Hydrogen peroxide to clean aquarium rocks?

[crashnburn55]

I read a number of blogs advising against boiling rocks to "sterilize" them because of risk of air pockets exploding the rocks under heat and pressure.  I also read that bleach soaks are pretty iffy, I guess some having success others not.  However, I still want to make sure no parasites or other unwanted organic live material finds its way into a freshwater aquarium.  I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts or experience with using hydrogen peroxide soak to clean rocks collected from an ocean shore?  Would just soaking the rocks in straight 3% hydrogen peroxide be adequate?  

[Shadow_Arbor]

5 hours ago, crashnburn55 said:

I read a number of blogs advising against boiling rocks to "sterilize" them because of risk of air pockets exploding the rocks under heat and pressure.  I also read that bleach soaks are pretty iffy, I guess some having success others not.  However, I still want to make sure no parasites or other unwanted organic live material finds its way into a freshwater aquarium.  I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts or experience with using hydrogen peroxide soak to clean rocks collected from an ocean shore?  Would just soaking the rocks in straight 3% hydrogen peroxide be adequate?  

Seeing as these rocks were collected outside it might be a good idea to sterilize them. I don't usually sterilize any rocks I put in my aquariums. I usually only give them a scrub under the tap. If they're from the beach I doubt there are any parasites that can be transferred from salt too fresh. If it was from freshwater, drying them in the sun for a few days is also a good method to sterilize them (UV rays from the sun take care of everything...including us).

Sterilizing with H2O2 - I would recommend putting the H2O2 in a spray bottle and spraying down the rocks until they're soaked in the stuff. Let the rocks dry naturally. H2O2 turns into oxygen and water so no worries there.

Another method you could try is spraying or soaking (spraying is cheaper and probably just as effective) with a 70% alcohol solution. Alcohol evaporates and doesn't leave any residue and pretty much kills everything (you can rinse the rocks after if worried). If you have access to a lab like me you can use 100% alcohol too, but 70% is plenty. If you soak, soak the rock for a minute then take it out and leave it to dry. Take into account that I haven't tried this alcohol method so this is all "in theory". As long as all the alcohol has dried off it should be absolutely harmless. I clean my aquarium tools with alcohol consistently and have no issues, just haven't done that too hardscape as I don't sterilize mine/

 

Good Luck!

[Green Thumb Aquariums]

Bleach and hydrogen peroxide work in a similar manner, but store bought bleach is stronger than store bought hydrogen peroxide. So I wouldn't expect H2O2 to be any more effective than bleach.

[Ryo Watanabe]

I don't personally clean rocks with bleach or hydrogen peroxide. Nor do I boil them. I'd just give it a good wash with tap water and let it sit out in the sun for a couple of days. With rocks I buy from a fish store, I usually don't wash them at all. Unless I'm putting it into a tank with fish already swimming in it.

[crashnburn55]

If the rock dries quickly, I guess it would be thought of as a pretty porous rock?  Is the quick drying, likely porous, rock, better or worse to put in the freshwater aquarium?  Or does it matter?

[Shadow_Arbor]

13 hours ago, crashnburn55 said:

If the rock dries quickly, I guess it would be thought of as a pretty porous rock?  Is the quick drying, likely porous, rock, better or worse to put in the freshwater aquarium?  Or does it matter?

The porosity of the rock might slightly effect the rate that the rock dries at. The best way to tell is by feeling and looking at it. If it's smooth looking and feels smooth not rough it most likely isn't very porous. Shouldn't really matter if it's porous or not. More porous rock will hold more denitrifying bacteria and bio film.