Rock curing/cooking question

fernalfer · Feb 11, 2019

Ok so i have about 100lbs. of Dry rock. Some pieces are pukani and some are Marco rock

1. I Powerwashed all the rock

2. I soaked the rock in a 20;1 Bleach Solution for 2 weeks

3. Took rock out of Bleach and Power washed then placed in a tub of water and dosed Prime to dechlorinate the water for 24 hrs.

4. I let it sit in the sun for 5 days

6. Did a 30 minute 20:1 Muriatic acid bath and then rinsed all the rock off after nuetralizing the acid with Baking Soda

So here is where i'munsure where to procede. I was gpoing to put the rock in a tub of RODI water and see if it leaches any phosphates. If so i was going to dose LC, but have a few questions. Will the LC precipitate onto the rock and then make its way into my tank when i finally put them in. I'm curious because i know this stuff sticks to the pumps and needs to be scrubbed off. Scrubbing 100lbs. of pourous rock could get tedious.

also i have a Hanna Phosphate checker but it is for Saltwater only. I'm not buying another one for fresh water. Is their a cheaper solution for checking phosphate in freshwater?

Also when i dose the LC do i have to change out the water or dose more phosphate leach out of the same water after the LC binds the previous amoutthat leached?

Idoc · Feb 11, 2019

Good process so far too clean the rocks. You probably didn't need to do the acid wash after the bleach soak, though.

Astrea got trying to cycle the rock or just cure the rock? If just curing, freshwater is just fine. If you can, get the temp up around 85 degrees...it makes any organics that may have survived decay faster. Check for ammonia as you go... if it elevates, then you know the was more organic material in the rocks that is breaking down. When i did this with my rocks, i performed several 100% water changes (one each day for about a week)...dechlorinate the tap water you use to soak the rocks in, though.

I used my hanna phosphate checker with the freshwater in my cure. It worked well enough for rock curing. I didn't use LC, though...i used phosguard in a small bag near a powerhead to pull the phosphate out.

fernalfer · Feb 12, 2019

Idoc said:
Good process so far too clean the rocks. You probably didn't need to do the acid wash after the bleach soak, though.

Astrea got trying to cycle the rock or just cure the rock? If just curing, freshwater is just fine. If you can, get the temp up around 85 degrees...it makes any organics that may have survived decay faster. Check for ammonia as you go... if it elevates, then you know the was more organic material in the rocks that is breaking down. When i did this with my rocks, i performed several 100% water changes (one each day for about a week)...dechlorinate the tap water you use to soak the rocks in, though.

I used my hanna phosphate checker with the freshwater in my cure. It worked well enough for rock curing. I didn't use LC, though...i used phosguard in a small bag near a powerhead to pull the phosphate out.

yeah not spending another $50 on a fresh water phosphate checker to only use for this one purpose. Thatswhy i'm looking to see if anyone knows any cheaper options to test Phosphate in RODI water.

Idoc · Feb 12, 2019

fernalfer said:
yeah not spending another $50 on a fresh water phosphate checker to only use for this one purpose. Thatswhy i'm looking to see if anyone knows any cheaper options to test Phosphate in RODI water.

My hanna seemed to work well enough for a reading in freshwater. Hard to justify another test, when you'll only use it for freshwater a few times!

You can also do the rock cure in saltwater... but that cost can run up quickly as well if you need to do 100% water changes daily for the first week. Since you did the bleach bath and acid wash, i'd be surprised if you will get much more organic decay! The pukani rock is what holds a lot of organic material in it, though.

If you don't register any ammonia after a few days, probably minimal additional breakdown is going to occur. If that's the case, you can kill 2 birds with obe stone and switch over to saltwater and actually perform your cure and cycle the rock (for nitrifying bacteria) at the same time.

PatW · Feb 12, 2019

I would think that your bleach and acid wash probably removed virtually all the organic and most of the phosphates.

I would think that you could put the rock in salt water with a power head and cycle it. After it cycles, you could check the water for phosphates. If they are there, you could do the LC or phosguard, or just do a 100% water change, wait a week and retest for phosphates and keep repeating till phosphates are gone.

fernalfer · Feb 12, 2019

PatW said:
I would think that your bleach and acid wash probably removed virtually all the organic and most of the phosphates.

I would think that you could put the rock in salt water with a power head and cycle it. After it cycles, you could check the water for phosphates. If they are there, you could do the LC or phosguard, or just do a 100% water change, wait a week and retest for phosphates and keep repeating till phosphates are gone.

See I would use my saltwater hanna phosphate hacker but they say it is not at all accurate in freshwater. So I'd be wasting tests by doing so. Only a freshwater hanna checker works accurately in freshwater

fernalfer · Feb 13, 2019

Does anyone have any input about when curing Rock and using Lantanum Chloride to bind the leaching phosphate, is their ever a problem with the precipitate sticking to the rocks?