The rock came out of the acid bath and bleach soak REALLY clean, loads of sponges and other organic material came off, it was definitely worth it and will shorten the cycle considerably. I let it sit dry for 2 days to allow any remaining bleach to evaporate. Now its sitting in fresh saltwater with a powerhead and heater, ready to start curing.
You can really see the difference the acid bath / bleach soak made in the pictures below. As a quick reference as a few have asked why I did this:
Muriatic Acid Bath - Dissolves top layer of calcium carbonate off the rock, removing a lot of the 'locked up' P04 that would otherwise leach back in to the water column while curing.
It does a good job of dissolving organic material too, but this isn't the primary reason for doing it.
Bleach Soak - Loosens/dissolves/cleans the rock of dead organic material. A powerhead is required during this stage for it to be really effective.
The results are pretty clear.
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