Pukani Rock leacing PO4 like mad

OregonReefer

OregonReefer

New member
So I'm ready to go wet with my new setup and thought I better do my due diligence and test my rock to see if it's going to leach PO4.

Sure enough it is.... in a bad way.

I placed about a pound in about a 2 quarts of RO/DI last night. Testing tonight, about 24 hours later, I'm getting a PO4 reading of .41 from the test container.

I did "cook" the rock for about a week in RO water with a Mag 12 for circulation and it looks like that didn't do the trick.

I'm doing my leak test this weekend and would like to go live by next weekend.

Any ideas on how to bleed the PO4 out quickly so as not to delay my startup?
 
did you use salt water ? if not i would just put it all in as small of a bin as you can , change out the fresh as many times as you can over the next few days then test it again . an extra pump , some hose and chemi mat , poly filter pads , or a product like phospure in a media bag (if you can skim the container) will be the easiest other than changing out water i would think
 
JG1 said:
It can leach for a while...my dry rock took 6 months
Click to expand...

+1. I used BRS Pukani rock and I cured it for about 4 weeks (so I thought) before I setup my DT. After setting up the DT, I fought Hair algae for about 6 months. All my PO4 test measured less than .03 but I have a feeling that the dried rock was still releasing PO4.
 
I have concluded that nothing beats pure live rock. Dried dead rock takes too long to cure and has the potential to leach mad phosphates back into your system. The only downside of live rock is its a tad expensive with the potential of introducing baddies into your tank. To me personally it outweighs the long wait of dead rock.
 
How do you stop the phosphates from leaking, just wait half a year? That seems a little annoying.
 
Forget about using GFO, you'll just burn through it every few days.

Best thing to do, get a little chaeto and let that soak up the PO4 as the rock releases it. Hopefully it will out compete the micro algae in the DT until the rock stops leaching.
 
I'd put it in salt water and treat it with lanthanum chloride. It will precipitate any leaching phosphate and dosing it will keep the PO4 in the water very low ,the precipitant can be swished off before the rock is place in the display. I've had rock that leach lot's of phosphate stop leaching in 2 weeks this way without water changes or more costly gfo.. There are comercial hobby liquid PO4 removers that are lanthanum chloride and water but I use Seaklear a pool product which is much cheaper.
 
tmz said:
I'd put it in salt water and treat it with lanthanum chloride. It will precipitate any leaching phosphate and dosing it will keep the PO4 in the water very low ,the precipitant can be swished off before the rock is place in the display. I've had rock that leach lot's of phosphate stop leaching in 2 weeks this way without water changes or more costly gfo.. There are comercial hobby liquid PO4 removers that are lanthanum chloride and water but I use Seaklear a pool product which is much cheaper.
Click to expand...

What happens if the rock is already in your display tank? Can you still use this method?
 
You can, but it's best to drip the lanthanum chloride into a filter sock or something equivalent, to capture as much of the precipitate as possible.
 
tmz said:
I'd put it in salt water and treat it with lanthanum chloride. It will precipitate any leaching phosphate and dosing it will keep the PO4 in the water very low ,the precipitant can be swished off before the rock is place in the display. I've had rock that leach lot's of phosphate stop leaching in 2 weeks this way without water changes or more costly gfo.. There are comercial hobby liquid PO4 removers that are lanthanum chloride and water but I use Seaklear a pool product which is much cheaper.
Click to expand...

Absolutely superb advice. Many, many people have the problem and do not even know it.
 
I have had similar problems and dry rock must be cured. Lanthanum is a great product to speed up the process as stated above. I added 50 lbs of Marco Rock into a established tank and within a few weeks had a algae bloom that took out many corals yet my phosphates were testing at .03 which should not grow algae. Pulled a piece of the Marco Rock through it in a bucket over night and the P04 was at .19

What this means when you are reading your P04 levels in your water column you are getting a false reading because the Algae in your tank is consuming the P04.

Put the same rock in a bin with no light and you will see high Phosphates in the water column because nothing is using the P04.

Lanthanum in a Reef Tank can be dangerous, but I see no problem using it in a curing bin. Marine Depot carries a product that works very well that is a concentration of Lanthanum.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Aqua_Vis...Aqua_Vision_Aquatics-QI01034-FIADSAPR-vi.html

I would still run GFO and as stated above you will burn through it weekly, but you will know true readings of P04 if you keep it covered.

For those of you fighting Algae blooms and used dry rock change your GFO weekly and A trick I learned from a speaker at our club meeting from Aqua Vision. Put 6 drops of the product above in every 10 gallons of top off water and this will add the Lanthanum at a safe rate for a reef tank. Run the top off water into a sock so no precipitate ends up in the tank.

When the Algae is gone you will be through this nasty cycle.

Dry Rock is still a better way to go because some pests are worse than dealing with the P04 leaching for a few months.

Good luck.
 
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