Pukani Rock leacing PO4 like mad

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.

I acid washed my marco rocks "just in case". I do not have a phosphate problem and I am not using GFO etc.
 
the level was 0.03 and the question is should I change the water? Is the phosphate level is the only level I do care about now before I put it in the display tank?

after days in the display with protien skimmer running around 8 hours a day and lights the PO4 levels ranging between 0.02 and 0.08 on the Hanna Meter and i am running a GFO reactor? what you think about that?
 
So, after my last treatment with LC, I hosed my 50 lbs of Pukani off, cleaned my treatment bin with vinegar, and placed the rocks back in the bin with freshly mixed saltwater using 0 TDS ro/di. After 3 days i tested and got a reading of 0.02 per Hanna. I left the rocks in the bin with just powerhead circulation and after 7 days my reading is 0.13. My question is: would you all consider this a manageable level to move forward with placing in my DT, or should I continue to treat with LC? I do plan on running GFO in the DT as needed, BTW.
 
So, after my last treatment with LC, I hosed my 50 lbs of Pukani off, cleaned my treatment bin with vinegar, and placed the rocks back in the bin with freshly mixed saltwater using 0 TDS ro/di. After 3 days i tested and got a reading of 0.02 per Hanna. I left the rocks in the bin with just powerhead circulation and after 7 days my reading is 0.13. My question is: would you all consider this a manageable level to move forward with placing in my DT, or should I continue to treat with LC? I do plan on running GFO in the DT as needed, BTW.

The amount released is not a concern at all for the tank overall. The question that is hard to answer is whether the amount attached might spur local algae growth on those rocks. I can't really answer that.
 
So, after my last treatment with LC, I hosed my 50 lbs of Pukani off, cleaned my treatment bin with vinegar, and placed the rocks back in the bin with freshly mixed saltwater using 0 TDS ro/di. After 3 days i tested and got a reading of 0.02 per Hanna. I left the rocks in the bin with just powerhead circulation and after 7 days my reading is 0.13. My question is: would you all consider this a manageable level to move forward with placing in my DT, or should I continue to treat with LC? I do plan on running GFO in the DT as needed, BTW.

Are you adding the rock to an existing tank or to a new one? If its a new one I would think its ok and I would strongly recommend you cycle with lights out. My rock was curing for about 2 months and my po4 was in the .02-.03 range and then a few days later after adding it to my new tank I saw a spike to .15 for some reason. It has since lowered and working its way back down to an acceptable level. I have been cycling with lights out and still see a little algae popping up just from natural light that makes it into the take from a nearby window.
 
Are you adding the rock to an existing tank or to a new one? If its a new one I would think its ok and I would strongly recommend you cycle with lights out. My rock was curing for about 2 months and my po4 was in the .02-.03 range and then a few days later after adding it to my new tank I saw a spike to .15 for some reason. It has since lowered and working its way back down to an acceptable level. I have been cycling with lights out and still see a little algae popping up just from natural light that makes it into the take from a nearby window.

The amount released is not a concern at all for the tank overall. The question that is hard to answer is whether the amount attached might spur local algae growth on those rocks. I can't really answer that.

Thanks alot for the responses, it is greatly appreciated :wavehand:. To clarify, this is a new setup and I definitely plan on cycling with lights out. I've been curing and treating the rock with LC for about 5 weeks now. Coincidentally, my tank will also receive some ambient light from nearby windows. I believe I will add the rock to the tank in the next week and monitor closely. BTW Steve, I know you are still cycling, but have you run any GFO or are you letting the natural cycle take it's course? Just curious as to what my options may be after adding the rock to the DT.
 
I am not using gfo. I am just doing wc's and running my skimmer which has been a beast with pulling gunk out. I wont be running gfo on my tank as I will be adding an algae turf scrubber to this system shortly.
 
Happy to report that I tested po4 tonight and Im showing zero on the hanna ulr checker. I had a small spike at the beginning which went up to .15 and 2.5 weeks later with 2 10% wc's Im showing zero. definitely works for me! thanks again oregonreefer for starting this thread.
 
Thanks Steve.

I really don't deserve the credit though.

I just came here looking for help and the amazing people that make ReefCentral what it is are the ones that really deserve the credit.

I think the thanks should go to Tom for suggesting the LC dosing and offering his insights
 
I decided to use this method to clean my rocks. I used Phosfree which I got at my local pool store. I know some of this is redundant, but wanted to show my progress.

I took the rocks out of the tank and left them outside without water for about a week. I than put the rocks in a 55 gallon drum with rodi water with a pump and heater. The heater was set to 80 degrees. I left the rocks in the water for another week. The smell was HORRIFIC...... I than proceeded to use the PhosFree.

Phosfree

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Here is the 55 gallon drum filled with water, pump, heater and rocks. There is 45 gallon of water in the drum. I know this cause I had too bring up 9, 5 gallons buckets filled with ro/di water from the basement. lol.

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After letting the rock soak in the water for a week, I took a phosphate reading. The reading came out to be 0.33. I actually thought it was going to be worst.

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After the test, I added 100ml of Phosfree. I just decided to dose 100ml. You can't really over dose. A cap full of the Phosfree treats up to 8000 gallon. So, you can do the math.

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After 24 hours the water seemed a little clearer. I also noticed that the smell was completely gone. Has this happened to anyone? I aslo took a phosphate reading after 24 hours and was surprised of the reading 0.08.

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I than added another 100ml of Phosfree and tested again in 48 hours. The reading came back high, 0.10. That means that phosphate is still coming out of the rocks.

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Added another 100ml and tested after 24 hours. The reading is now lower. 0.05.

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I added another 100ml and will test in 48 hours. This a long process, but I rather do it like this than deal with the algae. My goal is to have the phosphate get to 0.03 or lower.
 
Rich....double check with hanna about whether or not that meter can accurately measure po4 in freshwater. I am assuming you haven't added any salt to the water yet.
 
Rich....double check with hanna about whether or not that meter can accurately measure po4 in freshwater. I am assuming you haven't added any salt to the water yet.

What I really wanted to do is get all the crap out of the rocks, dump the water and start again with saltwater. Your probably right though, so I will double check. Well at least I can see that it is working. lol
 
What I really wanted to do is get all the crap out of the rocks, dump the water and start again with saltwater. Your probably right though, so I will double check. Well at least I can see that it is working. lol

You might get a little more stink when you add the saltwater. that's a great odor right????
 
Rich....double check with hanna about whether or not that meter can accurately measure po4 in freshwater. I am assuming you haven't added any salt to the water yet.

Response from HANNA

"ME"

Can the Hanna HI 93713 detect PO4 in RO/DI water or tap water?

"HANNA"

Richie,

Yes, as long as your expect result is greater than the meters accuracy.


Accuracy ±0.04 mg/L plus ±4% of reading
 
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