Pukani, Reef saver and theories for new tank

[kevyg]

Hey everybody,

I have been looking everywhere I can to try and find a definitive answer to these specific questions.

Dry live rock:
Pukani - From what I have read, it is lighter and you get more volume per pound. It also looks the best (in my opinion).


1. Should I do a bleach bath to lower the release of decaying organics? Should I do an acid bath instead?
The biggest questions for me are:

**This is a new setup**

2. Can i just rinse in ro/di water and toothbrush scrub what is accesable?

3. After that, can i just put it in the new tank and start the cycle and cure process in the same tank at the same time?

4. Can I avoid all of this with a new tank by going with ReefSaver rocks?

5. Best option to seed dead rock? (Want to avoid any hitchikers)

I know this is long winded, but I am literally sitting on BRS looking at these two rocks trying to figure out the simplest way to do things.

Thank you so very much and I look forward to becoming an established member here at R2R

 

[Big G]

Welcome to R2R! If it is clean dry rock (freshly mined), all you need to do is soak, hose, scrub and you are good to go. I cycled my clean dry rock in my 90. I also used Bio Spira to seed the tank and dosed ammonia through the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate cycle. Also used a mix 80% of dry sand and 20% of wet live sand. Worked pretty nicely. Took 6 months for the rock to go from bright white to nice purple and no hitchhikers! Hope this helps! Cheers!

 

[75galOCD]

Get the Pukani just get it live & don't kill it, cycle it, It won't take that long. The rock cycles beautifully. It wont disappoint! IME

 

[Reef-junky]

Don't stick Pukani right in the tank. That rock is notorious for leaching stuff. Your going to want to give it a lanthanum chloride bath. After that I rinsed and gave it a bleach bath. I would spray it down and get as much dead stuff out of the rock as you can first though. Pukani is not like other dry rock.

 

[kevyg]

@Big G: even pukani rock with the mass of organics in It? (From BRS: NOTE: This rock does come out of the ocean and may have some dead material on it such as sponges or other critters. We strongly suggest soaking or curing the rock before use in an active aquarium.)
Do you believe this to be adequate enough for the pukani?

@Reef-junky: I was strongly considering a bleach bath after watching BRS tv do a test on acid, bleach and natural. The bleach did great at reducing overall phosphates in the cycle.

What is the best way to ensure all the bleach has worked it's way from all the nooks and crannies?? Dechlorinator?

 

[Big G]

@Big G: even pukani rock with the mass of organics in It? (From BRS: NOTE: This rock does come out of the ocean and may have some dead material on it such as sponges or other critters. We strongly suggest soaking or curing the rock before use in an active aquarium.)
Do you believe this to be adequate enough for the pukani?

@Reef-junky: I was strongly considering a bleach bath after watching BRS tv do a test on acid, bleach and natural. The bleach did great at reducing overall phosphates in the cycle.

That's why I'm suggesting taking a long hard look at "freshly mined" rock. You rinse it, scrub and you are good to go. Sorry I didn't type what I was thinking clearly. My experience with BRS is their info is spot on.

 

[kevyg]

That's why I'm suggesting taking a long hard look at "freshly mined" rock. You rinse it, scrub and you are good to go. Sorry I didn't type what I was thinking clearly. My experience with BRS is their info is spot on.

Freshly mined is a new concept to me.

Is this what would be considered freshly mined?
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-pukani-dry-live-rock-sold-by-the-pound.html

 

[Wanna-B-Reefer]

I just bought 80 lbs from BRS. I think I'm going to use Ryan's modified bleach method he talked about in his BRS investigates video. We shall see. The rock I got looks ok it's just pretty dirty.

 

[kevyg]

I just bought 80 lbs from BRS. I think I'm going to use Ryan's modified bleach method he talked about in his BRS investigates video. We shall see. The rock I got looks ok it's just pretty dirty.

Are you talking about the muriatic acid dunk followed by the bleach soak? Or a different episode of brs tv?

 

[Big G]

Freshly mined is a new concept to me.

Is this what would be considered freshly mined?
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-pukani-dry-live-rock-sold-by-the-pound.html

Freshly mined is rock dug from ancient reefs that have been dry, out of the saltwater for a very, very long time. Here's what I bought through Amazon:
https://amazon.com/Natures-Ocean-12...8-3&keywords=dry+rock+for+saltwater+aquariums

 

[Wanna-B-Reefer]

In that video he talks about doing the bleach only method for like 3 weeks. I assume with weekly water changes. It was something he talked about but didn't have the figures on the white board.

