Killing all LIVE ROCK life

[spleen93]

Originally posted by Salamander
Why not just cook the rock, and not cooking in the oven. Do some searches on cooking LR. Basically you put it in a large tub with water, a heater, powerhead and no light. Periodically rinse the rocks and change the water. You'll get rid of aiptasia and algae but will still have the beneficial bacteria.

Actually my experiences and others have shown that live rock cooking does not necessarily get rid of aiptasia - I've had aips survive the cooking process. Very annoying. Though I'm a proponent of LR cooking for other reasons (removal of detritus flock, reduction of future algae development, etc.)

Originally posted by shabreeson
I was merely making a point with the autoclave.

I know, I was kidding.

Spleen

[mujtba]

interesting.. so i guess if i get aiptasia again, ill get pepermint shrimps.. duno wat else to do

[tkeracer619]

If you want the rock dead. And I mean dead. Bleach is the way to go.

Leaving the rock to die in the air is going to leave a ton of stuff behind to rot.

[mousefish]

If you want to preserve some of the microbiologic integrity, you can soak the rocks in distilled or dionized water. That is death to most invertebrate marine life. The denitrifying bacteria may survive as they are in the interior of the rock, but any surface life will be osmotically punched. You can aways do multiple changes of the freshwater as well.

[shabreeson]

I agree with mousefish, it sounds to me that your main problem is with inverts,and you don't have to play with chemicals.

[Racing1]

Ther will still be life on it if you actually cook it. I had trouble with aiptasia and I cooked it as many suggested in a turkey fryer with water for over 2 hours. Then I set my tank back up and put rock in to cycle. 3 days later I see three aiptasia enjoying their new tank.

Soak the rock in freshwater for a week or two and they should DIE >>>>

[needlepimp]

I have an Idea! Send all your rock to me and go buy new base rock. I'll take care of your Apt. problem, and save you a metric butt-ton of work.

[mujtba]

wow, aiptaisia is that strong, that without light and saltwater for 10 days it can return?

when u say cook it, u mean put rocks in boiling water?

[Salamander]

No cooking does not involve heat. Do some searches. It takes a while. Many people do not do it long enough and don't solve their problems. It can take several months.

Spleen83...how long did you cook your rock for?

[spleen93]

Salamander - about 3-6 months. Some of the rock was taken out of the cooking vessel (Rubbermaid Brute) and placed in the tank at differing times in the cooking process. Aips are amazingly tenacious - some of the 6 month stuff is the rock that grew out the aiptasia. BTW, hydroids do this too.

Spleen

[badpacket]

Oy, what is so difficult here. You really want to nuke your dead live rock?

Here is the strongest known disinfectant known to man, and one that any reefer can make in his sleep.

Acidified bleach, stong enough to kill dried anthrax spores, strong enough for me.

Do in this order:
Take 2 cups tap water,
Add 1 cup bleach, (store bought)
Stir
Add 1 cup 5% distilled white cooking vinegar
Stir
Add 6 cups tap water


Empty, do several rinses with water and let sun dry.
Probably good to do a couple of more rinses after that as well.

http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/factshee...hfactsheet.htm

Of course, this doesn't necessarily remove any other conaminants/metals that may be in the rock.

Don't add ammonia to the bleach, you get chlorine gas, what they used in WWI.