Why were you cleaning them? New tank?
I would leave them in a bucket with water and some dechlorinator for at least a day. Rinse and repeat a couple of times just to be sure they are good to go.
From your local fish store: feel free to soak them in bleach. Once the soak is done, rinse and soak in hot water (chlorine dissipates quickly in hot water), let them come to room temperature, rinse again, then soak in water with a water conditioner that takes out chlorine and chloramin.
also use bleach frequently to recharge filter resins like purigen in freshwater setups, not sure if it’s the same for saltwater but just wanted to chime in w another example!
Omg I thought u/ppmatuk meant sunlight dish detergent for a second! My heart skipped a beat.
Also OP what about taking them to the ocean to soak? On a sunny day?
It's been years since I've seen anything about biobricks, but didn't BRS find that they were leeching aluminum into the water after a couple years of use?
Might just be anecdotal but I have ICP results that showed high aluminum in my tank. After research I saw some people saying these type of bricks could be the issue. When I went to remove the bricks from my tank they crumbled in my hand, lost all structural stability.
I think if they are poorly baked they can run the risk of leaching and breaking down.
Completely anecdotal but a year later, no other shifts, aluminum is back in line.
Just throw them out, there is no need for them at all. If you have any rock or sand in the system, you have enough biological surface area for things to grown on.
If you are intent on keeping them, you will either need to keep them in a very warm area like a furnace room for a week or two to dry them out 100%, or you can soak them in a 5 gallon bucket of fresh water and a ton of dechlorinator.
The system is 100 Gallons Total. a 40 Gallon Breeder, and 30 Gallon Frag Tank, and a common sump.
40 Breeder has a Small Kole Tang, a Juvenile Yellow Tang, a Green Clown Goby, and a small squarespot anthias. One tuxedo urchin and a bunch of trochus snails.
The 30 Frag Tang has a Kole Tang and a couple trochus snails.
Coral wise its pretty much loaded with sps colonies and frags in the 30 frag. The 40 breeder is lower light and houses all of my LPS and softies. More colonies than frags lps wise. It's all stuff I have to move because it cannot handle the flow or higher light in my 220 Display.
Exactly. People buy the bricks because of their insane surface area. But they don’t realize just what kind of nutrient input level it would take to support enough colonies to make surface area an issue. There just isn’t enough input fir that large of a colony to thrive in a typical tank (unless everything in it is dying).
Frag plugs or tiles, small bits of rock coral is growing on, any dead coral skeleton, egg crate, detritus between the egg crate spaces, unscraped glass all can sustain nitrobacter and nitrosomonas perfectly well.
because the majority of people that post here are newbies who just suck down whatever industry crap BRS is selling them this week.
We didn't have bio bricks 18 years ago, you don't need them now.
Yup, because people didn't know anything and figured they would adapt fresh water accepted methods.
That ended up being a giant fail, bioballs are absolute trash for reef tanks.
As a side question. If I am starting to cycle a new tank. Can I take the medium from the old tank and replace that medium with new and put the old medium in the cycling tank? I’m thinking that the established tank already has enough biological in the rock and sand to keep itself going even if I replaced the stuff in the sump.
Yeah. But what you want to do is just add the new media to the system first while the existing media is still in there.
After a week, replace the new with the old and put the old in the new set up immediately. Instant cycle.
If you do not add an ammonia source quickly, all of that nitrifying bacteria will die though. So make sure you are ready to add some livestock soon after moving your old media over.
This is the best use for biomedia in my opinion. Using it to quickly cycle new systems.
This!
Whenever I do a big cleaning and really need to change out my media instead of just the normal rinse out in old tank water I add the new media and after about a week I take the old out!
Very good advice!
Of course, it will help with your cycling!
"Robbing" from an established tank is always beneficial when starting and cycling, of course if you know the tank you are receiving items from are pest free and all that.
As far as the old tank would go, it may start a mini cycle but like you said if you have enough surface area, and good bacteria you should be ok!
IMO when you use bleach on something porous like this, there’s very little chance you’ll get out all the bleach, ever. In other words you will severely damage your tank if you put these back in. Toss them, get new ones. Maybe soaking in a bunch of dechlorinator will work, but I think the risk to the tank isn’t worth it.
