pukani and po4 some more questions for A new OLD guy, setup

[revnow]

Hello guys, past 10 years I wanted to setup a mixed reef tank and finally I have stepped into the water trying to avoid the pitfalls most new reef keepers tend to fall into. Ive been reading many forums, books videos and keeping planted tanks through the years. I might do a new build thread, since i have enjoyed so many of others peoples and hope it will entertain and help someone else.
Ill list most of my equipment at another time so to stay on point here, Ive bought most things that I haven't built myself with the idea that as i grow in experience in the hobby I wont need new lights etc. if I take on more demanding specious.
Here is where I currently am at in my adventure. 1 week ago I Took all my dry live rock from BRS(pukani,Tonga shelf) and did the bleach and acid bath to remove most of the phosphate sources. I followed steps others have taken and everything went smother then i expected. I aquascaped to the best of my ability and might do some tweaking. I have them in the DT w/out live sand atm, the lights are off, heater sump power heads and skimmer on. I haven't started the nitrogen cycle yet because i want to make sure phosphates are dealt with... I only started testing for po4 3 days ago with my Hanna phosphorus ULR, d1 .37ppm d2 .45ppm d3 .40ppm. I haven't

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done any water changes yet only replacing evaporation with my RODI water O tds. I can see some material still swaying on the rocks, Ill remove manually any i can..What would be recommend in this situation? Is it ok to put my live sand in (oceans direct) and still keep the lights off to avoid any algae or wait for po4 to be in recommend ranges, should seakem be a consideration or a similar product that removes phosphates with aid of the skimmer, other then GFO?
I knew going in that pukani can be a phosphate source to the extreme hence the mentioned acid/bleach baths.
Other parameters temp 77, SG 1.026, No2 0, Ammonia 0, No3 0, Ph 8.4, KH 13 dkh....dont have mag or cal kits yet in the mail.
Thanks for any help, Its great to finally post something here at rc been following the forum for years.

 

[sfdan]

My Pukani rock had similar level of phosphates at the beginning. I put it in a brute trash can with RO/DI water and dumped in a capful of Seaklear (lanthanum chloride) in there every day for about 2 weeks. At that point the phosphates got down to about 0.03 and I put it in the display tank.

It works because the lanthanum chloride binds with the phosphate into a white precipitate to bring the levels down to 0, then more phosphate leeches out of the rock, then you add more lanthanum chloride, on and on until the level of phosphate is very low. Then you rinse off all the white precipitate and you are good to go.

If you don't want to remove the rock from your DT, one strategy is to drip lanthanum chloride into a filter sock in your sump, which will catch all the precipitate. Many people do this on their running reef tanks so it is pretty safe.

I highly recommend lanthanum chloride as the alternatives are lots of GFO, lots of water changes or lots of algae.

 

[SFish]

I keep rinsing mine for weeks as I cured it in a tub. Tons of crap is stuck in this type of rock. The water was really dirty after the first water change. I used a high pressure sprayer.

 

[revnow]

Thanks @sfdan you just reminded me of thread I had bookmarked from rc a while ago on Lanthanum chloride :thumbsup:

@sfish going to continue the cure with the lanthanum chloride, i just picked. removing pukani from DT isn't really a great option for me plus there's no sand or live stock to worry about hurting which shouldn't happen if I follow others guidance..


thanks again guys

 

[homer1475]

I cured mine in a brute trash can and added lanthanum chloride till I got .03 phosphates. In hindsight, I should have done a few more lanthanum chloride treatments as I'm now battling GHA because my rock is still leeching phosphates.

 

[revnow]

@homer1475 I've seen alot of people go through just what your talking about, I know thats a pia!I'm going to do my best to make sure I limit the odds of it happening to me...Have you read through the link I mentioned, there are guys who use LC in a established reefs even a public aquarium with no Ill effects(when done a specific way) to live stock. then when po4 is more manageable levels use more popular means like GFO etc

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[Rybren]

I wouldn't bother with live sand myself. I haven't seen much, if any evidence to support the idea that the sand is actually live or contains anything beneficial.

If it were me, I'd add the regular substrate (grain size of your choice) and then add a cup of substrate from a fellow reefer's tank and a chunk or two of live rock.

 

[sfdan]

I cured mine in a brute trash can and added lanthanum chloride till I got .03 phosphates. In hindsight, I should have done a few more lanthanum chloride treatments as I'm now battling GHA because my rock is still leeching phosphates.

