Pukani Rock - Cyano & Cloudy Water

[dunc101]

Just to add to this. I have a 10 gallon tank that I've been running as a 'QT' tank (well... I haven't used it yet... but it's been set up about 3 months now under my frag tank). It has a couple of pounds of pukani dry rock (rubble) and a pound or two of BRS reef saver dry rock. The pukani rock is completely covered in coralline algae whereas the BRS reef saver dry rock still looks white with no coralline on it at all and is sitting directly ON TOP of the covered pukani rock. I have heard various reports of the Pukani rock leaching PO4, however, I have not tested my PO4 levels in this partcular QT.
FWIW, my DT was set up with 95% dry BRS reef saver rock and it took it a good year to get a good covering of coralline as well and for my SPS to start growing.

 

[NTP66]

Most "dead' rock should be treated for phosphates PRIOR to introduction to a new reef otherwise you run into cyano and hair algea problems for a looooong time before the enbedded phophate gets spent and coralline starts to grow on it.

I ususally treat with lanthanium chloride or even a bacterial enzyme product prior to introducong to display tank. You can use vodka, zeovit, prodibio. Anything really to export the phosphates.

I have Pukani as the base rock in my tank, with Reef Saver being used for everything on top of it. I used SeaKlear to cure my Pukani, and the only things you'll see on my live rock is green, pink, and purple coralline algae. Many others have successfully gone this route, as well.

My choice to go with dry rock was two-fold: I didn't have to worry abut unwanted hitchhikers, and I could spend as much time as I wanted aquascaping. I love the way my tank looks, and have never had any issues with bad algae.

This debate (dry vs. live) is always going to be a case of "to each his own."

 

[AcroporAddict]

I set up my 465 gallon BB SPS tank last November, and I avoided the dry Pukani because of all the threads complaining about the PO4. I used MarcoRock Key Largo, which is quarried and has no dead stuff on it period. I built the base of my reef with it, then used the LR from the tank I was transferring from for the rest. I have had zero problems. No cyano,. No PO4 spikes. The Key Largo is the best dead type rock, IMO. Looks great as well, as good as dead rock can look. Extremely porous as well. Pic of typical Key Largo below.

 

[Koral_Keeper]

Ntp66 +1

 

[chicagoreefer20]

Wow - this thread really scares me. I have the BRS Pukani in my 5 month old tank and its covered in corraline and has been looking good, but recently I've noticed the corraline on the rock is bleaching and the corraline on the glass is vivdly purple. Could this be related to the phospate leaching/etc? I'm starting a new tank and was planning on using a combination of my existing Pukani + some Pukani that didn't fit into my small current tank + a shipment of Gulf Live Rock live deco rock. Its like I am planning to diversify my chances of disaster - dry rock phospates + mantis shrimps!

 

[Curt2199]

I also used Seaklear to take care of mine... Dosed it into a filter sock of the course of a couple months.

 

[3dpilot]

+1 AcroporAddict. I recently added Marco Rocks to my established reef after upgrading to a bigger tank and so far, no issues with p04 or any algae outbreaks. So glad I didn't get the pukani.

OP, Seaklear is probably the easiest/best solution if your p04 is off the roof.

 

[jsjonesrdh]

I did 2 treatments of seaklear in my 40 gal within the first 2 months of setup. I'm at month 5 and I have had .01 to 0 phosphates for the last 2 months (hanah checker). My cyano subsided at about month 4.