Does dry rock consume phosphate as it becomes live rock?

[swiss1939]

I was just reading up on individual components of the full DSR additive system and came across a statement in their pho4+ additive that made me wonder if this is true? Does starting a new tank with rock like Caribsea Life Rock and Marco Reef Saver Dry rock cause you to constantly fight low phosphates for a few months as the dry rock absorbs phosphate in its curing process becoming live rock?

 

[laverda]

From what I have hear a lot of dry rock we get is high in phosphate, so I would not expect that to be an issue. Most hsve issied with it leaching back to the water causing hogh phosphates. If pne is high and the other is low they will ballance over yime. So it is possible.

 

[Dan_P]

Yes, aragonite adsorbs PO4 amongst other things. There is a good chance the PO4 level will remain “0” for awhile unless you dose PO4

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Living this right now, established 5 year old system. Phosphates always ranged from 0.04-0.08 and I added about 40 lbs of carib sea life rock to my established aquascape (300G system). For almost 9 months I have been dosing po4 and if I don't it goes to 0. This caused my nitrates to sky rocket because I am guessing no po4 means no no3 export (who knows if that's even true as there is so much crap science out there in this industry).

I can say for a fact that I am struggling like mad to keep po4 in my system after adding rock. If I don't dose things starve and die quick.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Living this right now, established 5 year old system. Phosphates always ranged from 0.04-0.08 and I added about 40 lbs of carib sea life rock to my established aquascape (300G system). For almost 9 months I have been dosing po4 and if I don't it goes to 0. This caused my nitrates to sky rocket because I am guessing no po4 means no no3 export (who knows if that's even true as there is so much crap science out there in this industry).

I can say for a fact that I am struggling like mad to keep po4 in my system after adding rock. If I don't dose things starve and die quick.

You can add a lot at once if you are willing to risk having some elevated phosphate for a while from overshooting the need. it does not need to be metered on slowly.

 

[swiss1939]

Along same lines.. what is too low phosphate? 0.02ppm? I am in a new system 2 months old with no fish just cuc and coral and light feeding. Phosphates never go above 0.02.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Along same lines.. what is too low phosphate? 0.02ppm? I am in a new system 2 months old with no fish just cuc and coral and light feeding. Phosphates never go above 0.02.

"Too low" is an opinion, but in my opinion, 0.02 ppm is not too low. I'd try to keep it from being lower than that.

 

[animatedcorals]

"Too low" is an opinion, but in my opinion, 0.02 ppm is not too low. I'd try to keep it from being lower than that.

So I’m curing some dry rock - I’m getting the following reading

ammonia 0
Po4 .125
No3 0-2ppm

could I add the dry rock pieces to my bin of live rock now? The live rock are pieces I moved from my friends sump and added to a 5 gallon bucket (light/flow/heater - lightly feeding a couple hermits in there every couple days). I’d like to try to get the dry rock seeded for a future upgrade

 

[EugeneVan]

I remember when I start my 210 gal reef tank a year and half ago with Caribsea Life Rock and Marco Reef Saver Dry rock. My phosphate level is always at 0 ppm. I used a dosing pump to dose phosphate very slowly into the tank to keep it at about 0.02. The dosing were continuous everyday for the next 9 months before I stop. Now my phosphate is contantly hover at 0.06 to .08.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So I’m curing some dry rock - I’m getting the following reading

ammonia 0
Po4 .125
No3 0-2ppm

could I add the dry rock pieces to my bin of live rock now? The live rock are pieces I moved from my friends sump and added to a 5 gallon bucket (light/flow/heater - lightly feeding a couple hermits in there every couple days). I’d like to try to get the dry rock seeded for a future upgrade

The phosphate bound to them will get into the system, but it does not seem enough to pose a big problem.

 

[animatedcorals]

The phosphate bound to them will get into the system, but it does not seem enough to pose a big problem.

thanks for responding back!

 

[muffinmanXL]

Yes, in my experience, dry rock (Caribsea) soaked up phosphates like mad. I had to dump in bottles of Neophos to raise it to detectable levels and get rid of dinos

 

[Dr. Jim]

Two years ago I set up a tank with just dry Caribsea rock, the first tank I ever set up with just dry rock. I checked PO4 with an Hanna checker every day for about a year. I was initially surprised how readings were always zero in the beginning, until I started adding PO4 on a daily basis. I didn't like doing it, but I had to dump in lots of PO4 for the first 6-7 months until it finally stabilized and I then could stop the dosing. Leaching didn't seem to be a problem afterwards because the PO4 never went higher than around 0.1. (I tried to maintain it around 0.04 - 0.09).

I replaced all the dry rock with Gulf and Keys rock after a year and will never use dry rock again. IMO, dry rock is the biggest mistake a reefer can make (and not only because of the PO4 issue). I debated using the dry rock for a long time and was very leery of it before I bought it. I should have trusted my instincts.

 

[doubleshot00]

I replaced all the dry rock with Gulf and Keys rock after a year and will never use dry rock again. IMO, dry rock is the biggest mistake a reefer can make (and not only because of the PO4 issue). I debated using the dry rock for a long time and was very leery of it before I bought it. I should have trusted my instincts.

Well if live rock was readily available i think we all would use it.

In my tank used with dry rock it made my phosphates skyrocket.

 

[Dr. Jim]

Well if live rock was readily available i think we all would use it.

In my tank used with dry rock it made my phosphates skyrocket.

Live rock is readily available from Florida. Not nearly as good as the 'ole Pacific rock but way better than artificial, IMO.
I've used all of these in recent years:

-Live Rock N Reef
-Gulfliverock.com
-KP rock