Could man made live rock leech nitrate?

[Ash321]

So after battling high nitrate iv been told that a big chunk of my live rock is man made and that it could be storing and leeching nitrate ! The lfs said that it best to remove it ? Thoughts please guys?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, that doesn't make sense, unless it is some really strange rock. I expect they are just mistaken.

Any rock that has dead organisms on it may release nitrogen that may end up as ammonia, but there's no nitrogen in man made rock and nitrate cannot bind to pretty much any mineral surface.

The only thing I have ever even heard of that makes the least bit of sense is I heard of folks making rock with pasta noodles in then to provide some porosity, and if there are such noodles and they are degrading, that might release N.