Boiling a brick

[Mr. Limpet]

This would apply to all rocks, whether you collect them yourself or buy them. in my opinion bleach is easier and better as it will help rid the rock of anything left behind baking. It literally oxidizes organic materials.

I prefer using ammonia as a pre-cleaner to boiling or baking my rocks. Unless you do some serious long term rinsing after using bleach, you stand the chance of killing off your tank. With ammo, if there's even a hint of it left, it's a naturally occurring substance in the tank and there's no threat to the fish.

 

[Demonknight]

Hadn't thought about ammonia tbh..as for the way I bake/boil is I just don't trust bleach, as a chef we use it daily at work and no matter how clean you think things are, its not.

*shrug* and my record so far with rocks in the boil/bake method makes me feel safer in the long run. I'm sure it can happen, that rocks will "explode", just as I'm sure someone will not rinse well enough and kill off a tank of fish using bleach..it comes down to go with the way you feel comfortable using and don't let yourself get distracted, thats when mistakes get made

 

[BillD]

I prefer using ammonia as a pre-cleaner to boiling or baking my rocks. Unless you do some serious long term rinsing after using bleach, you stand the chance of killing off your tank. With ammo, if there's even a hint of it left, it's a naturally occurring substance in the tank and there's no threat to the fish.

Ammonia does not do the same thing and bleach is very easy to remove, either by rinsing or allowing the rock or whatever to dry. Alternatively, a bath in a water and dechlor or water and vinegar solution will also do it. I would be much more comfortable using bleach than ammonia, and ammonia won't do the job.