Cleaning Base Rock

[Sregnar35]

I have about 20 big pieces of base rock that have been in a bucket with probably 15-20% bleach to water. How should I go about cleaning them for my tank? I was going to rinse them thoroughly and then let them dry, then put them in some water with dechlorinator in it. What should I do, dechlorinator right away, maybe boil them??

[OrionGirl]

Rinse well, soak in dechlor, rinse again. Where did the rocks come from?

[Sregnar35]

I found them in my front yard, half buried under an old pine tree. I bought the house from an old woman who used to spend her winter in florida. She must have been using them as lawn ornaments. Very nice coral skeleton pieces and ocean rock, also some football sized conch shells

[OrionGirl]

okay--just checking. Because they were in the yard, I would also soak them and run some carbon for a week--change the carbon and water, run for another week. Probably overkill, but porous rock can soak up a lot of liquid, and I would worry about fertilizers and terrestrial poisons they may have had contact with. The carbon should pull out anything of this type that leaches into the water during soaking. Bleach will take care of bacteria and organics, carbon will address the chemicals.

[Sregnar35]

Great, thanks for the tips, i'll do that!!