BRS Pukani Rock

[Jim]

I'm in the process of collecting materials to upgrade to a 120G and yesterday I pulled the trigger on 60 pounds of Pukani rock. For anybody that has used the Pukani rock, what did you do to get it ready for your tank? I've read the stories about dead organic matter and excessive phosphate and I want to avoid a long, smelly cycle and leaching as much as possible.

[Ryan S]

I'm in the process of collecting materials to upgrade to a 120G and yesterday I pulled the trigger on 60 pounds of Pukani rock. For anybody that has used the Pukani rock, what did you do to get it ready for your tank? I've read the stories about dead organic matter and excessive phosphate and I want to avoid a long, smelly cycle and leaching as much as possible.

 

i did not cook it / bleach it in advance - but wish i had. it's leeching right now like crazy (2 months in). best looking rock in the hobby imo. and it's super super light which is great. but do take the time to cook it properly. some folks used a type of acid to cook it i read somewhere. i would use the acid stuff; then let it cycle in a brute for 2 months; then test for PO4 before adding to the main tank.

[Jim]

i did not cook it / bleach it in advance - but wish i had. it's leeching right now like crazy (2 months in). best looking rock in the hobby imo. and it's super super light which is great. but do take the time to cook it properly. some folks used a type of acid to cook it i read somewhere. i would use the acid stuff; then let it cycle in a brute for 2 months; then test for PO4 before adding to the main tank.

 

I have a gallon of muriatic acid and a quart of Lanthanum chloride on the way. Did you do anything to wash off any dead material?

[Ryan S]

I have a gallon of muriatic acid and a quart of Lanthanum chloride on the way. Did you do anything to wash off any dead material?

 

i did not (but wish I had as well). i considered taking the rock to a car wash and power washing it there... thing is... the rock is so light and porous.. i was worried the power of the water washing might destroy a lot of the rock, blowing chunks apart.

 

i think a normal hose at a house might not be too strong? or a shower head maybe? i'd try those first, then cook with the acid, then let them cycle for a while in saltwater, rerinse after that, and they should be okay?

 

but its good you have the acid coming and are doing this right. my pukani has algae/bubbles coming from it constantly right now. i've read it might do this for 6 months!

[Jim]

i did not (but wish I had as well). i considered taking the rock to a car wash and power washing it there... thing is... the rock is so light and porous.. i was worried the power of the water washing might destroy a lot of the rock, blowing chunks apart.

 

i think a normal hose at a house might not be too strong? or a shower head maybe? i'd try those first, then cook with the acid, then let them cycle for a while in saltwater, rerinse after that, and they should be okay?

 

but its good you have the acid coming and are doing this right. my pukani has algae/bubbles coming from it constantly right now. i've read it might do this for 6 months!

 

 

I think your tank, in its current state, is pretty much perfect for an ATS of some sort. You're dealing with high nutrients and a young tank. It's at least something to think about that has basically zero risk. I'm considering setting this tank up on an ATS from the beginning mostly because I've never used one before.

Edited April 8, 2012 by Jim

[Ryan S]

I think your tank, in its current state, is pretty much perfect for an ATS of some sort. You're dealing with high nutrients and a young tank. It's at least something to think about that has basically zero risk. I'm considering setting this tank up on an ATS from the beginning mostly because I've never used one before.

 

Would love an ATS, but no space in my stand/apartment. If this was a house and my sump was in the basement, I'd definitely try one.

[Jim]

Would love an ATS, but no space in my stand/apartment. If this was a house and my sump was in the basement, I'd definitely try one.

 

Have you ever checked out algaescrubber.net? There are some pretty small ones on there.

[CaptainRon]

Just setup your tank and let the cycle do its thing. All it'll take is time and patience

[Jim]

Just setup your tank and let the cycle do its thing. All it'll take is time and patience

 

Believe me, I've got patience for days, this is going to be a months long process due to my very travel heavy work schedule. I figure a bit of prevention to avoid a ton of leaching over a few months is worth the small time investment. I see absolutely no reason to just put the rock in the tank and let it leach.