 

[Ryan Souza]

I set up my tank with BRS dry pukani, bleached it and cured it in water for a week, and the phosphates were easily managed with gfo and chaeto, i am not having issues, nothing beats pukani IMO.

 

[Wanna-B-Reefer]

it's in this video if it helps at all.

 

[Tallison]

I have 45 lbs of pukani in my 150 and it looks really full. You get more bang for your buck with pukani but you'll need to cure it. You can you tap and bleach to wash it for 1 week but use prime and dry the rocks outside for a week. After that you can put it in a tub for 3 weeks doing a water change every week. You should be good after that

 

[Crashjack]

I wouldn't over think this. I started my new tank with over 100 lbs of Pukani. I cured/cycled it for like 6 weeks first. It has enough dead material to release ammonia, and I also added Biospira, but that probably isn't necessary. One other thing I did was put filter bags of Phosguard in my curing container and changed every week. I had a breakout of hair algae maybe 8 weeks after starting the tank... no different than when I started tanks over 20 years ago with all live rock.

I love my Pukani. Fish can go in and out of the rock without having to create any cracks or caves. My two yellow watchman gobies have a territory of close to 4 sq feet, half of that being under a big rock. The rock is so porous, they can move front to back of the tank and a foot or so the length of the tank... all while under that one large rock (the rock is about 18" wide x 12" deep). I used live Fiji and Tonga in my old tanks, and there is no comparison. The only downside is, Pukani is dry rock and devoid of coralline algae. I added zero live rock so my coralline has to come from snail shells and such. All I have is a few specks of corraline. If you wanted corraline to grow faster, you could add several small pieces of live rock to seed.

 

[Goneaway562]

I’d suggest taking a look at reefcleaners.org. I bought some of their dry rock and it is amazing, plus you can add in the comments what size your tank is and what your aquascape idea is. Just rinse and you’re good to go with seeding and cycling. I used biospira and dr. Tim’s ammonia to kickstart the cycle.

 

[kevyg]

I wouldn't over think this. I started my new tank with over 100 lbs of Pukani. I cured/cycled it for like 6 weeks first. It has enough dead material to release ammonia, and I also added Biospira, but that probably isn't necessary. One other thing I did was put filter bags of Phosguard in my curing container and changed every week. I had a breakout of hair algae maybe 8 weeks after starting the tank... no different than when I started tanks over 20 years ago with all live rock.

I love my Pukani. Fish can go in and out of the rock without having to create any cracks or caves. My two yellow watchman gobies have a territory of close to 4 sq feet, half of that being under a big rock. The rock is so porous, they can move front to back of the tank and a foot or so the length of the tank... all while under that one large rock (the rock is about 18" wide x 12" deep). I used live Fiji and Tonga in my old tanks, and there is no comparison. The only downside is, Pukani is dry rock and devoid of coralline algae. I added zero live rock so my coralline has to come from snail shells and such. All I have is a few specks of corraline. If you wanted corraline to grow faster, you could add several small pieces of live rock to seed.

So you are saying you got the pukani, rinsed, scrubbed, then threw in new tank, to then cycle and cure at the same time both the rock and the tank biology? That is what I am aiming at, i want it simple, but the level of passionate arguments are extreme in reef tanks. I have always tried to follow the "KISS" method when possible.

 

[kevyg]

I’d suggest taking a look at reefcleaners.org. I bought some of their dry rock and it is amazing, plus you can add in the comments what size your tank is and what your aquascape idea is. Just rinse and you’re good to go with seeding and cycling. I used biospira and dr. Tim’s ammonia to kickstart the cycle.

I just went over there and it seems that is cheaper, free shipping and no "BS". If I can talk my way out of liking pukani so much, I think this is where I'm headed. Thanks for the awesome suggestion (I'm about 70% sure this will be the ticket for the ease of setup I am looking for)

 

[Reef-junky]

Are you talking about the muriatic acid dunk followed by the bleach soak? Or a different episode of brs tv?

That or lanthanum chloride is your best bet. I've seen tons of posts about this rock leaching PO4 if not properly cleaned first. Not worth the risk to me.

 

[kevyg]

I ended up going with Reef cleaners their stuff looks really nice it's clean and seems the best for my beginning situation. Thank you very much to everybody and their suggestions.

To build on my original post does anybody have any suggestions as to the best way to seed coralline algae? I live in The Boondocks and I'm not able to get any seeded Rock from any friends and the lfs only sells dry aragonite that is "seeded".