Bleach cured live rock?

19Mateo83 · Apr 3, 2023

I bleach cured about 25lbs of old live rock. It was air dried and soaked twice in RO and de chlorinator. It has since been circulating in a bucket for 3 weeks with a heavy dose of fritz turbo 900. It has had one 20% water change with water from my pico and some live rock rubble from the pico as well. I did my first check of the parameters in the bucket and came back with this. (In date Salifert tests and calibrated refractometer)
Sg - 1.025
NH3 - 0
NO3 - 25
PO4 - .25
I’m actually surprised they came out this good considering they came from a tank that had horrible nitrate and phosphate levels.
My question is this, should I be shooting for as close to 0 on both Nitrates and phosphates? If not, how low am I shooting for?

vetteguy53081 · Apr 3, 2023

19Mateo83 said:
I bleach cured about 25lbs of old live rock. It was air dried and soaked twice in RO and de chlorinator. It has since been circulating in a bucket for 3 weeks with a heavy dose of fritz turbo 900 it has gotten one 20% water change with water from my pico and some live rock rubble from the pico as well. I did my first check of the parameters in the bucket and came back with this. (In date Salifert tests and calibrated refractometer)
Sg - 1.025
NH3 - 0
NO3 - 25
PO4 - .25
I’m actually surprised they came out this good considering they came from a tank that had horrible nitrate and phosphate levels.
My question is this, should I be shooting for as close to 0 on both Nitrates and phosphates? If not, how low am I shooting for?

Shoot for zero on ammonia steady for at least 5 days, and nitrates at 20 or below also steady. I expect Phos to be up a little but dropping daily.

j.falk · Apr 3, 2023

Are those pink baseboards? :grimacing-face:

19Mateo83 · Apr 3, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Shoot for zero on ammonia steady for at least 5 days, and nitrates at 20 or below also steady. I expect Phos to be up a little but dropping daily.

This is the first time I’ve actually tested. I will report back in one week. I’m wrapping up the acrylic work on my home made AIO 14g cube. I’m hoping it’s in usable ranges by next weekend so I can start getting it set up.