Can I add this rock now????

JCOLE · Aug 9, 2019

I want to add some dry rock that has been brewing for about 4 months now to my established tank. I took it out of it's original bin and placed into a bucket two weeks ago. The water the rocks were originally in for a couple months tested around .96 phosphates. I removed and placed in a 5 gallon bucket with a pump along with some Phosguard and purigen. I tested tonight and the phosphates tested at .19. I replaced the water with new saltwater and plan on testing in the morning.

When would you all add the rock?

Flippers4pups · Aug 9, 2019

Ideally it would be better if it read *0". It will leach out of the rock into the water collum till it reaches equilibrium.

What's your DT P04 at?

JCOLE · Aug 10, 2019

Flippers4pups said:
Ideally it would be better if it read *0". It will leach out of the rock into the water collum till it reaches equilibrium.

What's your DT P04 at?

Solid at 0.03 for the last month.

JCOLE · Aug 11, 2019

Just tested the 5 gallon bucket and it reads 0.23. I am going to change the water again. Should I remove the Phosguard and purigen packets? Doesnt the Phosguard pull everything within 4 days anyways?

Also, see pictures. I would say it is less than 15lbs going into my 150. Do you think it would make a big swing in a 150?

PatW · Aug 11, 2019

I agree. Unfortunately, it is best to wait until you get no measurable leaching of phosphates. If you have a really robust nutrient export system to the degree of having to dose phosphates and nitrates, you could chance it and probably get away with it. But otherwise, I would suggest continuing curing it.

Jake_the_reefer · Aug 11, 2019

Would putting gfo in the bucket be a good idea? Remove all the phosphates that leak out.. water changes might better tho

DesertReefT4r · Aug 11, 2019

h2oh2o said:
I want to add some dry rock that has been brewing for about 4 months now to my established tank. I took it out of it's original bin and placed into a bucket two weeks ago. The water the rocks were originally in for a couple months tested around .96 phosphates. I removed and placed in a 5 gallon bucket with a pump along with some Phosguard and purigen. I tested tonight and the phosphates tested at .19. I replaced the water with new saltwater and plan on testing in the morning.

When would you all add the rock?

I had the same issue with some dried live rock. I had over 3 ppm p04 at the start of the curing. Doing 100% water changes with old water from my reef tank it took about 4 months to remove all the po4 from just 10 lbs of rock. I had to used po4rx to remove that last little bit of po4 before using. If its still leaching po4 dont use it yet.

PatW · Aug 11, 2019

GFO would be expensive. Some people cure rock and add Lanthimum Chloride to remove phosphates and I think it is a superior approach. Also there is the simple brute force approach.... 100% water change every few weeks till it is gone.

JCOLE · Aug 11, 2019

PatW said:
I agree. Unfortunately, it is best to wait until you get no measurable leaching of phosphates. If you have a really robust nutrient export system to the degree of having to dose phosphates and nitrates, you could chance it and probably get away with it. But otherwise, I would suggest continuing curing it.

I do have to dose Nitrates. My mangroves and Chaeto pull them down to about 1ppm in a day or so. I will keep doing water changes until it drops some more.

JCOLE · Aug 11, 2019

Jake_the_reefer said:
Would putting gfo in the bucket be a good idea? Remove all the phosphates that leak out.. water changes might better tho

I used Phosguard for a week. Pulled it down from .90 to .20. I removed the Phosguard this morning and will try to do water changes every couple of days. I do have some GFO though if needed.