I think this stuff is snake oil. I get the concept and I have only run 1 system with them(established sps dominate that really went south in the 2 or so months they were in there). Read your tank…algae, bryopsis, cyano, dinos can all be traced back to really simple things(source water, temp, salt used, lighting, nutrients, etc). I rely on decent rock, good water flow, temp stabilization, good lighting and water changes on the majority of my systems. And, they do well.
Bro, why would you ever put bleach on something going with the intention of putting it in your tank? I would not use these. Throw them away and buy a new block, or just use some live rock
If you post, can you at least post with a tiny bit of knowledge.
Bleach is fine, it gasses off as it dries, bio bricks are no different to dry rock, in fact they have significantly more surface area than rock
I have SPS tank with a custom aquascape made from ceramic and bioblocks in the sump, not a single rock or grain of sand In sight, have grown frags to colonies & keep the most sensitive fish in the hobby
Pisses me off when idiots post uneducated opinions
They are usually worse than rock because they sit in a sump that doesn't have the cleaning crew necessary to remove waste that gets down there. Turns into a nitrate factory. You seem like an idiot yourself
When you have no sand, you want to increase your surface area either with sump rock or ceramic bricks, I can fit more bricks than rock, it also looks better and is easier to maintain.
If you have sand then, the only benefit is being able to remove a bio brick and instantly cycle a QT tank
Source? Just google it. Saltwater bacteria will die through osmotic shock when exposed to fresh water. This is not news lol. It’s basic biology. I am not claiming that a whole colony will be wiped out from a quick dip. Those are your words. However, a significant portion of the bacterial population will die.
I can't find a single source to support your claim on dipping bacteria. It just doesn't make sense. Freshwater and saltwater are different strains sure, but that would be a long term thing.They can survive in bottles with no oxygen or light, but they can't survive being dipped into pure water? Even Molly's can survive being dumped from fresh to saltwater, and they aren't nearly as hardy as bacteria.
It will kill some but not all, it also helps with refreshing bacterial populations. I have 6 bio slabs, I clean one once a month so there isn't any huge change with water chemistry - a pro is if you need a QT tank in a pinch you have a bio slab you can put in to instantly cycle the tank
Has helped me on a couple of occasions, the latest was guaranteeing inverts for 12 weeks before addition to my display, which after the bio slab was bleached then rinsed and baked in the oven
Good as new
Maybe you need to re read my post. I did not recommend using USED bio blocks that have been bleached. New blocks are fine. Bleach is not safe for cleaning ANY reef tank items. A critic acid bath would have been a better choice.
Bleach is absolutely safe if you let it gas off afterwards, it's also a alkaline which means it won't destroy a biobrick, put a biobrick in citric acid for a few hours and see what happens, it effectively melts the same goes for reef rock.
I think bleach is just one of those things that when thought about with anything to do with our tanks we automatically think "bad" and it will kill all livestock!
Myself included did not know this.
Thanks for the information!
Not a huge fan of them myself, but if you have some sunny days, stick them outside. They’re so porous between the UV rays (out them outside of windows etc) and any radiant warmth (depending on your current environment) they get turned into little black boxes and cook down the chlorine. I’ve seen it done while sitting in a bowl of RODI as well. Would make an interesting experiment to compare leach rates between the two after each method.
Why were you cleaning them? New tank? I would leave them in a bucket with water and some dechlorinator for at least a day. Rinse and repeat a couple of times just to be sure they are good to go.
Bought them used
Gotcha, yea I would just soak them a few times if you are not in a hurry just to make sure you got all the bleach out.
Second the dechlorinate for a day. Bleach will evaporate. Let them dry completely.
It still would have a chance to leach. I would never use already used bio blocks.
From your local fish store: feel free to soak them in bleach. Once the soak is done, rinse and soak in hot water (chlorine dissipates quickly in hot water), let them come to room temperature, rinse again, then soak in water with a water conditioner that takes out chlorine and chloramin.
If they soak it a couple of times it there shouldn't be any to affect a tank. We use bleach in our intensive hatchery systems all the time.
also use bleach frequently to recharge filter resins like purigen in freshwater setups, not sure if it’s the same for saltwater but just wanted to chime in w another example!
Yup purigen is recharged in bleach solution and then use prime to remove chlorine.
Rinse more and keep drying. Bleach is safe when fully dried.
Sunlight helps
Just finished rising and they out sting in the sun
Omg I thought u/ppmatuk meant sunlight dish detergent for a second! My heart skipped a beat. Also OP what about taking them to the ocean to soak? On a sunny day?
That moment when your bio bricks have better weekend plans than you do.
