Cycling rocks in bin question
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I think I am ordering the rocks tomorrow! I’ll do a before and after soon
RussC
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Hey guys, I'm jumping in here. This particular thread caught my attention because I'm in a very similar situation.
I recently removed all my rock in a 5 year old tank and added a new negative space aquascape made of Marco Rock. I thought my sandbed would hold the change. I was wrong! I had a tremendous outbreak of Green Hair algae on the marco rock. I suspected phosphates in the rock. BRS said no. But i disagree. I've since removed the rock and now have it curing in RODI water. It was full of phosphate! I measured after a week.
I should have done more due diligence, read more, dove deeper into this rock. So not blaming anyone but myself. I got cocky. SO when I dropped this rock into my tank with lights and no live rock, all i did was pour fuel on the fire. So here I am.
I'm 5 years into this hobby and never cured rock before. Had live rock when i started. Went through the cycle, the uglies and all that. Tank was super and on cruise control. I got bored. Well, I'm not bored anymore. Could I get your thoughts?
I've removed all the rock, treated it with hydrogen peroxide. Treated the tank with hydrogen peroxide. That worked at eliminating the GHA. Now I'm curious as to a timeline on how long will curing this rock take?
Right now I'm just soaking the rock in RODI to leach out all the phosphates. I did throw a little microbacter7 in there for the heck of it. There is some nitrification happening because the rocks did have some life on them for the short duration they were in my tank. Once I get the phosphates reduced, I will feel much more confident I can move forward with cycling. Anyone experienced any of these issues, with this rock particularly?
I recently removed all my rock in a 5 year old tank and added a new negative space aquascape made of Marco Rock. I thought my sandbed would hold the change. I was wrong! I had a tremendous outbreak of Green Hair algae on the marco rock. I suspected phosphates in the rock. BRS said no. But i disagree. I've since removed the rock and now have it curing in RODI water. It was full of phosphate! I measured after a week.
I should have done more due diligence, read more, dove deeper into this rock. So not blaming anyone but myself. I got cocky. SO when I dropped this rock into my tank with lights and no live rock, all i did was pour fuel on the fire. So here I am.
I'm 5 years into this hobby and never cured rock before. Had live rock when i started. Went through the cycle, the uglies and all that. Tank was super and on cruise control. I got bored. Well, I'm not bored anymore. Could I get your thoughts?
I've removed all the rock, treated it with hydrogen peroxide. Treated the tank with hydrogen peroxide. That worked at eliminating the GHA. Now I'm curious as to a timeline on how long will curing this rock take?
Right now I'm just soaking the rock in RODI to leach out all the phosphates. I did throw a little microbacter7 in there for the heck of it. There is some nitrification happening because the rocks did have some life on them for the short duration they were in my tank. Once I get the phosphates reduced, I will feel much more confident I can move forward with cycling. Anyone experienced any of these issues, with this rock particularly?
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I took it a step further...
Nuked my new Marco Rock with acid then started as fresh as I could.
Still had GHA a few years later...
Nuked my new Marco Rock with acid then started as fresh as I could.
Still had GHA a few years later...
The established rock in a bin with heat and movement will sort it's self out in a number of months - keep the light out. If you want to read about this, search for cooking rock, which has nothing to do with ovens, stoves or heat. There are millions of posts from decades past when people would do this.
For new/dry rock, putting it in a bin with heat, movement and some real/established rock for a few months can help film algae and bacteria grow on the surface and have fewer sterile places for hair algae, dinos and other nasty things to grab a foothold. Hair cannot grow on other things.
In both cases, a filter sock and/or skimmer with some Lanthanum Chloride can remove much of the bound up phosphate from the rocks. I recommend this. It will take a few months to get most of it. The phosphate on the outside will unbind fast, but the stuff more inward will take more time.
Both of these take time, but if you plan ahead, get some of the surfaces coated with organics/algae/bacteria and get most of the po4 out, then your ugly phase will be more like an old-time tank with real live rock and less like a newer tank with dead/dry rock.
For new/dry rock, putting it in a bin with heat, movement and some real/established rock for a few months can help film algae and bacteria grow on the surface and have fewer sterile places for hair algae, dinos and other nasty things to grab a foothold. Hair cannot grow on other things.
In both cases, a filter sock and/or skimmer with some Lanthanum Chloride can remove much of the bound up phosphate from the rocks. I recommend this. It will take a few months to get most of it. The phosphate on the outside will unbind fast, but the stuff more inward will take more time.
Both of these take time, but if you plan ahead, get some of the surfaces coated with organics/algae/bacteria and get most of the po4 out, then your ugly phase will be more like an old-time tank with real live rock and less like a newer tank with dead/dry rock.
RussC
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This is interesting. Never heard of Lanthanum Chloride. Where do you pick something like that up? It sounds like you are talking from experience? Have you done this before? And would it be wise to eliminate the PHO before you try and add organics/algae/bacterria or does it matter?
Granular Ferric Oxide is not the same things as Lanthanum Chloride. You can get LC as a swimming pool treatment called SeaKlear.
That is interesting to hear. I did a scape change with Marco, but before that, I soaked the rock in fresh salt water for a couple weeks just to test for PO4. Hanna ULR came back .00 That was 4-5 years ago so I guess it could vary batch to batch. In my case, I had to ADD phosphates to the tank. The rock absorbed all of it leaving the water depleted, the corals p####d off and dinos running amuck. It was a noisy biome for months.
As @jda says, add some live rock to the curing bin. You want to have a healthy bacterial film covering the rock. Nature abhors a vacuum. Unpopulated surfaces are going to get populated by somebody -- and fast. Cyano, dino, diatoms, film algae, bacterial film or algae.
RussC
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I see that SeaKlear Phosphate remover comes in a liquid form. Or at least what I saw online. Is that correct? And did you use that in the bins you were soaking your rock? And then just change the water?
