mjt82
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 29, 2016
- Messages
- 289
- Reaction score
- 133
- Location
- Brandon, MS
- What state or country do you live in
- Mississippi
Hi all -
I am currently in the process of upgrading my 100 gallon reef to a 220 gallon, in which I will be using BRS Pukani rock, and I had the idea to document my progress in curing the Pukani here for others to reference. I hope that maybe my documentation will help someone else have peace of mind about the process of curing Pukani. I think this rock is absolutely gorgeous, but I understand that some have experienced problems with phosphates when using it. I have done extensive reading here and other places and compared processes that others have used to cure their Pukani, using acids, lanathum chloride, etc... I decided against using the muriatic acid method, purely based on the fact that it's destructive to the rock. I thought it would be worth trying a more "conservative" approach using lanathum chloride, so that's what I'm currently doing.
I ordered 75 lbs of Pukani on 7/4. My initial thought was to simply use the Pukani as "base rock", but when it arrived, I fell in love and ordered another 75 lbs on 7/17. It was absolutely gorgeous, and the folks at BRS went over and above to pick out super nice, large pieces with interesting features.
Since I'm posting this about two months after the initiation of my curing process, some details may be left out, but the general process I have used will remain intact.
I started out by cramming the first 75 lbs in a knock-off Brute trash can with RO/DI water and a couple of power heads for 48 hours... The smell that developed was quite malodorous! I'd definitely recommend doing this outside. After the soak, I laid the rock out on the driveway and meticulously blasted it with a water hose to remove the loosened sponges and other debris that I could see. Once I felt that I had removed as much visible debris as possible, the rock went back into RO/DI in the garbage can with water movement.
Enter my next 75 lbs - By this time I had done more reading, and decided that I would add bleach to the initial soak of this second 75 lbs. I went ahead and added a gallon of bleach to the first 75 lbs (in a trash can with RO/DI), and a gallon to this batch in a separate can. During this soak (after about 24 hours), my knock-off 32 gallon trash can sprung a leak, so I decided to do what I should have done in the first place and got a large, heavy duty plastic stock tank from Tractor Supply. Of note, when I added the bleach to the second batch, the awful smell that was present with the first batch wasn't noticed. I removed the second 75 lb batch of rock and sprayed it with the water hose much like I did with my first batch. I also rinsed the first batch of 75 lbs, and placed both in the stock tank with fresh RO/DI and a couple of powerheads.
The time line between the last step and next one I can't remember exactly - I believe it was about two weeks. After a period of time, I took the rock out (swished it around in the water before removing it) and drained the stock tank. The water was FILTHY. I replaced the rock, and filled the stock tank with freshly made saltwater. I let the rock soak in saltwater for a couple of weeks.
After a lengthy soak, I decided to do a 100% water change in the tank (again, I'm not sure on the timeline, possibly 3 weeks). I again swished the rock around before removing it, and cleaned out the tank. The water was again pretty muddy and nasty, but not as much as after the initial swish and water change. The rock smelled like you would expect clean rock to smell. No stench. I replaced the rock, and refilled the tank with freshly made saltwater.
By this time, MACNA rolled around, and while there I picked up a Hanna ULR phosphorus checker per the recommendation of another member who cured Pukani successfully. By the time of the first check, the rock had been soaking in saltwater for slightly more than a week. I had also procured some SeaKlear lanathum chloride to address the phosphate issues that I was certain I would have to battle. I had the idea that I would check phosphate, dose LC daily (every morning), and re-check phosphates every third day. Not sure why I chose this method - I am not in a hurry to do this, and want to make sure it's done right, so I assumed the "slowest is fastest" method, and decided to space out my tests.
First reading (9/3): 71. After applying the formula to convert phosphorus to phosphate, I got 0.21. Not too bad I thought. I began dosing 20 mL SeaKlear immediately after testing, and dosed 20 mL each day for the next two days for a total of 3 doses of LC. I retested again this morning, and got a reading of 21, which when converted, gives me a phosphate of 0.06. A significant reduction! I went ahead and dosed 20 mL of LC. To date, the process has been about two months.
That's where I am as of the time of this first post. I am debating my next move, and I'd love to have input from any of you guys who have done this before. I think I may NOT dose tomorrow or the next day, and see how the phosphate level reacts. My other option is to continue my current regimen and see if I can get the phosphates to drop even lower, to the point that they are easily managed with GFO. I'm also thinking about adding Prodibio to my rock tank to inoculate the rock with bacteria... Thoughts on this?
