Shutting down tank, but keeping LR. What to do?

[kien]

definitely a good idea to acid burn or bleach it after it has been left to rot. It's called live rock for a reason and if left out of water that "live" stuff will die and rot. You'll want to do something to remove that rot.

[banditpowdercoat]

So just soak in bleach and water? IF I sell all inhabitants, could I just bleach the tank adn do it in tank before shut down? If so, how much? 150 display, but 220 total gallon of water

[mikellini]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

So just soak in bleach and water? IF I sell all inhabitants, could I just bleach the tank adn do it in tank before shut down? If so, how much? 150 display, but 220 total gallon of water

I had great success just using RODI and the sun. If you have the time, this is the best way to avoid chemicals and still leach phosphates/metals from the rock, and has the advantage of not losing any mass (like you would with an acid bath).

To start, I placed the rock in a large rubbermaid of RODI for about 3 days. Lots of circulation. After 3 days it was pretty ripe, rinsed/scrubbed the rock in buckets of RODI and left in the sun to dry. Repeated this about 3 times and the water was clear by the third time, so I just started doing water changes every three days. No smell and no measurable phosphates two weeks later, nice clean rock!