Pukani dry rock question.

[rjjr1963]

I've decided to use Pukani dry rock in my 180g Aquarium. Most of the recommendations I see call for 2lbs of dry rock per gallon of water.

Pukani is much less dense than a lot of other rock so I'm not sure how much of it to order. I'm guessing #90 would be close but I'm looking for anyone that has more experience with this rock.

Thanks.

 

[JohnnyHildo]

i have little experience in the hobby but i did recently buy 55lbs of dry pukani to put in a standard 120 gal and this is the result...


also, considering that it isn't water logged i think you can get away with a little less poundage and get the same volume.

 

[Martini5788]

I think I would order 100 to be sure, but it's going to depend on what you want the aquascape to be. If you are wanting a minimalist scape, then you will probably not use all of it. I've always found its better to have more than not enough. And with a little extra you can decide which pieces you don't want to use

 

[A.Astore]

Absolutely do NOT order the recommended 2 pounds per gallon! You will have rock the rest of your life if you do that I have a 150 and have it middle ground in terms of rock work (maybe a little heavier than middle) and have a whole section of my sump full of it and only have 80 pounds of rock. I ordered the dry pukani from BRS and could not believe how much more space dry pukani takes than wet Fiji! Wet Fiji, absolutely would have needed 2 pounds of rock per gallon, but the .5 pounds per gallon worked for me so I think you will be safe with 90-100 pounds. The nice thing is Pukani is amazing to shape. So much easier than Fiji.

 

[Dmorty217]

90lbs of Pukani will not look like much in 180g, even if your able to somehow get huge pieces (2 rocks totaling 90lbs). They recommend a certain number of pounds of rock per gallon for filtration purposes. There are plenty of other ways to provide filtration without rock. I probably only have 150-200 lbs of rock in my 625g but I also have 50L of Sera Siporax in the sump.

 

[SaltyKid96]

I bought 150lbs of pukani, 50 lbs of reef saver, and 50lbs of shelf rock and it fills 2-55gallon brute trash cans to the top just as a reference.

 

[A.Astore]

Yikes, I barely fit my first order which was 50 pounds of Pukani dry in a single Brute so seeing that picture of all that in 2 is making me wonder. Granted the shipping weighed it and it was correct so. BRS's site even answers questions with the fact that ordering 1 pound per gallon will provide enough with the ability to have extra to have options. I did a lot of research prior to deciding on Pukani as well as it being dry vs needed amount due to those factors. You don't have any water weight for one. Two, Pukani is very porous and therefore not as heavy. There is absolutely no way I could have put another 70 pounds of dry Pukani in my system let alone 220 more... well, unless I wanted no fish because there would be no room for them. and crushed it up to make it fit.

Here's a picture of my aquascape for which is in a 150 with at least 15 pounds of the 80 in the sump.

 

[sfdan]

I am doing the aquascaping of my 120 and ordered 100 lbs of Pukani dry rock. I'm probably going to end up using 75-80 pounds of it in the tank and it will be pretty full, though honestly I didn't mind having the extra choices and I'll find something to do with the extra rock.

 

[Jade5051]

I had around 90 pounds for my 75g only used 50ish.

 

[garyinco]

I like pukani and its what I have in my current display tank (105gal). As you brought up I knew it was porous and ordered about 1.5/gal of rock. I still have at least a third of it in a box that will take me a long time to use up. I didn't want a tank that was a giant wall of rock that was hard to maintain. I asked my supplier for bigger pieces and tried to describe the look I wanted. They fulfilled beautifully.

If you haven't read it yet, pukani can have a reputation for having a good amount of phosphate built up in it. Due to unplanned circumstances I had the rock for about five months, curing and slowly removing phosphates. If I hadn't gone thru that curing/removal process I'd imagine hair algae would have been an extended battle for me. Good quality GFO is expensive. If you have the time and/or can be patient, I would monitor the rock in some kind of vessel to see what you're up against. Just my opinion...

 

[doradosteve]

also, considering that it isn't water logged i think you can get away with a little less poundage and get the same volume.

huh?

 

[JohnnyHildo]

huh?

the fact that it is "dry" means that there is no trapped water to up the weight of each piece. sorry to confuse you

 

[welshintheusa]

Pukani rock, in my eyes is the best dry rock available. Super porous and interesting shapes. If you had lets say 50 lbs of Pukani, and 50 lbs of normal live rock. Lets say fuji, you will probally have twice the volumn of the fuji. So good choice!

 

[doradosteve]

the fact that it is "dry" means that there is no trapped water to up the weight of each piece. sorry to confuse you

I'm intrigued by this. How much water-weight are you talking about here? Ounces, pounds? And how does this relate to the amount of rock to purchase?

Seems to me that the volume of the rock does not change. Interesting . . .

 

[UFO8MyCow]

I put 50 pounds in my 60 cube and it is way to much. I will probably be taking half of it out.

In case no one has told you I will. It will stink like crazy for a week or so. I soaked in fresh water first and after a couple days I couldn't take it any more (the complaining wife not the smell) so I decided to do 100% water changes every other day for a week then switched to salt water for the nest couple weeks. I stuck an old return pump with a few feet of hose in the container for flow and used that to drain it for water changes.

 

[JohnnyHildo]

I'm intrigued by this. How much water-weight are you talking about here? Ounces, pounds? And how does this relate to the amount of rock to purchase?

Seems to me that the volume of the rock does not change. Interesting . . .

well for what it costs per pound of dry pukani it'd be upsetting to know that i spent money on even one pound of water out of my 55 pounds of rock.
as for volume i'll let you be the judge...

see what i mean now?

 

[UFO8MyCow]

brs did a test with there dry rock. they soaked 1kg of each type and this was the result of how many grams each rock absorbed.

pukani 380g
Fiji 210g
Tonga branch 90g
Reef saver 60g

 

[doradosteve]

Gotcha JohnnyH

The term "wet" is a bit deceiving in the ad. "Liverock" is a more commonly accepted term and will be priced accordingly. These are two very different products.

 

[JohnnyHildo]

brs did a test with there dry rock. they soaked 1kg of each type and this was the result of how many grams each rock absorbed.

pukani 380g
Fiji 210g
Tonga branch 90g
Reef saver 60g

so over 1/3 of a kg is gained when it's wet. pretty crazy when you think about it. really though, considering how porous it is it's not altogether surprising.

 

[rjjr1963]

Is there a big issue with Pukani and phosphates? There is one thread here that the guy had cured his Pukani for six months or more trying to get rid of the phosphates. What would be the best way to remove the phosphates from the tank?