Leaching rock - would some take a moment to explain, please?

[travis32]

aaah. O.k. that makes sense. Yeah, didn't expect a single 100% water change to do it. Since I transported my rock to a 100% brand new water and in 24 - 48 hours, phosphates registered as high as 1.0 on an API phosphate test......

I have multiple evidences, in my case, that 100% water change will not do any good. It must be continuously exported. I just wasn't sure that exporting it fast enough would accomplish anything if the rock just kept on "reabsorbing" the leached phosphates.

Sorta like gravity. Are the export methods powerful enough to suck the leaching phosphates out before they're rabsorbed... I'm going to go with yes, they can be, provided they have somewhere to go.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

:thumbsup:

Good luck.

 

[MHG]

Waking up an old thread...... I have no detectable phosphates (testing with a Hanna). Because of some unexplained growth issues I have some have suggested phosphate leaching... I started to vacuum my shallow sand bed for the past 3 weeks and have noticed some slightly improved growth.... May be just a coincidence but when the sand bed is trapping detritus and thus phosphates can it be as simple as vacuuming regularly or does it tend to get trapped in the arragonite... My heavier feeding has improved growth but of course is adding to the phosphate problem...

 

[disc1]

It may be that or more likely the algae growth you are seeing is stripping the water of available phosphate as fast as you are adding it. It is pretty common not to be able to detect phosphate in the middle of an algae bloom even though there is an overabundance of the stuff.