I hope to continue to document my progress here! Any input would be greatly appreciated! If anyone has questions, please ask! Forgive my rambling, and thanks for reading!
I am currently in the process of upgrading my 100 gallon reef to a 220 gallon, in which I will be using BRS Pukani rock, and I had the idea to document my progress in curing the Pukani here for others to reference. I hope that maybe my documentation will help someone else have peace of mind about the process of curing Pukani. I think this rock is absolutely gorgeous, but I understand that some have experienced problems with phosphates when using it. I have done extensive reading here and other places and compared processes that others have used to cure their Pukani, using acids, lanathum chloride, etc... I decided against using the muriatic acid method, purely based on the fact that it's destructive to the rock. I thought it would be worth trying a more "conservative" approach using lanathum chloride, so that's what I'm currently doing.
I ordered 75 lbs of Pukani on 7/4. My initial thought was to simply use the Pukani as "base rock", but when it arrived, I fell in love and ordered another 75 lbs on 7/17. It was absolutely gorgeous, and the folks at BRS went over and above to pick out super nice, large pieces with interesting features.
Since I'm posting this about two months after the initiation of my curing process, some details may be left out, but the general process I have used will remain intact.
I started out by cramming the first 75 lbs in a knock-off Brute trash can with RO/DI water and a couple of power heads for 48 hours... The smell that developed was quite malodorous! I'd definitely recommend doing this outside. After the soak, I laid the rock out on the driveway and meticulously blasted it with a water hose to remove the loosened sponges and other debris that I could see. Once I felt that I had removed as much visible debris as possible, the rock went back into RO/DI in the garbage can with water movement.
Enter my next 75 lbs - By this time I had done more reading, and decided that I would add bleach to the initial soak of this second 75 lbs. I went ahead and added a gallon of bleach to the first 75 lbs (in a trash can with RO/DI), and a gallon to this batch in a separate can. During this soak (after about 24 hours), my knock-off 32 gallon trash can sprung a leak, so I decided to do what I should have done in the first place and got a large, heavy duty plastic stock tank from Tractor Supply. Of note, when I added the bleach to the second batch, the awful smell that was present with the first batch wasn't noticed. I removed the second 75 lb batch of rock and sprayed it with the water hose much like I did with my first batch. I also rinsed the first batch of 75 lbs, and placed both in the stock tank with fresh RO/DI and a couple of powerheads.
The time line between the last step and next one I can't remember exactly - I believe it was about two weeks. After a period of time, I took the rock out (swished it around in the water before removing it) and drained the stock tank. The water was FILTHY. I replaced the rock, and filled the stock tank with freshly made saltwater. I let the rock soak in saltwater for a couple of weeks.
After a lengthy soak, I decided to do a 100% water change in the tank (again, I'm not sure on the timeline, possibly 3 weeks). I again swished the rock around before removing it, and cleaned out the tank. The water was again pretty muddy and nasty, but not as much as after the initial swish and water change. The rock smelled like you would expect clean rock to smell. No stench. I replaced the rock, and refilled the tank with freshly made saltwater.
By this time, MACNA rolled around, and while there I picked up a Hanna ULR phosphorus checker per the recommendation of another member who cured Pukani successfully. By the time of the first check, the rock had been soaking in saltwater for slightly more than a week. I had also procured some SeaKlear lanathum chloride to address the phosphate issues that I was certain I would have to battle. I had the idea that I would check phosphate, dose LC daily (every morning), and re-check phosphates every third day. Not sure why I chose this method - I am not in a hurry to do this, and want to make sure it's done right, so I assumed the "slowest is fastest" method, and decided to space out my tests.
First reading (9/3): 71. After applying the formula to convert phosphorus to phosphate, I got 0.21. Not too bad I thought. I began dosing 20 mL SeaKlear immediately after testing, and dosed 20 mL each day for the next two days for a total of 3 doses of LC. I retested again this morning, and got a reading of 21, which when converted, gives me a phosphate of 0.06. A significant reduction! I went ahead and dosed 20 mL of LC. To date, the process has been about two months.
That's where I am as of the time of this first post. I am debating my next move, and I'd love to have input from any of you guys who have done this before. I think I may NOT dose tomorrow or the next day, and see how the phosphate level reacts. My other option is to continue my current regimen and see if I can get the phosphates to drop even lower, to the point that they are easily managed with GFO. I'm also thinking about adding Prodibio to my rock tank to inoculate the rock with bacteria... Thoughts on this?
I hope to continue to document my progress here! Any input would be greatly appreciated! If anyone has questions, please ask! Forgive my rambling, and thanks for reading!