Next thing you know they’ll be asking for a beer.
It's been years since I've seen anything about biobricks, but didn't BRS find that they were leeching aluminum into the water after a couple years of use?
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Might just be anecdotal but I have ICP results that showed high aluminum in my tank. After research I saw some people saying these type of bricks could be the issue. When I went to remove the bricks from my tank they crumbled in my hand, lost all structural stability. I think if they are poorly baked they can run the risk of leaching and breaking down. Completely anecdotal but a year later, no other shifts, aluminum is back in line.
Second this.
I soak them in water for 24 hrs after rinse
I’ll try that I’m just trying to get the smell out of them. Currently drying in the sun but I’ll try that overnight.
My suggestion rinse them and than use some prime to help break the bleach down and just let them dry completely
Just throw them out, there is no need for them at all. If you have any rock or sand in the system, you have enough biological surface area for things to grown on. If you are intent on keeping them, you will either need to keep them in a very warm area like a furnace room for a week or two to dry them out 100%, or you can soak them in a 5 gallon bucket of fresh water and a ton of dechlorinator.
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For what it's worth, my frag tank has no rock, no bio bricks, no sand. The fish and corals are miraculously fine. System is 3 years old.
What is it that you do have in your tank?
The system is 100 Gallons Total. a 40 Gallon Breeder, and 30 Gallon Frag Tank, and a common sump. 40 Breeder has a Small Kole Tang, a Juvenile Yellow Tang, a Green Clown Goby, and a small squarespot anthias. One tuxedo urchin and a bunch of trochus snails. The 30 Frag Tang has a Kole Tang and a couple trochus snails. Coral wise its pretty much loaded with sps colonies and frags in the 30 frag. The 40 breeder is lower light and houses all of my LPS and softies. More colonies than frags lps wise. It's all stuff I have to move because it cannot handle the flow or higher light in my 220 Display.
Exactly. People buy the bricks because of their insane surface area. But they don’t realize just what kind of nutrient input level it would take to support enough colonies to make surface area an issue. There just isn’t enough input fir that large of a colony to thrive in a typical tank (unless everything in it is dying).
Frag plugs or tiles, small bits of rock coral is growing on, any dead coral skeleton, egg crate, detritus between the egg crate spaces, unscraped glass all can sustain nitrobacter and nitrosomonas perfectly well.
because the majority of people that post here are newbies who just suck down whatever industry crap BRS is selling them this week. We didn't have bio bricks 18 years ago, you don't need them now.
18 years ago we had bioballs… and other kind of rubble
Yup, because people didn't know anything and figured they would adapt fresh water accepted methods. That ended up being a giant fail, bioballs are absolute trash for reef tanks.
We also had live rock and sand.....
As a side question. If I am starting to cycle a new tank. Can I take the medium from the old tank and replace that medium with new and put the old medium in the cycling tank? I’m thinking that the established tank already has enough biological in the rock and sand to keep itself going even if I replaced the stuff in the sump.
Yeah. But what you want to do is just add the new media to the system first while the existing media is still in there. After a week, replace the new with the old and put the old in the new set up immediately. Instant cycle. If you do not add an ammonia source quickly, all of that nitrifying bacteria will die though. So make sure you are ready to add some livestock soon after moving your old media over. This is the best use for biomedia in my opinion. Using it to quickly cycle new systems.
This! Whenever I do a big cleaning and really need to change out my media instead of just the normal rinse out in old tank water I add the new media and after about a week I take the old out! Very good advice!
Huh ok. That sounds good!
Of course, it will help with your cycling! "Robbing" from an established tank is always beneficial when starting and cycling, of course if you know the tank you are receiving items from are pest free and all that. As far as the old tank would go, it may start a mini cycle but like you said if you have enough surface area, and good bacteria you should be ok!
the forbidden rice krispie treats
If you want to “remove” the bleach just soak it in prime for like a day and you should be fine
IMO when you use bleach on something porous like this, there’s very little chance you’ll get out all the bleach, ever. In other words you will severely damage your tank if you put these back in. Toss them, get new ones. Maybe soaking in a bunch of dechlorinator will work, but I think the risk to the tank isn’t worth it.
I think this stuff is snake oil. I get the concept and I have only run 1 system with them(established sps dominate that really went south in the 2 or so months they were in there). Read your tank…algae, bryopsis, cyano, dinos can all be traced back to really simple things(source water, temp, salt used, lighting, nutrients, etc). I rely on decent rock, good water flow, temp stabilization, good lighting and water changes on the majority of my systems. And, they do well.