Agreed. In retrospect I should have done another week or so of SeaKlear to get it down as low as possible. Though I do think there is a limit to how low lanthanum chloride can get the phosphate levels.

 

[Rakie]

Hey I feel ya! I had a reef when I was a kid but I'm just getting back into it. I will tell you keeping reefs has become significantly easier. The general knowledge held by most reefers is much better than before.

I used Pukani and Tonga Shelf -- I just want to say Bryopsis sprouted out of it (Bryopsis is one of the most annoying algae, it's bomb proof unless you up your magnesium to unholy levels). Otherwise I had a very well cycled tank, dumped a bottle of bacteria in and to my surprise cycle was done in a week -- But the rock still wasn't completely cured.

So make sure to give it a good long cure if you can! I went the ultra-lazy route, soaked in fresh water and shook off all the junk I could, put it in the tank and let nature happen.

 

[Rakie]

I cured mine in a brute trash can and added lanthanum chloride till I got .03 phosphates.

Wow, I had never heard of Lanthanum Chloride -- I'm assuming if you're cycling and curing rock in your tank you would NOT want to get this in the DT?

 

[A sea K]

Wow, I had never heard of Lanthanum Chloride -- I'm assuming if you're cycling and curing rock in your tank you would NOT want to get this in the DT?

If you don't want to remove the rock from your DT, one strategy is to drip lanthanum chloride into a filter sock in your sump, which will catch all the precipitate. Many people do this on their running reef tanks so it is pretty safe.

I highly recommend lanthanum chloride as the alternatives are lots of GFO, lots of water changes or lots of algae.

 

[revnow]

Wow, I had never heard of Lanthanum Chloride -- I'm assuming if you're cycling and curing rock in your tank you would NOT want to get this in the DT?

From the research I've seen as long as you follow the guidelines other established reefers laid out, its safe. even in a established reef not just curing the rock...check out this link for more info http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1474839&highlight=lanthanum+cloride

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[SFish]

Thanks @sfdan you just reminded me of thread I had bookmarked from rc a while ago on Lanthanum chloride :thumbsup:

@sfish going to continue the cure with the lanthanum chloride, i just picked. removing pukani from DT isn't really a great option for me plus there's no sand or live stock to worry about hurting which shouldn't happen if I follow others guidance..


thanks again guys

Lanthanum chloride is a must for this type of rock. I did that in the plastic bens I used. It can be done in the tank I just prefer not to but you should be fine. I would not want to risk my fish by adding it to a tank has everything in it. There are safer ways to deal with algae.

 

[SFish]

There are many ways to deal with algae GFO is only one of them. An ATS is probably the most natural way and adds no real risk. The best thing to do is cure rock outside of the tank to avoid this mess to begin with. To much Lanthanum Chloride will kill everything in you tank.

 

[revnow]

There are many ways to deal with algae GFO is only one of them. An ATS is probably the most natural way and adds no real risk. The best thing to do is cure rock outside of the tank to avoid this mess to begin with. To much Lanthanum Chloride will kill everything in you tank.

Definitely will be doing ATS in the coming months,they are a great advance in reefing, I like the hog types myself...I just need to decide if ill be buying a ready made one or a DIY. I wish I had the room to have cured my rocks outside my DT just wasn't a option

I need to find out, maybe in this thread if its ok, or another. Has Anyone used the seaklear "phosklear 4000" type of po4 remover and there experience. I checked the msds of "phosphate remover" and the "phosklear 4000" they both have LC as main and only listed ingredient

 

[sfdan]

Definitely will be doing ATS in the coming months,they are a great advance in reefing, I like the hog types myself...I just need to decide if ill be buying a ready made one or a DIY. I wish I had the room to have cured my rocks outside my DT just wasn't a option

I need to find out, maybe in this thread if its ok, or another. Has Anyone used the seaklear "phosklear 4000" type of po4 remover and there experience. I checked the msds of "phosphate remover" and the "phosklear 4000" they both have LC as main and only listed ingredient

I used the "Seaklear Phosphate Remover" which is known safe and commonly used. It actually took me a couple of tries on eBay because the first time I ordered "Phosphate Remover" and got the dreaded "PhosKlear 4000".

The PhosKlear 4000 might be fine, as I think is just LC + a natural clarifier which I believe is probably safe, but I couldn't get any confirmation from anybody who had used it and I didn't want to risk it.

 

[shred5]

I would hold off on the sand till phosphates are under control. Reef sand is calcium carbonate and can bind phosphates which can lead to long term problems like cyanobacteria on your sand.