Best method please

Lesley · Jan 7, 2017

With the new tank about 8-10 weeks away I thought I would start a new journal in the large reef tanks section :)
My first " help " question of many I assume

Over the last 12mnths we have gathered rock. Some live we left outside , people's shut downs & base from Lfs

We purchased an ibc today and need to start curing
I've never done this before as our first tank was already an established one and that moved to this tank

I have been researching and am not keen on acids , bleach or chemicals in general

It's the phosphates I need to worry about
I placed a new piece I liked in my sump and the phos went through the roof on my tank and it's now literally covered in gha
The thought of running rowa in a 3,500lt system is daunting with such high levels

So I've been told soaking in rodi that's changed weekly "should " remove through leaching ?

Is this true ?
Has anyone had success?
Do you need Heat , flow & darkness / light ?

Totally stumped

Any advice would be appreciated !

Thanks

P.s
The ibc will obviously be power washed before the process begins

aaron23 · Jan 7, 2017

Yes I'd let the rock sit in a vat with RO and powerheads the rock will leach out all of the nasties. Also on my current setup I used seaklear I know you said no chemicals but it's an easy method to get rid of phosphates and test so you are not overdosing. It has worked very well and I have very minimal algae growth on the new rock

PatW · Jan 7, 2017

My dry rock leached phosphates which I managed to get under control with GFO and water changes.

If I was going to do it over again, I would toss it in a large container of sea water with a powerhead for a couple of weeks. I would test the water for phosphates. If they were high, I would do a complete water change and repeat until phosphates stopped leaching. I guess could just use RODI water too.

I have heard that you can add lanthemum chloride to the water to bind the phosphates and that would pretty near eliminate the need to do all the changes. But I would be sure to rinse the rock well before putting it into the tank.

rvlcf · Jan 7, 2017

I used Lanthanum chloride to cure Pukani rock for my tank. Put it in a bucket with salt water, power head, heater, and small skimmer. My initial phosphates were through the roof. I added lanthanum chloride after each water change, about 4-5 times, and it worked like a charm. After about a month the phosphorous level was about 20 on my Hanna checker. Put the rock in the new tank and haven't had any issues. I also run gfo in a reactor.
I would highly recommend this procedure.

gfordQC · Jan 7, 2017

I did 2 weeks in heated RO water with a pump running in a trash can,Doing a water change each week. Then did a acid bath in Muratic Acid. (You can search on R2R for more guidance on that). Then however long you want to do the Salt water with rock and you shouldn't have any issues with phosphates at all.