything that goes in my tanks!

I vote for "Boil"!

Fly Guy · 10-10-2007, 11:20 AM

Just take a blow torch and torch them until they dont smoke.

This way you will be only killing the surface of the rock instead of the entire thing. It is effective, and depending on just how much you have to torch you cna put the rock right back in the tank no worries.

your rock will turn this really cool bright orange color foar a couple days where you torch

Wiskey · 10-10-2007, 11:23 AM

Boiling it carries certain risks to YOUR health!

I used to bleach things in my FW tank all the time,.. In fact whenever I get new plants I always use a bleach sulution on them.

If it were me I would use bleach for about a day or so,.. rince it super well in running fresh water,.. then soak it with tons of declorinator for a week or so switching out the FW daily,.. then make sure it doesn't smell like bleach anymore and maybe test it in a Q tank.

The greatest thing about Clorine bleach is that even without the de-clor the bleach should break down in a day or two. Just MAKE SURE you use pure clorine bleach,.. no sents or anything.

PaulB of RC fame poors bleach in his WC water about a week before adding it to his tank,.. because he gets his water from the ocean and doesn't want to bring in anything that could kill his tank. This has worked great for something like 30 years,.. except for the 2 times he used the wrong kind of bleach and nuked the tank

Whiskey

seasalt dreams · 10-10-2007, 12:55 PM

Do Hydroids not eventually just die off on thier own? I have never heard of them overrunning a tank. I had thousands of them in my nano, and when I asked around was told to leave them be. They were all gone within 2 months, and they did no damage while they were there.

oh ... and I have recently found some in my sump, so I will stick around for answers in this thread too, just in case

Fly Guy · 10-10-2007, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seasalt dreams

Do Hydroids not eventually just die off on thier own? I have never heard of them overrunning a tank. I had thousands of them in my nano, and when I asked around was told to leave them be. They were all gone within 2 months, and they did no damage while they were there.

oh ... and I have recently found some in my sump, so I will stick around for answers in this thread too, just in case

sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Ive had it both ways. one patch I left to just disappear on its own spread throughout the entire rock and others. since then i dont let any of them have a chance

seasalt dreams · 10-10-2007, 01:01 PM

Mine did that as well, but after they spread they died off. Maybe I better attack that rock in my sump then just in case, after all, its in my sump and easy to get.

Geoff · 10-10-2007, 09:15 PM

i would just put the piece of LR on the front porch for a couple of months and call it good, then again i am lazy that way sometimes.

G~

ChilisREasy · 10-10-2007, 09:23 PM

i used to bleach LR, but i dont know if its good, we didnt keep that tank running long at all

Hop · 10-10-2007, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoff

i would just put the piece of LR on the front porch for a couple of months and call it good, then again i am lazy that way sometimes.

G~

I did that once

And I still have about 200lbs of rock on the porch

JennM · 10-11-2007, 09:39 AM

I'm with Geoff. Put it outside and let the sun bleach it. The risk of the chlorine staying deep within the pores of the rock, only to do damage after its return to the tank is too great, IMO. Even dechlorinator may not get it all.

Boiling presents hazards to your health - I read a thread once where a guy poured boiling water, outdoors, on a rock covered in zoanthids and he suffered permanent lung damage from the toxic steam. Not worth the risk.

Leave it to dry out in the sun - make sure nobody sprays herbicides or pesticides or anything like that, of course - but the sun will dry them and bleach them, and no toxic mess.

How did the hydroids come into your tank? Most often they are introduced via live brine.

Keyhole limpets are a good natural control. I don't think I've ever seen them for sale but for a while I had some hitchhiker ones in my seahorse tank and they took care of any hydroids that cropped up - and they seemed to reproduce in response to the presence of hydroids. If you can find sombody who has a few that have hitchhiked in, that might help keep the problem at bay once you get that one rock under control.

HTH

Jenn

seasalt dreams · 10-11-2007, 09:44 AM

I just took my hydriod infested LR out, its only a couple pounder, so I am just going to chuck it.

YLChik · 10-11-2007, 09:53 AM

one of the guys in our local club had them
he used pancur and ended up nicking the whole tank... did not does as directed I don't think BUT they took over everything.

I say yank the rock to be safe.