bleaching rocks and fake plants

[psychadelicdrea]

i soaked some of my old rocks and plants becuse they had algae and crap dryed on it...soaked it for about a day then soaked in some declor water for about 2 or so hrs..... i was told that after the rocks dry out the bleach disappears.....is this so or is their a hazard of some ammonia leaching off the rocks and plants when i put them in my tank. Im thinkin that once the rock drys and i put it in the tank the levels if any that might leach off would be taken care of from the bacteria i just wanna make sure i'm not adding a ton of ammonia/chlorine into my tank

 

[Slappy*McFish]

Ammonia does not leach from rocks and fake plants...ever. Your only concern would be chlorine leaching from them after the treatment. Usually drying them out is effective. Soaking them in a concentrated dechlorinator solution is a must. If they still smell of chlorine afterwards, they are not safe to put back in the tank.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Basically chlorine can't exist in solid form. After bleaching, and it rarley needs to be done for more than 15 minutes, if you rinse and then allow to dry thoroughly, there is no chlorine residue. However, if you want to return things to the tank immediately, then after you rinse well, soak in a "megadose" of dechlor for a few minutes and you can put them back in.

BTW- a 5-10% bleach solution is sufficient for killing algae and snails and other nasties.