Pukani Rock

[CODE3EMT]

Any idea as to why Bulk Reef Supply retired them. Pukani is gone forever from BRS.

 

[roberthu526]

FIJI export is suspended I guess.

 

[CODE3EMT]

Ahhhh ok. Thanks.

 

[User1]

Richard @ TBS mentioned a while back on another forum I frequent that it is being suspended, export wise, and to pick up what you could. There was no ETA provided when exports would resume. So get it while it "was" hot and in stock... Personally speaking while it is an affordable entry point for base rock I would never use it again. I ordered 150 lbs back in January and it is nice stuff, don't get me wrong. However, it takes a while to mature.

 

[User]

However, it takes a while to mature.

Curious as to what you mean by this?

I ask because I’ve had 100lbs sitting for about a year, dry. When I first got it, I bleached it to get rid or organics, acid washed to get rid of surface phosphate, then stick it in saltwater in a vat for a month with a heater and a powerhead expectingbit to release a bunch of phosphate. I was going to do some lanthanum chloride treatments, but I never detected any phosphate.

Then I dried it, moved house, and just unpacked it 2 months ago. I just got done with a rodi soak for 3 weeks and still no phosphate.

I’m planning on putting it in my in-wall 180 next week, then starting the cycle with a bunch of biospira

 

[Antics]

The bleach + acid removed the phosphate which tends to be problematic for people. When people talk about the maturing/nightmare of Pukani they are referring to the natural method of just letting it soak in saltwater and slowly purge the phosphates that way.

 

[User]

The bleach + acid removed the phosphate which tends to be problematic for people. When people talk about the maturing/nightmare of Pukani they are referring to the natural method of just letting it soak in saltwater and slowly purge the phosphates that way.

I don’t know why anyone would just put that straight in a tank. It literally smells pretty gross and I had a lot of dried up organic like sponges, worms crinoids and the like rehydrate and fall off when I washed it. The stuff is gorgeous, but man is it dirty.

 

[Antics]

I don’t know why anyone would just put that straight in a tank. It literally smells pretty gross and I had a lot of dried up organic like sponges, worms crinoids and the like rehydrate and fall off when I washed it. The stuff is gorgeous, but man is it dirty.

For sure, but back in the day it wasn't really common practice to bleach and/or acid wash rocks. BRS original videos even talked about how you could cure Pukani in your tank (empty yeah, but still... LOL)

 

[User1]

@neilp2006 - by mature I mean the time it takes to actually turn into live rock. Age if you will after you place it into a tank or a other means of cycling and/or maturing. So things like algae, worms, pods, and any other growth you would see over time. You started with acid, bleach, etc to clean and remove a layer of rock. Now you wait out the process of the biological base building, growing, etc.

The bleach + acid removed the phosphate which tends to be problematic for people. When people talk about the maturing/nightmare of Pukani they are referring to the natural method of just letting it soak in saltwater and slowly purge the phosphates that way.

I wasn't at least in my comments. I was actually talking about it after one places in their tank, post cycle, etc. I used bleach but not acid. I felt it was odd to use acid which would remove an amount of base rock depending on the amount of it used. So just used bleach, tap water, power heads, pressure wash, etc. After a couple days of that cycle I then repeated it but with lanthium chloride this go around. I have to say that my phosphates are pretty low so no complaints. I know people have great success with bleach and acid so no judging on my part. It is dirty rock no doubt about it.

But again to my point, and it is just a hobby thing when starting a new tank, we all want to go from 0 (ugly) to 100 (superawesome sauce) without the wait. That is more or less what I mean with Pukani. It takes time for sponges, life, stuff, to make it like something was pulled out of the ocean

 

[User]

Regarding the maturing- isn’t that going to be applicable to any dead rock? Like BRS reefsaver or artificial marcosRock?

How do you add the diversity you are talking about without seeding with true ocean sourced (or mature tank sourced) rock? Particularly if you are trying to avoid adding any nasty hitchhikers or potential pathogens?

 

[User1]

Regarding the maturing- isn’t that going to be applicable to any dead rock? Like BRS reefsaver or artificial marcosRock?

How do you add the diversity you are talking about without seeding with true ocean sourced (or mature tank sourced) rock? Particularly if you are trying to avoid adding any nasty hitchhikers or potential pathogens?

Of course - yes. This particular post was about Pukani is all. I did not mean to imply Pukani is any worse than others nor comparing. For me it was more about cost at the time (tank size and two in college). It was never about hitchhikers. Based on my personal experience of using other rock in the past compared to Pukani - I'm just not a huge fan.

Don't get me wrong. It is good, quality, rock. I just believe it will look better in a year in my case.

 

[roberthu526]

Curious as to what you mean by this?

I ask because I’ve had 100lbs sitting for about a year, dry. When I first got it, I bleached it to get rid or organics, acid washed to get rid of surface phosphate, then stick it in saltwater in a vat for a month with a heater and a powerhead expectingbit to release a bunch of phosphate. I was going to do some lanthanum chloride treatments, but I never detected any phosphate.

Then I dried it, moved house, and just unpacked it 2 months ago. I just got done with a rodi soak for 3 weeks and still no phosphate.

I’m planning on putting it in my in-wall 180 next week, then starting the cycle with a bunch of biospira

I ran the rocks in saltwater for two month with two water changes. The first batch of water had nitrate and phosphate through the roof. I could not find a test kit that had high enough value to show me exactly how much I was looking at. But after two water changes nitrate got down to 1PPM and phosphate also at less than 0.1ppm.
You cycled your rock really thoroughly so that’s probably why you never saw any issue.

 

[User]

It’s funny- it’s been in saltwater at 83of with biospira to cycle and I’m seeing 0.105 phosphate. Something about the additional salt chemistry is pulling it out.

I’m prepared though- big fuge that I’ll fire up once my cycle completed and a gfo reactor plumbed in ready to go.

Saying that- 0.105 isn’t exactly crazy high anyway

 

[roberthu526]

It’s funny- it’s been in saltwater at 83of with biospira to cycle and I’m seeing 0.105 phosphate. Something about the additional salt chemistry is pulling it out.

I’m prepared though- big fuge that I’ll fire up once my cycle completed and a gfo reactor plumbed in ready to go.

Saying that- 0.105 isn’t exactly crazy high anyway

0.105 is totally fine. Algae and coral will use up some and after you put them in new water the concentration will be much lower.

 

[User]

They are in new water- 300 gallons of brand new salt water in my tank!!

But yeah- I have a 40g fuge that I’ll load up with chaeto after my cycle finishes

 

[jah-hoeva]

Any places still selling pukani? I’d love to get a small amount of dry rock. Pm me if you can.

Thanks.

 

[User1]

Any places still selling pukani? I’d love to get a small amount of dry rock. Pm me if you can.

Thanks.

Send an email to Richard at TBS (Tampa Bay Saltwater). He had some a month back. Not sure if he has anymore in stock but I'd give that a shot.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Send an email to Richard at TBS (Tampa Bay Saltwater). He had some a month back. Not sure if he has anymore in stock but I'd give that a shot.

He's out of pukani. Everyone is right now. It's pretty much mined rock, or you find someone breaking down their tank locally and get it from there. Maybe with Indonesia opening back up (from what i hear) that rock might come back into the market.

 

[Firedawg1983]

Has anyone heard anything regarding the pukani rock coming back in the market? I’ve been looking for a nice center piece and found one that’s a little over 20 lbs but the gentleman wants over 200 bucks for it.