[gioNVA]

I did a soak in vinegar diluted in water. It was in there for a day. Then did a soak in RO water for about 2 days. Then i had it cooking in a rubbermaid bin for 3 weeks. No iisues so far.

[hypertech]

Do a muriatic acid wash (diluted and wear gloves). When it stops foaming, rinse it in fresh water and its ready.

[Jennylynn9579]

So Jim, what did you end up doing? I'm in the same boat, same rock and all, wondering how it turned out for you to help me decide what to do.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Jim]

So Jim, what did you end up doing? I'm in the same boat, same rock and all, wondering how it turned out for you to help me decide what to do.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I bought 60 pounds of Pukani, scrubbed and rinsed it thoroughly in my sink and divided it between two 32G Brute trash cans. i did a few large water changes on my tank and used the old water for the rock. I used a couple of power heads to keep the water moving and let them sit for a week. When I tested for phosphate they both tested between 2.5 and 3 on my Hanna phosphate tester. I bought the Sea Klear brand of lanthanum chloride and dosed about 50 ml, which brought phosphates down to around .02. After that I tested every few days and if the reading was any higher than .02 I dosed 50 ml of LC. The results are instantaneous and obvious, because the LC and phosphate form a milky white precipitate. I left them in the the cans to cycle for about a month and a half and fed each container fish food daily to make sure the rock cycled. After a couple of weeks the phosphate never climbed above .01 - .02 so any further LC treatment was unnecessary.

 

During this entire process I also switched out a live rock from my tank every week or so and when I trimmed my chaeto I "swished" it in each container. Before i used the rock i vigorously swirled them in old tank water to remove the lc precipitate and any old organics. Do not skip that step! The water was absolutely filthy wevery finished rinsing everything. When I setup the new tank the rock already had a fair bit of amphipods and copepods and one month in I still haven't seen any diatoms or hair algae blooms.

 

All-in-all it sounds like a lot of work, but stretched over a month and a half it was maybe 5 minutes per day. I have about 95% of the one liter bottle of LC that I purchased, so if any club members want to use it you can have it. All I ask is that you pay it forward.

 

Any other questions, let me know.

[Jennylynn9579]

Thanks! That was really helpful, I'm a step by step kind of person... After all was said and done, could those brute cans be used for mixing water for water changes or do the chemicals permeate the plastic? So you didn't do the acid bath, I'm guessing? I was wondering if that step is needed, I've read conflicting opinions.

[Jim]

Thanks! That was really helpful, I'm a step by step kind of person... After all was said and done, could those brute cans be used for mixing water for water changes or do the chemicals permeate the plastic? So you didn't do the acid bath, I'm guessing? I was wondering if that step is needed, I've read conflicting opinions.

 

You can definitely reuse the cans.

 

I did not do the acid bath. I've done that once before and it worked well, but there was a noticeable change to the rock when it was done. I didn't want to change the structure of the Pukani, so I didn't do the acid wash. The acid is not needed, but it would probably lessen the amount of phosphate that is leached. I wasn't worried about time, because I was cycling the rock anyway.

[Jennylynn9579]

Good to know, I was hesitant to get into the acid thing, it's a little intimidating. I'm probably going to set the rocks up tomorrow or next weekend, I've got several projects going at once, but I'm tired of waiting! Do you think there's any benefit to a vinegar bath before the LC? Or is it too weak to make a difference? I've also heard of a bleach dip as well. I don't want to go through unnecessary steps that might cause problems down the line though...

[Demeat50]

I think your tank, in its current state, is pretty much perfect for an ATS of some sort. You're dealing with high nutrients and a young tank. It's at least something to think about that has basically zero risk. I'm considering setting this tank up on an ATS from the beginning mostly because I've never used one before.

 

What is an ATS?

[John]

ATS = Algae Turf Scrubber.

[Sharkey18]

I used marco rock and didn't have to do any of that. Put the rock in, let it cycle. 6 months in and my phosphates are a bit high, .25 but nothing unreasonable.

 

It's gorgeous rock.