Dry rock and phosphates

[NickC]

I’ve got a quick question about phosphates and dry rock. My order from reef cleaners is showing up today, and I’ve been making water to soak the rock after a rinse to remove dust. My question is, how long of a soak in straight RO/DI will it take to show phosphates if there are any?

People have said it’s unnecessary to soak this rock, just to rinse and start a cycle in salt water but I’d like to be prudent. I feel that if no phosphates show in 24 hrs the rock is more than likely phosphate free, and starting a cycle would be safe.

Thoughts?

 

[mta_morrow]

I’ve got a quick question about phosphates and dry rock. My order from reef cleaners is showing up today, and I’ve been making water to soak the rock after a rinse to remove dust. My question is, how long of a soak in straight RO/DI will it take to show phosphates if there are any?

People have said it’s unnecessary to soak this rock, just to rinse and start a cycle in salt water but I’d like to be prudent. I feel that if no phosphates show in 24 hrs the rock is more than likely phosphate free, and starting a cycle would be safe.

Thoughts?

I have used reef cleaners rock in both of my tanks.

You do not need to cure it, and there are no phosphates.

However, you will need to use salt water and cure for a couple weeks IMO if you really want to see if anything leaches out.....which it won’t

 

[NickC]

I have used reef cleaners rock in both of my tanks.

You do not need to cure it, and there are no phosphates.

However, you will need to use salt water and cure for a couple weeks IMO if you really want to see if anything leaches out.....which it won’t

Ok great. Maybe I’ll just skip the RO soak and mix some salt water. I am planning on doing a long cure on the rock before putting in the tank anyway, I just didn’t want to be removing phosphates with salt water if I could avoid it as it is much more expensive to be doing constant water changes with salt water. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Instigate]

Ok great. Maybe I’ll just skip the RO soak and mix some salt water. I am planning on doing a long cure on the rock before putting in the tank anyway, I just didn’t want to be removing phosphates with salt water if I could avoid it as it is much more expensive to be doing constant water changes with salt water. Thanks for the reply.

Use water from doing water changes if you already have a tank up.

 

[jda]

Salinity, temp and pH matter with phosphate binding to aragonite. Fresh water will not be the same as salt. Room temp water will not release as much as heated water.

The rock will have some... it all does. Even the "phosphate free" reborn or ARM reactor media has some if you soak it in a liter of water. It might not be much, though, but if you soak in a small volume of saltwater, then you will get a reading. You cannot just multiply out the gallons - aragonite will stop binding when the water reaches an "equilibrium" level whereas if you had a larger tank, it would keep unbinding.

 

[NickC]

Salinity, temp and pH matter with phosphate binding to aragonite. Fresh water will not be the same as salt. Room temp water will not release as much as heated water.

The rock will have some... it all does. Even the "phosphate free" reborn or ARM reactor media has some if you soak it in a liter of water. It might not be much, though, but if you soak in a small volume of saltwater, then you will get a reading. You cannot just multiply out the gallons - aragonite will stop binding when the water reaches an "equilibrium" level whereas if you had a larger tank, it would keep unbinding.

Thanks, I’ll get a cycle going in salt water.