Advice Re: Dealing With My Live Rock After The Fiasco Of The Professional

[Janice]

Hi again everyone:

So the "professional" told me to put my old live rock, (which is aquaculture Pukani live rock from Fihi with carline algae growth on it-very pretty-cost me over $300 from Big Als), in a container, with tank water, and keep it dark for a week or two and then, so that I could use it at a later date or sell it, to expose it to normal room lighting.

MY son just opened our dark container (which was purchased expressly for this rock), and all of the algae is dead. Since we don't want to rely on etc so called professional anymore we have a few questions:

1. my son found a Trochus snail when he opened up the bin, which he says is alive. Should we put him back in the tank?

2. the algae on the rock is all gone now-should be leave the cover off and have the rock exposed to ambient light;

3. how long will the rock stay good?;

4. what do we do when the tank water evaporates-can we still keep the rock;

5. does anyone want to buy this beautiful rock?

You see, our original thought was that we were going to get a bigger tank in the near future, but given the fiasco, we will not be getting a bigger tank for at least a year.

 

[SamB]

Now we're using the "power" of the forum !!

 

[EricTMah]

1-yes put him back in the dt
2- how long has the rock been in the dark for? Might need a bit longer
3-as long as there's circulation and a heater. Should be good for a while
4- Don't let it evaporate too much. Top up with Rodi water as the level drops. Keep it within an inch of where it was/is
5- No thanks. Don't need rock

Sony Xperia Z3

 

[Janice]

Hi Eric:

Thanks soon much for your response.
The rock has been in the dark 16 days in total. He did not tell me to put a heater or an ayirstone in with the live rock, so it has had neither. It has been at rock temperature on my main floor Is it too late to put in a heater and airstone?

 

[EricTMah]

I'd do a wc on it. Maybe 10%
Then add a heater and air store or power head.
16 days should be plenty for all the algae to die.
Now a couple days after your wc. Check for no3 and po4 levels.


Sony Xperia Z3

 

[Janice]

The algae is all gone. I will do the water change tomorrow, as I ran out of RO after tonight's change and will buy some tomorrow. I will then do tests, But how long can I really keep the rock alive for?

Also, we just did our 2nd day of water changes of 3 gallons per day. Our Nitrites, ammonia,and PH are all perfect. Even after 3 water changes in 4 days nitrates are today back up to 10. Po4 is 0.1

 

[AdInfinitum]

Sounds like any cycling issues may be over... Nitrates at 10 won't hurt anything although if they continue a rising trend they will quickly get out of hand...but PO4 needs to come down a lot (0.02ppm goal) to avoid going down the algae road again. Normally ph is irrelevant but since you don't test Alk we'll consider it...at ph lower than 8.2 bound phosphate will leach out more and more rapidly. Keeping the ph up will just allow the bound phosphate to provide a bit of a buffer in case you hit the point of stripping it too low with your GFO. If the tanks chemistry is right having some bound PO4 in the rock/substrate is not a bad thing, but when alk/ph is too low it will be released rapidly and do no good at all.

 

[Janice]

I normally test Alk-just did not have the time/energy to do so last night. Will test it tonight and then post.
Should I just rely on the 3G daily water changes to brig the nitrates down, or should I add something to the thank? Should I put more Rowaphos in to deal with the PO4? How many mms of Rowaphos. I only have 100 mms in there now. Don't forget I have an AIO Coraline biocube.

 

[pulpfiction1]

if your not going to use the rock or sell the rock you can prepare it for long term storage
for use at a later date, nuke it, let it dry out then store it dry

 

[Janice]

may I ask what you mean by nuke it?

 

[WiredWeasel]

Well...there are several methods with varying degrees of potency. Some people do vinegar baths, boiling and some go straight to bleach which is a dubious proposition at best. I myself have done none of these things but I have heard people doing it on the forums.

 

[shamous113]

Do not boil your rock! you can potentially aerosolize any toxins that are held in the rock. I've done a bleach followed by muriatic acid, you can read about the process here on reef central. It worked well for me but you do need outdoor space to do it.

