Dipping Live Rock into Lemon Juice?

Thanks everyone for such positive feeback, we got the tank all torn apart atm. We are doing vinegar on the powerheads and etc and going to bleach the tank, let it filter through.

So letting the live rocks sit in vinegar is also an option? Right now we planned to use a big rubbermaid container and fill it with bleach water and do that a few times, rinse, repeat.

I am still curious how long it takes vinegar or bleach to actually kill anything living. Some say 15min., others say 24 hours, or 2 days. I guess I'd assume it kills on contact, swish it real good for an hour or two, idk.
We are going to let it sit for at minimum 24 hours though, any insight?

 

It will kill some things immediately. Most actually. However to get the rock completely clean and eat away old nutrients, etc. let it soak. It will take a while. You'll see the rock slowly begin to turn white. If there was that much algae it sounds like the rock was pretty nasty, no telling what else is in there. Periodically scrub the rocks to get rid of the junk that will fall off. A quick dip just won't do what you need.

The new clean rock needs to sit in the sun until completely dry (or near a fan, if leaving on the porch or deck is not possible). That takes a couple days, to get rid of the chlorine. Then rinse again (RO water, not tap - you don't want to introduce silicates and phosphates into your nice clean rock). The rock should have no bleach odor left at all. The procedure takes time. Rush it back into the tank with bleach still on it and you'll have a mess.