Live rock leaching phosphate

[choppingblock]

So after a bad hga experience. I removed all my rocks scrubbed them and put them back in to find that certain rocks are still now growing hga. So after investigating it seems these are leaching phosphate back out of the rock allowing hda to grow .

So question is
Can I remove rock scrub and sock in bleach sit in Sun and rinse in rodi and place back in tank. Will this help slow down the hga

 

[myrjon]

i think bleach is harsh . id use straight vinegar then rinse well in ro water. if you do use bleach you really need to rinse all traces of bleach.

 

[Up2no6ood]

Bleach / vinegar will do nothing but kill the algae and everything else that is living. Killing off that much live rock will more than likley cycle your tank again. How old is the setup?

 

[rayn]

Best bet is to run a phosphate remover along with carbon dosing. Dosing will help with nitrates, that are there, and the PO4 remover to help eliminate...well PO4.

 

[Reefing Madness]

I'd run SeaKlear, that way you don't have to get a reactor for GFO. But thats also an option.

 

[choppingblock]

Tank is 3 years old. And I'll only be removing 1 rock at at time tank is 400ltr plus sump so 1 rock will not affect cycling. I've got all testes to 0 nit and phos do rocks are feeding hga .

I'll give to old vinegar ago

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There are several options for removing phosphate that is bound to calcium carbonate rock.

The fastest is an acid treatment (vinegar or muriatic acid), which kills everything and strips off the outer layer of the rock where the phosphate is present.

Much slower but potentially retaining live coralline is to keep the rock in very low phosphate seawater where you use lanthanum or GFO to keep phosphate down as it comes off the rock.

Much, much slower is to do rock cooking (which doesn't involve heat) where you put the rock in a closed bucket for a long time and hope bacteria take up the phosphate.

Another option is bleach, which can be used before an acid treatment to remove organic matter that might later decay. It too kills everything, and will not, by itself, remove inorganic phosphate.

 

[choppingblock]

Rodger captain.

I'll get into it this weekend

 

[Tritie]

There are several options for removing phosphate that is bound to calcium carbonate rock.

The fastest is an acid treatment (vinegar or muriatic acid), which kills everything and strips off the outer layer of the rock where the phosphate is present.

Much slower but potentially retaining live coralline is to keep the rock in very low phosphate seawater where you use lanthanum or GFO to keep phosphate down as it comes off the rock.

Much, much slower is to do rock cooking (which doesn't involve heat) where you put the rock in a closed bucket for a long time and hope bacteria take up the phosphate.

Another option is bleach, which can be used before an acid treatment to remove organic matter that might later decay. It too kills everything, and will not, by itself, remove inorganic phosphate.

How long would you soak the rock in vinegar to accomplish this?