Dosing Phosphates while curing live rock

[tbrown]

I've been making some Aragocrete rocks for my fish tank lately. One of the things I had been noticing was a dip in my phosphates in the tank when I add these cured rocks. Since I have to dose phosphates in my tank already, in an effort to stop this drop I've started dosing phosphates in the curing container and it seems to be working!

Just curious, does anyone else do this? I know a lot of people will add calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity to encourage coralline algae growth.

 

[Miami Reef]

That is a fine plan.

I don’t think I’ve done it, but there‘s nothing wrong with saturating the rocks with phosphates prior to adding it to the display.

 

[blaxsun]

Not myself, no - but interesting ideas.

 

[tbrown]

I've done it on a couple of different rocks and didn't notice a significant drop in Phosphates after the addition to the tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree its a fine plan, but I've not heard of anyone doing it before this thread.

 

[tbrown]

I agree its a fine plan, but I've not heard of anyone doing it before this thread.

I hated seeing my phosphates dip. It seemed like every rock I added there would be a week or so of Microbacter and heavier phosphate dosing to keep the cruds at bay.

 

[I never finish anythi]

Good idea .

 

[Fishy888]

That is a fine plan.

I don’t think I’ve done it, but there‘s nothing wrong with saturating the rocks with phosphates prior to adding it to the display.

A sentence that 10 or 15 years ago would never have been uttered.

 

[tbrown]

A sentence that 10 or 15 years ago would never have been uttered.

Well it's something you'll not need to do sir!

 

[Fishy888]

Well it's something you'll not need to do sir!

LOL nope, my phosphates are right where I want them currently, thank you very much.

 

[tbrown]

LOL nope, my phosphates are right where I want them currently, thank you very much.

Yep! You and I have opposite problems. I'm currently having to dose phosphates to keep mine from bottoming out. Adding new unsaturated rocks was causing bottoming out and blooms. Started front loading with phosphate and bottoming out stopped and blooms stopped.

 

[Fishy888]

Yep! You and I have opposite problems. I'm currently having to dose phosphates to keep mine from bottoming out. Adding new unsaturated rocks was causing bottoming out and blooms. Started front loading with phosphate and bottoming out stopped and blooms stopped.

Yeah my xenia could eat nitrates like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Phosphates were my biggest issue. I lost the xenia for the most part during the blowout though and I don’t have the sump hooked up, especially considering I might be upgrading sooner rather than later.

 

[tbrown]

Yeah my xenia could eat nitrates like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Phosphates were my biggest issue. I lost the xenia for the most part during the blowout though and I don’t have the sump hooked up, especially considering I might be upgrading sooner rather than later.

Hopefully sooner! That'd be awesome. Going with the 125 or 180?

 

[LRT]

Excellent idea. Yes I would dose phosphates to keep them at least detectable while it cures.
Do you have any light on the rock and are you seeing any coloration take place on the rock @tbrown?

 

[Fishy888]

Hopefully sooner! That'd be awesome. Going with the 125 or 180?

I haven’t heard back about the 180 but there are a pair of 125s that will hopefully still be available when we get paid.

 

[tbrown]

Excellent idea. Yes I would dose phosphates to keep them at least detectable while it cures.
Do you have any light on the rock and are you seeing any coloration take place on the rock @tbrown?

I'm not curing it long in the saltwater. I've been doing a 3-4 week freshwater soak to get the alk and pH spikes to stop since they're freshmade Aragocrete rocks. I have noticed that they start coloring up within a couple of days in the tank.