Bleaching Crushed Coral

[dadamaja]

I have a 75 gal that has been in storage for 2 yrs(climate controlled) and i had the crushed coral in my 30 gal rubber maid can i was amased that the water that i thought i drained out of the can was still in there after 2 yrs. I'm currently about to get back in the hobby and i lightly bleached the dead corals and crushed coral i had. My question is how long do i have to let the corals and crushed coral soak in dechlorinator. I also cleaned the tank out with vinegar, and all of the equipment. When I tore it down i just put it straight in storage without cleaning it. My fish before I tore it down........1 Niger Trigger, 1 undulated trigger, 1 cherry grouper, and 1 snowflake eel.
My eq.........a custom undergravel filter plate ran off 2 802s 1 custom inside wet dry/trickle ran off a maxi-jet 1200 1fluval 304 and a protein skimmer.

[kreblak]

It it my understanding that you should soak anything that has been bleached in dechlorinator for at least twice as long as it was bleached. So if you "lightly" bleached it for an hour, soak it in dechlorinator for at least two hours. My LFS recommends 24 hours minimum. It can't hurt to go longer, right?

[Guy W]

I've seen seen people bleach crush coral and to me it's not worth the hassle. Bleach the Coral Decorations but I would just buy new bags of crushed coral. I would never feel confident that I got all the bleach out.

Guy

[Ray Pollett]

Set them outside in the sunlight and breeze. Spread the crushed coral out in a thin layer. 24 hours is usually enogh. Smell test.

However personally I would throw both away and use sand and live rock. Much healthier for fish and the other tank inhabitants.

Ray