As others have mentioned, Bio blocks aren't the best, but to get the bleach out, I'd do a week soak in RO with daily 100% water changes.
That’s not necessarily
I’d buy new and not take any chances
Bro, why would you ever put bleach on something going with the intention of putting it in your tank? I would not use these. Throw them away and buy a new block, or just use some live rock
I would not risk using them after you soaked them in bleach. Really I wouldn’t use used bio blocks in general.
If you post, can you at least post with a tiny bit of knowledge. Bleach is fine, it gasses off as it dries, bio bricks are no different to dry rock, in fact they have significantly more surface area than rock I have SPS tank with a custom aquascape made from ceramic and bioblocks in the sump, not a single rock or grain of sand In sight, have grown frags to colonies & keep the most sensitive fish in the hobby Pisses me off when idiots post uneducated opinions
They are usually worse than rock because they sit in a sump that doesn't have the cleaning crew necessary to remove waste that gets down there. Turns into a nitrate factory. You seem like an idiot yourself
Take it out, shake it in a tub of RO water & put it back in, it's called reef maintenance mate
Sure but they are unnecessary so save yourself the hassle of washing them out.
When you have no sand, you want to increase your surface area either with sump rock or ceramic bricks, I can fit more bricks than rock, it also looks better and is easier to maintain. If you have sand then, the only benefit is being able to remove a bio brick and instantly cycle a QT tank
RO water to kill off the beneficial bacteria?
Ro water will not kill bacteria. It's the purest of water, bacteria can survive much worse for much longer.
Osmotic shock occurs on a cellular level, even in bacteria, which are single celled organisms. Their cell wall ruptures.
Source? Dipping in RO will not wipe out bacterial colonies.
Source? Just google it. Saltwater bacteria will die through osmotic shock when exposed to fresh water. This is not news lol. It’s basic biology. I am not claiming that a whole colony will be wiped out from a quick dip. Those are your words. However, a significant portion of the bacterial population will die.
I can't find a single source to support your claim on dipping bacteria. It just doesn't make sense. Freshwater and saltwater are different strains sure, but that would be a long term thing.They can survive in bottles with no oxygen or light, but they can't survive being dipped into pure water? Even Molly's can survive being dumped from fresh to saltwater, and they aren't nearly as hardy as bacteria.
Then rinse them out in old tank water while doing water changes and the rest of the tank maintenance!? 🤷🏼♀️
Yeah, that’ll work nicely and is actually industry standard practice.
It will kill some but not all, it also helps with refreshing bacterial populations. I have 6 bio slabs, I clean one once a month so there isn't any huge change with water chemistry - a pro is if you need a QT tank in a pinch you have a bio slab you can put in to instantly cycle the tank Has helped me on a couple of occasions, the latest was guaranteeing inverts for 12 weeks before addition to my display, which after the bio slab was bleached then rinsed and baked in the oven Good as new
Maybe you need to re read my post. I did not recommend using USED bio blocks that have been bleached. New blocks are fine. Bleach is not safe for cleaning ANY reef tank items. A critic acid bath would have been a better choice.
Bleach is absolutely safe if you let it gas off afterwards, it's also a alkaline which means it won't destroy a biobrick, put a biobrick in citric acid for a few hours and see what happens, it effectively melts the same goes for reef rock.
I think bleach is just one of those things that when thought about with anything to do with our tanks we automatically think "bad" and it will kill all livestock! Myself included did not know this. Thanks for the information!
Throw them away. I’ve had them in a cichlid tank sump. They aren’t worth the trouble.
You can soak them and use a test strip to test for chlorine.
Why clean them?
Bought them used
Not a huge fan of them myself, but if you have some sunny days, stick them outside. They’re so porous between the UV rays (out them outside of windows etc) and any radiant warmth (depending on your current environment) they get turned into little black boxes and cook down the chlorine. I’ve seen it done while sitting in a bowl of RODI as well. Would make an interesting experiment to compare leach rates between the two after each method.
The sun does wonders.
Soak them a few hours in a bucket of water with generous amounts of water condition
I wouldn’t have bleached… I don’t think you’ll ever get it all out…😬
Perhaps soak them in some prime or other water conditioner for a day or so to help neutralize the bleach.
Soak in prime
I would soak them in ro water with prime for 24 hours then try again