Thought I'd post a little update...
Thanks for the information from the other threads. My endevours are not yet complete....
Bucket that is curing... Doing well, no fowl smells & no more mold on top. I have been dumping the water and replacing it with my old tank water whenever I do a water change. Most of the visible algae is gone, just a bit of green hair..... its still in the dark with a heater, power head & an air stone. I put in 4 small crabs to start munching on whatever is edible in there. I'll be doing a water change tonight so I will see how its looking farther down towards the bottom of the bucket as well as the parameters.
Cleaning and cooking rock... As you initially saw I dunked it all into a Muratic Acid / water bath. Then the rock was subjected to two soaks in a bleach bucket. First soak was 2 cups of bleach and 2-3 days, followed by a rinse and another 2 cups with another 2-3 days of soaking time, then it was rinsed and soaked in water for about 5 days. No more bleach smell and it all came out onto my table top.
(I'll probably need to run a dechlorinator when I start it in a new tank due to the possibility of residual bleach)
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps09156610.jpg
I have now started the same process for the second batch of rock.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps217a3611.jpg
It'll take a few days but by the end of the month it'll be complete.
Once its all done then the rock is ready to start cooking.
I will have to decide if the rock I am 'curing' is going to be clean enough to run in a tank or if it will need the acid / bleach / cooking treatment first. We will wait and see.