Pukani Rock leacing PO4 like mad

[SPotter]

my phosphate is now at a acceptable level 0.02 ppm, after a good rinse I will place them in the display along with the sand. Will it start a cycle by just putting the rocks and sand in or do I have to add a piece of live rock?

Make sure you rinse it really good. I couldn't believe what came off of my rock. I coukd add a piece of lice rock or sand...cant hurt.

 

[ixtcxi]

will it start a cycle just using pukani rock and live sand. I dont want to use live rock trying to avoid any hitch hiker.

 

[bertoni]

A bit of the rock, some water, and maybe a tiny bit of fish food are enough to get a tank going.

 

[ixtcxi]

A bit of rock meaning the pukani rock or live rock? I want to avoid live rock. sorry I'm pretty new at this.

 

[SPotter]

you can do either but dont be so afraid of live rock. It will definitely help the cycle move along and you can always give it a good rodi dip to try and get some of the critters to fall off before putting it in the tank.

 

[bertoni]

I agree that Pukani rock and live rock both would be fine.

 

[ixtcxi]

Thanks.

 

[bertoni]

You're welcome! Good luck!

 

[06bug]

I guess I got lucky. My dry Pukani did not leach out any p04, but I didn't get it from BRS either. Got it from my LFS. Best looking rock ever IMO.

 

[Po Pimp Daddie]

can someone please link me to the correct "phosfree" so i know i am gettin the right stuff. just bought some marco dry rock and want to do this cooking thing i have been reading about, last thing i want is to deal with po4. thanks guys

 

[rrasco]

can someone please link me to the correct "phosfree" so i know i am gettin the right stuff. just bought some marco dry rock and want to do this cooking thing i have been reading about, last thing i want is to deal with po4. thanks guys

http://naturalchemistry.com/pool_spa/products/phosfree.html

 

[Po Pimp Daddie]

awesome thanks rasco

 

[Po Pimp Daddie]

hey guys,
who actually has used phosfree to rid po4? curious what your method was in the process. my marco rock should be here in the next few days i want to get this started asap...thanks again

 

[rrasco]

I did. I filled up a brute with 150# dry rock and freshwater, dosed phosfree almost daily for 2 weeks. I never tested since I didn't have a test kit, but figured it would be better than not treating at all. Once I was done I emptied the brute and rinsed the rock really well to get rid of the precipitate.

 

[SPotter]

hey guys,
who actually has used phosfree to rid po4? curious what your method was in the process. my marco rock should be here in the next few days i want to get this started asap...thanks again

Imo you don't need to do this with Marco rocks. his stuff is very clean and have used it twice on new tanks with zero po4 issues. just rinse really well before pitting in the tank. the pukani rock comes loaded with dead, dried up critters on it so it will have a decomposition period throwing off po4.

 

[OregonReefer]

can someone please link me to the correct "phosfree" so i know i am gettin the right stuff. just bought some marco dry rock and want to do this cooking thing i have been reading about, last thing i want is to deal with po4. thanks guys

IMHO before buying LC you should drop a few rocks in a couple of gallons of RO/DI and see if you're going to have a phosphate issue

 

[Po Pimp Daddie]

Spotter, good to know. I have heard that from a couple people including Marco him self. I just want to be on top of my game considering I'm running a nano tank n don't have much room for error as far as water Chemistry and such. A lil problem turns Into a big one quick, but as Oregon stated I'm gonna do what he suggested. I'll put it in a tub for 24 hrs and see what the reading are per my Hannah meter...thanks guys for your input it really helps. It is really appreciated.
-Josh

 

[SPotter]

Spotter, good to know. I have heard that from a couple people including Marco him self. I just want to be on top of my game considering I'm running a nano tank n don't have much room for error as far as water Chemistry and such. A lil problem turns Into a big one quick, but as Oregon stated I'm gonna do what he suggested. I'll put it in a tub for 24 hrs and see what the reading are per my Hannah meter...thanks guys for your input it really helps. It is really appreciated.
-Josh

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that some of the hanna testers don't work on freshwater so just double check that.

 

[bertoni]

The Hanna Phosphorus ULR Checker isn't rated for fresh water. I don't know about the other models.

 

[Po Pimp Daddie]

bertoni, you are def correct on that, i called hannah this morning and they verified that it is not rated for freshwater. so i guess i will be doing my initial dip in salt water to see if the marco rock leaches at all. good call, im glad you mentioned that.