po4 from Marco rocks.
- Thread starter CrazyEyes
- Start date
ChadRaay86
New member
All rock leaks some phosphate unless you acid wash them. That being said, pukani and florida based rock (marcos) are notorious for high phosphates. It'll be a long battle that you can do with GFO, lanthanum chloride, or other means of phosphate removal.
Macro rock is pretty new and seems really clean to me. I just put 150 lbs. in the office tank and did not cook/wash it. I just plan on gfo as necessary. Even acid washing is no guarantee as the acid could simply expose a new layer of bound phosphates.
So if it makes you feel any better I'm not concerned.
So if it makes you feel any better I'm not concerned.
CrazyEyes
New member
It's honestly not a huge outbreak either, well yet anyways. I guess I'll give it some time and see what happens. I was going to test for po4 but I don't think I'd need to at this point. I really don't feel like running a reactor on this thing and might just go with nopox again.
CrazyEyes
New member
Maybe it was the live rock I was using for seeding the tank, I just removed the LR so I'll see what happens.
+1... There have been many posts mentioning the problems with Marco rocks...
ChadRaay86
New member
Better now than later when it's full of coral. I acid washed my rock at 8 months and haven't noticed phosphates since. Acid washing, along with removing bound phosphates will increase porosity markedly and this helps with bacteria development.
Marco, after being acid washed should be much cleaner than say pukani, which has many tiny holes that fish crap can get stuck in.
ChadRaay86
New member
Acid in a Rubbermaid and muriatic acid. Baking soda to neutralize the acid when it's done. Read the RC threads, that's where I got directions 
ChadRaay86
New member
Caveat: you will end up with less rock the longer you leave it in there.
How long would you need to have the rock in the water before you would start to see the phosphates?
I ask because I have a load of Marco Rocks coming in a couple days, and already have my brute set up with water, heater and pump, just waiting!
I can run it a few days and test for phospates then, but is that long enough to tell?
I ask because I have a load of Marco Rocks coming in a couple days, and already have my brute set up with water, heater and pump, just waiting!
I can run it a few days and test for phospates then, but is that long enough to tell?
ChadRaay86
New member
Best way to tell if its rock is to take a piece and submerge just it in tank water in its own container. After awhile run a phosphate test, if its high, its your rock. Sand can be a culprit too, but having high PO4 levels without a single fish (or any other life) is a recipe for future troubles. I've experienced the high phosphate from rock issue, and most of you know what my tank looked like after I got it in check
It's hard to put a definitive amount of time on it, but I would suspect they would start showing up on a Hanna Checker within a week or two. A few days likely wouldn't be enough.
The Marco rock I got recently was really clean. Zero brown deposits. Which may not indicate the lack of phosphates. However, for my personal tank I bought a bunch of dry rock from a company locally and it was covered in brown. Needless to say I gave it a bleach and acid wash which burned off most of the brown and subsequently my phosphates reached a high of .025 while running gfo from day one. The gfo probably saved my butt as I have never experienced nuisance algae and roughly a month later phosphates were undetectable.
The Marco rock I got recently was really clean. Zero brown deposits. Which may not indicate the lack of phosphates. However, for my personal tank I bought a bunch of dry rock from a company locally and it was covered in brown. Needless to say I gave it a bleach and acid wash which burned off most of the brown and subsequently my phosphates reached a high of .025 while running gfo from day one. The gfo probably saved my butt as I have never experienced nuisance algae and roughly a month later phosphates were undetectable.
CrazyEyes
New member
Mine was spoltless too, it honestly looked like they had just had a bleach bath but as you pointed out, not sure if that indicates them being free of po4 or not. I currently only have two clowns and have only fed 3 times, ocean nutrition pellets (sample I got from RAP). As I also stated, I had a medium piece of LR in the tank which may as well be the culprit. I'm definitely fully prepared to pull the rock and acid bath it if needed but I may wait and see if the po4 issue goes away since pulling the LR out.
BigJohnny
Active member
I have been told by an expert that rocks do not leach phosphates but the organic matter on them could. Marco rock and brs reef saver should not contain any dead organic matter. Pukani on the other hand is notorious and all visible matter should be removed beforehand and then the rocks should be cured. I haven't heard anyone have problems with phosphates with marco or brs reef saver so this is surprising to me. Would more likely be from food/water source/live sand/live rock so anyone who does have problems would only be able to prove it was from the rock by soaking it before it's ever in a tank with any of those other things and testing it that way. Has anyone seen phosphates doing that?
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