Normal color 4 bleached pukani rock?

[Gp!]

I'm cleaning some dry pukani rock for the first time and curious about the color. I've soaked it in bleach for over a week and some of it turned nice and white but some of it is dark and discolored. Should it all turn white or is this normal and clean as can be?

I've just taken all the rock and given a rinse down and started the bleach bath again. I tried to use the vortechs I have for the tank but when I opened the box they said minimum thickness of 3/8" wall material. The containers I'm using look to be about 1/8". Is flow required to do better? I'm doing this outside so I can't use the wav powerheads I have either because I don't want to leave the Apex outside...

I've attached pictures showing what the rock looks like now:

 

[Mycota]

About what mine looked like after bleaching. Doesn't really matter how white it gets. Will be purple in half a year anyways.

As for flow while bleaching i didnt worry about it. I just left the rock in a 10% bleach for about a week in a sealed container.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I noticed a better job with water circulation but I experienced brown spots as well. as I remember by the time it was ready for the tank the brown spots faded quite a bit.

 

[Gp!]

Thanks for the replies. Going to see if I can get some flow going otherwise I'll be happy with where it is at now

 

[Gp!]

Well I put the Apex outside on the porch and hooked up wav powerheads. I also doubled the bleach concentration so I hope they turn out like the ones you posted.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Well I put the Apex outside on the porch and hooked up wav powerheads. I also doubled the bleach concentration so I hope they turn out like the ones you posted.

Okay I did ten percent bleach for 1 week. The lighting isn’t the best in the picture but all in all, brown spots or not, all off your rock will get covered in algea. As much as I wish I could keep the rock white this just doesn’t happen in a reef. currently mine is all green with specs of pink coraline

 

[NowGlazeIT]

But a wire brush before rinsing goes a long way

 

[Gp!]

Haha thanks for the tip. I'll be happy once it grows something with a nice color in the tank. But I'm waiting on the tank so I figure I might as well try to get rid of the gunk if I can. I was going to call it good enough and start cycling in saltwater but when I looked close I was still finding remains of critters that dried with the rocks so another few days in bleach will probably save me hassle in the future

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Haha thanks for the tip. I'll be happy once it grows something with a nice color in the tank. But I'm waiting on the tank so I figure I might as well try to get rid of the gunk if I can. I was going to call it good enough and start cycling in saltwater but when I looked close I was still finding remains of critters that dried with the rocks so another few days in bleach will probably save me hassle in the future

Yea I took a second look at your picture and then the wire brush idea shot to mind haha with that almost black stuff on there I would scrub hard. that stuff looks encrusted something good. These are some good sized pieces. are you gonna take a swing at carving any tunnels? Pukani is the easiest for that

 

[User1]

I'm in the process of doing this to 150 lbs of dry Pukani as well. I pressure washed it this past Sunday before adding the water and bleach. In the image below you can see the 4 containers, each about 17 gallons. Added the rock once it was pressure washed, then tap water, then 2 cups of bleach each. Added whatever pumps and power heads I had, loosely added the lid/cover, and let it sit. Checked on it Monday, let it ride. Today, Tuesday, added another cup of bleach. Plan will be to dump water tomorrow afternoon, refill with tap water, then add a cap full or two of lanthanum chloride again with powerhead or pump for circulation. Check it on Thursday, drain, refill, and add some more lanthanum chloride. I'll do this through Saturday in which case I'll have substrate in the tank, saltwater pre-made and ready to go. Aquascape, fill, and start the cycle.

Hopefully the bleach bath and lanthanum chloride bath(s) will get it started with somewhat clean of a rock and lower phosphates. My rock looked more or less like what you showed even before and after wash. Like the one member above said it isn't that big of a deal - it will be covered soon in coralline algae if we do it right. I wasn't expecting moon rock to be honest. Mine is more or less free of sponges that the soaking helped free up. Pressure wash did the rest.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I'm in the process of doing this to 150 lbs of dry Pukani as well. I pressure washed it this past Sunday before adding the water and bleach. In the image below you can see the 4 containers, each about 17 gallons. Added the rock once it was pressure washed, then tap water, then 2 cups of bleach each. Added whatever pumps and power heads I had, loosely added the lid/cover, and let it sit. Checked on it Monday, let it ride. Today, Tuesday, added another cup of bleach. Plan will be to dump water tomorrow afternoon, refill with tap water, then add a cap full or two of lanthanum chloride again with powerhead or pump for circulation. Check it on Thursday, drain, refill, and add some more lanthanum chloride. I'll do this through Saturday in which case I'll have substrate in the tank, saltwater pre-made and ready to go. Aquascape, fill, and start the cycle.

Hopefully the bleach bath and lanthanum chloride bath(s) will get it started with somewhat clean of a rock and lower phosphates. My rock looked more or less like what you showed even before and after wash. Like the one member above said it isn't that big of a deal - it will be covered soon in coralline algae if we do it right. I wasn't expecting moon rock to be honest. Mine is more or less free of sponges that the soaking helped free up. Pressure wash did the rest.

Woah!! You better post a build thread if this is all going in a tank bro! I’d follow

 

[User1]

Woah!! You better post a build thread if this is all going in a tank bro! I’d follow

Thanks. Kind of you. I will try. I'm in a slow process of upgrading my current tank which is a 40 breeder, mostly soft corals with 6 rose bubble tip anemones and 4 rather large hammer corals. I've been sitting on a 240 gallon since the start of 2017 that I recently moved into the house after doing a leak check and test run of plumbing a Bean Animal overflow. I am new here so more or less playing catching up on a lot of the threads. This one caught my attention so wanted to say my rock looked similar Substrate is here Thursday so I just wanted to jump start the rock a bit before washing it again and doing some aquascape. I haven't cured rock since 2001 which I purchased live rock from Fiji wrapped in newspaper and cycled the tank that way. So dry Pukani sort of threw me for a loop.

Thanks again - I like the forums here. Lot of useful information and friendly people.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I hear you 2017 was when I went from a little bio cube to a fresh start and a new tank build. It sure is a great time to build reef tanks but pricey for sure haha. Welcome to R2R by the way!