Phosphates leaching from rock.

tyler1503 · Mar 8, 2017

Hi everyone. I have some rock in an old container that I had cooking in my garage and completely forgot about for many months. Without a pump in the water, there's surely major phosphates and nitrates bound to them.
So my question is, can I use freshwater to soak the rock to release the nutrients? Just let it soak for as long as it takes while testing and doing major water changes. I'd rather not spend a fortune on salt to make salt water that will be poured down the drain two days later if freshwater will work. Of course I will dry the rock completely afterwards and cycle it in salt water before use.

Kyle Rinker · Mar 8, 2017

I actually did this same thing a while back. I would use RO/DI water to soak with though. And like you said, cycle with saltwater when done because much (maybe all) of the beneficial bacteria will not survive in a hyposaline environment.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 8, 2017

FWIW, nitrate doesn't bind to rock, although there may be organic matter present that when it degrades could release N in some form that could become nitrate.

Phosphate may not come off as readily into fresh water. It may work, but could take more water changes because calcium phosphate will be less soluble in fresh water.

jsker · Mar 8, 2017

My thought would be to use a product with a lanthanum chloride base such as ATM agent green or Phosphate RX. The phosphate will bond to the lanthanum chloride.

tyler1503 · Mar 10, 2017

Awesome! So water changes will definitely brings nitrates down to zero fairly quickly if there's nothing to feed in there? It's just dry rock that has been cured so I shouldn't have a great deal of die off.

Would phos-guard work? I don't know enough about chemistry or different medias to know. I can only order in bulk online and that's all the LFS has, so it's my most viable option.

bios · Mar 10, 2017

@Randy Holmes-Farley one question please

I heard some one use Hcl 33/100
A glass 200 ml in 15 lt freschwater
And after deep in ro/ di water for some hours
Is it safety I can do it?

Paullawr · Mar 10, 2017

Rinse it, soak it, test it.

Then work out whether it's worth your time and money sorting it out. Kalkwasser is supposed bind phosphate, no different to the calcium in the rock. Providing we are talking coral skeleton.

Alternatively take your pick of phosphate reducing media.

How long it will take (if completely) to draw out phosphate already binded to the calcium is up for debate.

There is another option I guess

stick a good light on it and let nature do it's bit.

david.faik · Mar 10, 2017

I'd go with lanthium chloride product like agent green. Will strip out any phosphate.

cracker · Mar 10, 2017

I did it the old way by "cooking" my rock. In fact I'm still cooking this rock going on 7 months now. The term cooking live rock means putting rock in a darkened/no light container with a power head & changing the water weekly or bi weekly. I stated about 180 lbs of OLD haitian rock last july 4th. Then the No3 & Po4 readings were off the chart. Slowly over the months these levels have dropped. This method is a lot of work & requires extreme patience ! You Young reef keepers & your new methods ! I do admit, I've use a couple and they work . OK I said it ! LOL

tyler1503 · Mar 11, 2017

cracker said:
You Young reef keepers & your new methods !

Thanks for the replies everyone!!

I much prefer the older methods. The less technology the better for me! I'd rather let nature do its job than any other method in this hobby. I just don't have a year or more to wait for my rock to cook properly haha.

tyler1503 · Mar 11, 2017

As a colourblind reefer, testing is pretty much pointless for me. I can't see the difference between the colours on the charts.
But what does R2R think of these results?
I'm using API, I know, I know...

tyler1503 · Mar 12, 2017

tyler1503 said:
As a colourblind reefer, testing is pretty much pointless for me. I can't see the difference between the colours on the charts.
But what does R2R think of these results?
I'm using API, I know, I know...

BUMP!!

vertigo01 · Mar 12, 2017

Looks like .5 Phos to me.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 13, 2017

bios said:
@Randy Holmes-Farley one question please
I heard some one use Hcl 33/100
A glass 200 ml in 15 lt freschwater
And after deep in ro/ di water for some hours
Is it safety I can do it?

If you mean dissolve away a portion of the outside of the rock with acid, yes that can be useful and many people do it. Search on live rock and muriatic acid. Be careful with the acid as it can burn you, especially your eyes.