Lace rock releases phosphates?

fishguy2727

New member
I do not have the budget to fill my 29 with high quality live rock, so a lot of my rock will be lace rock that I already have. Someone on another forum stated that it will release a lot of phosphates. Is this true? Any cases that illustrate this? I have used it in freshwater tanks for a while, if it does release phosphates will it still have any to let out?
 
Nothing that cannot be absorbed by a good quality GFO.

I wouldn't worry unless your phosphate level tests higher than .03 ppm.
 
Note the part about not having the money to fill it with the ideal rock, that means I also don't have enough for equipment like phosphate reactors.

I will just see how it goes, may be able to buy some antique coral rock from Feller Stone. But for now the lace rock looks good and since I have used it before there should not be much left.
 
FWIW, I filled a tank with a mix of lace and live rock; phosphates always tested 0 (undetectable) but I had horrendous hair algae that I was unable to get rid of. I broke down the tank and got rid of everything in it EXCEPT the rock that had originally been "live" and now it is crystal clear. I will add that the lace rock DID get covered in coralline and made beautiful rock after a bit, if I could have only solved the hair algae problem, it would have been perfect; I think it was leaching silica or something, I don't know. Maybe it was unrelated.
 
You do not need phosphate reactors to run GFO.

I run mine in a simple canister filter and it works just fine. :)
 
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