[Little Soprano]

Howdy

I originally was going to use egg crates to help build under the hills but I've decided on just using the plethora of small lava rocks we have in the backyard. We use to use them as part our Koi Pond filter system, though upgraded to bio balls last summer. They were washed upon leaving the Koi Pond, but have just sat outside around the waterfall the rest of the time.

What's the best way to go about cleaning them?

If not I'll probably just go to Lowes as they have small chunks of lava rock in bulk real cheap, but if I can reuse them, that would be awesome.

 

[Little Soprano]

Yeah, I'd probably just shake them around in a bucket of water or something.

Normally I'd say give them a soak and a scrubbing, but with lava rock that would pretty much be the definition of a Sisyphean task...

Are you concerned about potential parasites/pathogens, or are the rocks just dirty, or are you just cautious, or something else?

If it's parasites/pathogens/critters you are worried about, simply letting them dry in the sun for a while would probably work. Otherwise, yeah, boiling would work, and so would soaking in a bleach solution.

I ended up basically throwing them in a bucket of boiling hot water, and some bleach. Let them sit for some time, rinsed them again, then let them sit in a bucket with water conditioner in it to rid it of any extra chlorine.

I'm just overly cautious. They are in my future shrimp tank, so I worry lol. They probably were pretty damn filthy just due to the fact they were the biological part of the Koi pond's filter system, other then that they sat under 3 feet of snow all winter....