Pukani/BRS cooking rock question

[matt2939]

Maybe cooking isn't the right word, but I've got a mixture of the pukani and BRS rock in the tank pictured. It's been like this for about a month now. There is just a small powerhead, heater and air stone. Also there is a clump of cheato in there as well. The thought being with the light and cheato that this would help with good bacteria, reducing leaching phosphates. But I'm new to this so not sure. My question is now there is starting to grow some algae, nothing crazy, just a little green hair looking algae on the rocks. Would I be better off now covering the window and letting the rocks sit in dark now, or continue as is?

 

[Fish Brain]

When curing rock, you want to keep it out of direct light, the less light the better and no light is preferred. As the rock cures, nitrates and phosphates will rise and both fuel algae. You don't want your new rocks to be algae covered so kill all light if possible.

 

[downbeach]

I would take the Pukani, and hose it off, etch it in a solution of water and vinegar 50/50 for a couple days, hose it off again, and place it in a container/tank with freshly made SW, and go through the curing process, checking for PO4. As Brian mentioned lights aren't going to do you any good, so you'll have to get the chaeto out of there.

 

[spotter]

Follow Jim's advice. Pukani is beautiful rock and if you dont do it right the first time you will pay for it dearly a yr later....I know from first hand experience.

 

[TanksNStuff]

I agree with everyone. No light is optimum for this. While the chaeto idea sounds logical, the light will promote the algae growth. Maybe if you had enough chaeto in there to cover about 1/3 of the tank, it might keep the algae from growing on the rocks. But, no light at all = no algae at all since it needs it to grow.

 

[MatteZ]

Follow Jim's advice. Pukani is beautiful rock and if you dont do it right the first time you will pay for it dearly a yr later....I know from first hand experience.

What will happen in a year?

 

[TanksNStuff]

What will happen in a year?

I know this was directed at spotter, but more than likely he had an algae farm by what he was implying, lol.

The process of "cooking" or "curing" the rock is a means of getting all the phosphates and nitrates to leech out (and removed via frequent water changes) before it goes in your tank so that "in a year" you won't have those nutrients feeding algae in your display.

 

[spotter]

What will happen in a year?

I started having problems 6 months after starting the tank and it took me another 6 months to raise the white flag. I didnt have any issues with gha or other algae's just chronic high po4 levels and nothing I did would bring them down. I would replace my gfo in the reactor, po4 would come down in a day or two but after a week the levels would return. I did everything...removed sandbed, blasted rocks with baster and powerheads, numberous water changes, algae turf scrubber and cut back on feedings. I've since pulled all of the rocks, dipped them in muriatic acid and then followed Jim's suggestion with the etching/curing. Its been 3 or 4 weeks now and I finally have the po4 down to .02ppm.

 

[Mike S]

You should definitely monitor you phosphate to see if it is leaching. It seems to be hit or miss with whether the pukani or some of the other dry rock leaches phosphate. I put pukani right into my tank when it was cycling. I got lucky and didn't have anyvsignificant phosphate spikes but I've read about plenty of other people having experience similar to Steve's. If it does leach water changes will take care of it eventually or you could pump your water through a filter sock and drip lanthium chloride into the sock to precipitate out the phosphate.

 

[MatteZ]

LOL Looks like I will see what happens in about 6 months.

 

[spotter]

Have you tested any of your levels? Also are you doing water changes in the tank?


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[matt2939]

I'm currently not testing any levels. Just made sure salinity was right. When I first got the rocks I dipped them each in muriatic acid for a couple of minutes and then hosed them off. Whenever I do a water change out of my nano (5 gallons every 2 weeks), I use the old water from my nano, and use that to do a water change with the rocks that are cooking. So I've removed the cheato and blocked off the light. I can't start the new tank up until April, so I've got another 6 weeks or so for it to sit there. Hopefully that will be enough time for everything to settle out.