Bleach Stone

Bleach Stone is a solid resource associated with chlorine-based critters and several sanitation and water-related buildings and jobs. It is used as a consumable supply for Hand Sanitizer, Waterweed farming, Hot Tub operation, and geotuning water vents and geysers. It is also one of the few resources that can be used as bait in Airborne Critter Bait to attract Puft Princes and Squeaky Pufts.

Bleach Stone is naturally tied to Chlorine Gas: Puft Princes and Squeaky Pufts can breathe chlorine and excrete Bleach Stone, while the Bleach Stone Hopper produces it from Salt and Gold. It can also be collected on rocket missions from renewable space points of interest, with Chlorine Clouds yielding far more than Radioactive Asteroid Fields. The material is therefore useful both as an industrial input and as a renewable byproduct of certain critters and space exploration.

Because Bleach Stone converts into Chlorine over time, storage matters. It should be kept in an airtight area when possible. High-pressure gases prevent the conversion so long as the surrounding gas pressure is high enough, and submerging it in a liquid tile with sufficient mass also stops it from turning into Chlorine Gas. A common practical method is to use an Automatic Dispenser to drop it into a one-tile-deep pool of water configured to sweep only, which avoids looping the item back out.

Useful Bleach Stone consumption rates include:

• Hand Sanitizer: 70 g per use
• Waterweed domestic growth: 500 g per cycle
• Geotuning water vents and geysers: 50 kg per tuning
• Hot Tub: 116.667 g/s

A few practical notes follow from these mechanics:

• If you want Bleach Stone to last, do not leave it exposed in open storage where it can off-gas away.
• Carbon dioxide pits are an effective passive storage option because they suppress the Chlorine conversion.
• Since the material is consumed by both sanitation and agriculture, it is often worth reserving a protected stockpile near the buildings that use it.
• The critter and space sources make it renewable, but the conversion to Chlorine means transport and warehousing are just as important as production.