Pukani Rock leacing PO4 like mad

[Alex T.]

If you want to bleach the rock, I'd do it now. It might help remove some organic debris a bit more rapidly.

What is the TDS from the tap? 20 ppm is fairly high.

I know that others soak it in tap water and bleach or acid or both. I feel it's counterproductive to use tap water at all. My tap water has more phosphate than my tank has ever registered, so I would advise all who go this route to go the extra mile and do all your rinsing/bathing in acid and bleach in pure RO/DI water.

JMO/HTH

 

[Alex T.]

I just started my process. I started with RODI water yesterday. I didn't realize how bad these rocks can smell. I almost got sick when I walked in the room when I got in from work. I had to throw the curing bin out to the garage!


There was some serious gunk the water. The water was very green after just less than 24 hours. Gonna do a few more water changes with the LC in RODI water then move to SW. Doing FW to save on salt expense with all this initial gunk.

Question:
Should I bleach before going to SW?
Will that help at all.

Non-Related question:
My first DI chamber is almost half half spent after about 65 gallons of final water. My TDS into the DI chamber reads 20. Is this a normal rate of usage of color changing BRS DI Resin?

Thanks a bunch guys
Phillip

Phillip, I'd change out the DI or see what the TDS is coming out of the tap and. If you're not removing at least 90% of the TDS after the RO membrane, it may need to be replaced along with the prefilter cartridges and new DI resin. Going through DI resins that fast usually happens to those with well water. Is this the case? I still hold fast to David Saxby's quote years ago where he said...

"We don't keep fish, corals or invertebrates. We keep water."

Every time I've had a problem I start with the water. Check the source tds, the final tds, the specific gravity, important reef parameters, and temperature. I can usually attribute most of my tank problems in the past to something happening in one of these components. Lighting and all the other stuff is tweaking, but our water quality and maintenance is the most important aspect of our reefs.

That being said, once you have the water quality in check, I would bleach the rock in a 1:10 solution with pure RO/DI water, and then let it thoroughly dry for weeks outside if you can. If you're truly in a rush, I would put the rocks in some Prime by Seachem and RO/DI and let all the chlorine, chloramines and all bleach residuals dissipate. Then, I would still let them dry out for at least a few days before introducing them to fresh saltwater. Why waste good salt when you don't have to?

 

[rcharliesam]

That's why I chose to kill all the organic debris with acid and bleach.



I see your 10 pounds of muriatic acid bath and raise you 50 pounds...:lmao:

Yeah, you win. Wow.

 

[Tmoriarty]

I bet that smelt awesome

 

[rcharliesam]

IMHO you would well served to be sure by dropping some rock in a fresh (small) batch of SW and let it sit for 24-48 hours then test for PO4.

I've seen other posts saying the acid bath didn't eliminate the problem

Thanks for the heads up. It's been cycling in my tank for a few weeks, so I should be able to get a good reading.

 

[rcharliesam]

I can't edit my post.

I just did a phosphate test, and after 3 weeks cycling, I have a reading of .25 (api). That may be due to a couple of cubes of mysis and brine being thrown in w/o rinsing yesterday, but also possibly the rock. .25 isn't too much of a concern, but obviously worth keeping an eye on.

 

[OregonReefer2]

I can't edit my post.

I just did a phosphate test, and after 3 weeks cycling, I have a reading of .25 (api). That may be due to a couple of cubes of mysis and brine being thrown in w/o rinsing yesterday, but also possibly the rock. .25 isn't too much of a concern, but obviously worth keeping an eye on.

Randy did a rather extensive study/write up showing that rinsing your food is not going to help you lower phosphates... The fact you didn't rinse didn't contribute to that .25

IMHO .25 is a lot. I shoot for under .05

Good read

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/3/chemistry

 

[rcharliesam]

Good to know about the rinsing. But correct me if I am wrong, does table 4 not show that food does add phosphates?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Good to know about the rinsing. But correct me if I am wrong, does table 4 not show that food does add phosphates?

Yes, all foods add a lot of phosphate. It is nearly always the primary source, and in most tanks it is the only source worth considering.

 

[rcharliesam]

Hi Randy. In your opinion, if I had added a cube of mysis to my tank (34 gallon) yesterday (in an effort to build up some ammonia), would my reading of .25 likely be a result of that food in the system as it has not been processed yet? Or would you be more likely to say it is a result of the pukani rock?

 

[TeslaReef]

If you want to bleach the rock, I'd do it now. It might help remove some organic debris a bit more rapidly.

What is the TDS from the tap? 20 ppm is fairly high.

Phillip, I'd change out the DI or see what the TDS is coming out of the tap and. If you're not removing at least 90% of the TDS after the RO membrane, it may need to be replaced along with the prefilter cartridges and new DI resin. Going through DI resins that fast usually happens to those with well water.

Thanks Guys,

Better results today. The smell and gunk is alot less. A couple more days of this then bleach, then dry, then SW

My source water is 550ppm, after my BRS chloramines RO I get 20ppm. My source psi is 55-60psi. 96.3% rejection seems too low.

One thing that might be a problem is, I bought my RO unit in Sep 2011 and just started using it. Is it possible my membrane went bad without water flowing through the chamber for 9 months?


Thanks a bunch
Phillip

 

[bertoni]

Hmm, the membrane might not be up to snuff, or it might be seated poorly. If the membrane dried out, it likely is damaged. Another possibility is a high carbon dioxide level in the tap water. I don't know enough about the units to help much.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi Randy. In your opinion, if I had added a cube of mysis to my tank (34 gallon) yesterday (in an effort to build up some ammonia), would my reading of .25 likely be a result of that food in the system as it has not been processed yet? Or would you be more likely to say it is a result of the pukani rock?

I'd guess it is the food. I've not heard that there is enough dead matter on these rocks to cause ammonia from decay (but I've not actually seen them in person either). Is that what you meant?

 

[rcharliesam]

No. Sorry I should have been more clear. I was referring to my reading of .25 on phosphates.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It's hard to say how much of that came from the food and how much for the rock. The food certainly has enough to do that.

 

[shiladitya1991]

Any exposed calcium carbonate on those rocks will have a lot of phosphate bound to them.

If you do not want to kill the coralline, then treating the rock in a low phosphate solution is the best way. I've not heard from folks whether the long lanthanum treatments impact coralline or not.

What is this low phosphate solution?Can you please elaborate..I hav come across posts mentioning lanthanum chloride,cant recall that much but you mentioned somewhere that there will be alkalinity problems..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I just meant any low phosphate solution, including fresh RO/DI, fresh new salt water, old tank water if low in P, or any of these with something driving phosphate down, such as GFO, aluminum oxide, or lanthanum products.

 

[shiladitya1991]

Thanks Randy... You are the best :thumbsup:

 

[Alex T.]

Thanks Guys,

Better results today. The smell and gunk is alot less. A couple more days of this then bleach, then dry, then SW

My source water is 550ppm, after my BRS chloramines RO I get 20ppm. My source psi is 55-60psi. 96.3% rejection seems too low.

One thing that might be a problem is, I bought my RO unit in Sep 2011 and just started using it. Is it possible my membrane went bad without water flowing through the chamber for 9 months?


Thanks a bunch
Phillip

Wow. My source water is about 75 TDS and I complain. I can't imagine how hard those numbers are on all your RO/DI filters.

 

[AlexS95]

My phosphate was .03 after doing with PhosFree a few times.