BRS Pukani rock, apartment friendly cleaning method?

[Halo_003]

I know there's the muriatic acid way, but is there any other option that is more friendly for apartments than that?

[Boggers]

not as good, but you can soak in Vinegar(or bleach) to break down some of the surface organics.

[Halo_003]

not as good, but you can soak in Vinegar(or bleach) to break down some of the surface organics.

Do you think doing muriatic acid in a bucket in a bath tub would be doable? Or would I have too many fumes for that to be safe/reasonable?

[Boggers]

Needs to be outside

[Halo_003]

Needs to be outside

Thought so, I will probably go the bleach/vinegar route then. Thanks!

[jtwisconsin]

I just used vinegar to clean some Pukani rock last weekend. It did a nice job, and my rocks look much cleaner.

[ajmckay]

I Pukani

 

Vinegar works good and you can get a couple gallons for a few $.

 

Use mechanical means first though. Use a pick and stiff brush then a pressure washer or some sort of water pressure to get off all you can then go for the vinegar bath.

 

I actually boiled my live rock as a final step and the water looked like protein skimmer skimmate afterward... But I don't say that too loud around here because inevitably a bunch of replies will pop up to never, ever boil live rock because you'll poison yourself, your spouse, and your dogs with vaporized palytoxin. In my case I simply made sure there weren't any dead polyps on my 100% dead, dry rock and used adequate ventilation still. Honestly it's probably not necessary as some of that further die off will fuel the cycle for a bit so I don't recommend it to anyone - only stated what I did.

[Clown79]

I'd do a vinegar bath. vinegar is a really good cleaner.

[spectra]

I had 30lbs of pukani and soaked in vinegar also. Soaked in about 7 gallons of water and 3 gallons of vinegar. Soaked for 24 hours or so then scrubbed again and washed really well. Then off to the rock bucket for 3 months or so to kind of cure. Just tossed it all into my tank and diatoms are here.......so far so good.

 

I think you will be fine with the vinegar in an apartment.

[StinkyBunny]

One word of caution with Pukani, you'll need LOTS of phosphate removal media for a month or so. I have 100 lbs cooking right now and it's still filthy with phosphates and it's been scrubbed and cooking for 4 months. I made the mistake of putting some right out of the box in my one system, lesson learned.

[spectra]

One word of caution with Pukani, you'll need LOTS of phosphate removal media for a month or so. I have 100 lbs cooking right now and it's still filthy with phosphates and it's been scrubbed and cooking for 4 months. I made the mistake of putting some right out of the box in my one system, lesson learned.

 

Mine was cooking for 3 months and all good. I did have some that was only in for a few weeks and it is actually doing great. Think I got lucky.........maybe you got some nasty shit.

[Clown79]

I've seen some filthy liverock, it was from all different places.

[jrad]

I use BRS Pukani and got some huge hunks of rock. I did a muriatic acid bath that bubbled a lot of the dead organics right off. If you get bigger sized pieces, (unless you want that size/shape), I found it useful to crack them open with a hammer. It makes cleaning a lot easier, it's pretty shocking how much caked up debris is buried inside.

[Okinawa_Reefer]

I certainly hope my pukani doesn't take forever to cure. I guess only time will tell. I'm going to start curing mine within the next few days