cleaning texas holey rock

[danielp]

I have a few pieces I'm trying to bleach out.

Have been soakin g them in a diluted bnleach concentration like I read about.

Doesn't seem to be working that good.

Any suggestions?

[mark razmandi]

take to a car wash with power washers

[cameracorpus]

Some of the rock you see is whiter than others due to the mineral content. For example, some around north San Antonio has a lot of yellow/orange and it isn't gonna bleach out. Bleach can't change the color, it can only clean it.

[Zulaab]

I am going to say go to the self car wash and power wash the stones.. this solves all your problems regarding getting the deep down dirt out of the stone.
then bleach, rinse and insert into tank.

[algarciajr]

Some of the rock you see is whiter than others due to the mineral content. For example, some around north San Antonio has a lot of yellow/orange and it isn't gonna bleach out. Bleach can't change the color, it can only clean it.

+1

[myjohnson]

Just clean it with water.

[Chef]

I don't know about cleaning Texas holey rock but I do know a place that sells these rocks dirt cheap something like $.40 per lb. I've seen so many aquarium stores charge like $2.00 or more per lb. Check out Natural Earth Product Company (NEPCO) in the SW side of town on S. Wilcrest and Stancliff. They have all kinds of awesome rocks.

[PhishPhreek]

Try HydrogenPeroxide not as hard of the fish.

[Tek]

Some of the rock you see is whiter than others ...

This is true. I brought back a range of pieces with me from San Antonio and they range from coral white to a light brown color, kinda like bone. I tried bleaching them to get a uniform look, but it didn't work. Some got whiter while others just looked cleaner

[gmod]

I don't know about cleaning Texas holey rock but I do know a place that sells these rocks dirt cheap something like $.40 per lb. I've seen so many aquarium stores charge like $2.00 or more per lb. Check out Natural Earth Product Company (NEPCO) in the SW side of town on S. Wilcrest and Stancliff. They have all kinds of awesome rocks.

same place that wants 3.00lb for lace rock...aquarium stores dont even charge that much...

[marvinjordan]

same place that wants 3.00lb for lace rock...aquarium stores dont even charge that much...

YEah thats right...

[prostreet69camaro]

same place that wants 3.00lb for lace rock...aquarium stores dont even charge that much...

And their Zebra rock they want 3.00 a pound.

[sountfc]

If you want your limestone to be bone white and super clean, use muriatic acid. You can buy it at Home Depot in the pool section, or at any pool supply store. Be careful with this stuff, it's powerful. I usually mix it 50/50 with water in a heavy duty bucket, or if you're doing a lot, a heavy duty trash can. Wear eye protection and elbow length gloves. Wash the rocks first to remove loose debris, then soak it for a solid half an hour, pull it out, scrub it down CAREFULLY so as not to splatter everywhere, and rinse thoroughly.

What will happen is that the acid will burn off a thin layer of the limestone, which you then scrub off and finally rinse off. I usually rinse it 3-4 times. The results are bone white holey rocks, and I've been doing this for 20 years and never had a single issue. In fact, many times over the years I've removed them from an existing tank, cleaned them this way, and put them back in the same day. Never had a problem, and the results are outstanding.

[sountfc]

And now I see that danielp started this thread in 2010!

[danielp]

I've stuck with the diluted Clorox method. Had to make it a little stronger than my 1st attempt but it works great now.

I rinse by placing the garden hose in the bottom of the garbage can and create a over flow flushing several volumes through.

I then sun dry it.