Purigen / LR / LS Regenerate questions

[Gordonious]

I will shortly be heading to the grocery store to pick up some bleach to recharge some of Seachem’s Purigen. I need to find out the most cost effective way to remove it/break it down. The label suggests using ChlorGuard, or Prime from Seachem, but of course I just finished the last bottle of Prime I had planned to buy. If I must I will by more Prime as I soon need to purchase a simular product for my freshwater tanks. Should I rinse my “The Bag”s this way as well?

I was also curious if this would be a good way to clean out some LR and live sand that I have. The sand and rock was in a tank a friend of mine broke down. The tank had horrible levels, hair algae, aptasia, as well as other algae I do not want to end up in my system. I was thinking of putting them in 1:1 water/bleach then use a dechlorinator just like with the Purigen, and then putting the LR and LS into boiling water. Afterwards I would like it dry out in the sun for a couple or hours. I was hoping this would kill 99% of all that crap that I didn’t want and leave it ready for a sump/refugium I am working on. I would of course then putting LR from my tank next to the… DR(anyone every say dead rock? Lol)

Jon

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm not sure how well that recharging work at regenerating, but I would use a dechlorinator an any thing that you expose to bleach, unless it is totally nonporous like glass.

I personally wouldn't reuse old sand, but you can clean live rock (and kill every last thing on it) by exposing it to bleach. That will not necessarily remove things like copper and other metals that may have accumulated, but it will remove the readily accessible organic materials.

[armagedon48]

i put a drop of bleach on an aptisia. it shrank so fast i thought i vaporized it
:)

[Gordonious]

What about using the out sand for, "ARAGOCRETE" LR. like seen on garf.org?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That should be OK. :)

[Gordonious]

How about with the LR? I ask now that I've already exposed the rock to clorox, but are there additional things I can do? Is it possible the LR or dead rock has would absorb any clorox and spit it out continuously later regardless of the amount of dechlorinator?

So far I rinsed the rock several times with tap, then twice with boiling. Scrubbed. Boiling H2O. Less then 1/3 Clorox to H2O solution. Boiling H2O. Tap with dechlorinator. Boiling H2O. The whole time left out in the sun.

I plan to rinse several at least twice more leaving it to soak with dechlorinator outside then bring inside. Then I will cycle with power head with 50% RODI 50% tap.(again a little dechlorinator present) Then when I do changes on my salt system for two weeks I will add that to the container.

What is the best way to text for bleach and can I do it in salt water, or at the results of the tests a lot easier to get in fresh?

[Gordonious]

How can I make sure the rock is completly dechlorinated? How can I test for the bleach I added to it?

[kaptken]

Jon, I have been using those sealed 100 ml purigen bags for ever. they work great. after cleaning and regenerating with bleach,and rinsing, I dechlorinate them by soaking in water with a half teaspoon of powdered SAFE by SEACHEM. it's their dry powdered version of liquid PRIME. much better deal cost wise. a small 50 gram jar lasts forever. I have probably regenerated some bags 20-30 times by now.

sounds like you are using way too much bleach on the rock and sand. just add a little at a time to the water and sand/rock in the bucket as needed to clean. you nose should be a good indicator of remaining bleach. I dont think you need to dechlorinate it that much after rinsing. just soak it all in some old tank water from you next water change a while. bleach, sodium hypochlorite, self destructs back to simple salt water, sodium chloride, after oxydizing any organic. so some of your dirty old tank water should provide enough of that.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The rocks are likely fine now if you had them in boiling water, dechlorinator and then rinsed well (all after the bleach), but if you want you can soak them in salt water and test for chlorine with a chlorine kit.

[Gordonious]

Thanks Ken and Randy. Appreciate it. They are soaking in some murky water now that came out of a tank with new aragonite in it.

Jon

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome.

good luck. :)

[Gordonious]

I purchased an "Aquachek" to "Test for Free Chlorine, pH * Total Alkalinity * stabilizer" and I was curious if I could test salt water the rocks had been in or if I should place a rock in RO water for 5 minutes or overnight and then test that. I think all the tests will be effected by the salt water, but the last test, "Cyanuric Acid(Stabilizer)" I wasn't sure.

Jon

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I do not know for sure how well such strips work, but they likely work OK in seawater.

[Gordonious]

It's all I could find at the local pool store.

Jon

[Gordonious]

If I wanted to repeat this process with some more LR that I don't want anything from it, but the rock how much bleach would you recommend. 1 part bleach/5 part H2O? I know I could leave it in the dark and kill off most stuff, but I would rather quickly kill off 100% of what is in there and let me rock seed it.