 

[AdInfinitum]

Aerobic bacteria that digest ammonia and nitrite establish themselves fairly quickly but the development of populated anoxic regions in New rock takes longer.....if you were not having issues maintaining low nitrate levels before...then your balance of bioload to live rock may have been alright...(the wild card on that is how much of your nitrate control was being done by your unwanted algae population?)

Small and even medium sized water changes will do little to dilute your nitrates but if they continue to climb, with your small water volume, large water changes can control it short term (NSW needs to be reasonably carefully mixed and balanced to do this properly)...if you find that nitrates continue to climb after the tank has had some time to settle and phosphate is controlled so you don't have algae consuming your nitrates...I would recommend some form of carbon dosing given your limited space (no room for large fuge or reactors) vodka, vinegar or easy packaged solutions like red sea Nopox will help with nitrate control.
How old is the GFO in your tank? If it has been in for a couple of weeks with the higher phosphates it may need to be changed or you could safely increase it. I assume that you have it in a bag running passively? If so it wouldn't hurt to just squish the bag around a bit every couple of days since,when it is not fluidized in a reactor, GFO tends to clump and form channels so you don't benefit from its full surface area. If it is in a reactor it is easy to know when to change...just test the effluent and when that is no longer lower in PO4 than the tank, it needs to be changed. Until the phosphates are at maintenance levels you can gradually increase the amount you use until you start to see a measurable decline...then level off the amount you are using until you reach the phosphate level you would like to see. Then you can reduce your usage to just what is required by your feeding and bioload levels.

 

[Janice]

I have 100 ml of Rowaphos in a media bag, between two pieces of tank floss.

 

[AdInfinitum]

I have 100 ml of Rowaphos in a media bag, between two pieces of tank floss.

If it is fresh just check and see what a week brings...if it has been in for a week or two add another 100ml to the bag and see what effect that has...if it is 3-4 weeks old then its time for some fresh stuff and since 100ml hasn't been controlling levels then move it up to 150 and see what a week brings...

 

[Janice]

I just put it in on Saturday or Sunday(I have to check my log to make sure which day). I will get back to you once I do my alkalinity test and seek your advice on whether to increase it. Thank you.

 

[Janice]

with respect to my tank parameters: OK. My Kh is 9.3 right now. So putting that together with the parameters that I gave you last night of Nitrites were 0; PH was 8.3 and ammonia was perfect, but nitrates were 10 and PO4 was 0.1, any advice before we do a 30% water change in the next hour or so?

 

[AdInfinitum]

with respect to my tank parameters: OK. My Kh is 9.3 right now. So putting that together with the parameters that I gave you last night of Nitrites were 0; PH was 8.3 and ammonia was perfect, but nitrates were 10 and PO4 was 0.1, any advice before we do a 30% water change in the next hour or so?

No...all good...of course that will still leave you with 7ppm nitrates (not a problem) and 0.7 phosphates (still an issue). The key will be to see where it trends following that. Remember the larger the WC the more important that you match tank parameters with your NSW (salinity for sure and alk as much as possible...if you have SPS matching alk fairly exactly is also critical).

BTW...keep it in the ballpark, but matching temperature is not nearly as important in SW like it is in FW. Reefs are subjected to fairly large temperature swings naturally so their inhabitants have evolved to tolerate those swings.

 

[Janice]

INTERESTING. I never knew that about saltwater. We alway make sure the temperature is matched perfectly. Does that mean that you do not think that one of the many things that caused the demise of the tank by the professional was that the water that he put in was 4 degrees colder than the temperature in the tank?

Also, anything else I can do to get the phosphates down. I assume that I should put some more Rowaphos in tonight, or wait until tomorrow to see if it is down further tomorrow??

 

[AdInfinitum]

FWIW...since I have been running a small system for my first time really (my stand alone sumpless fragtank) I have experimented with a lot of things that aren't feasible on a big system. Including doing 80%+++ water changes once a week for several months and found no ill effects at all and I do have everything from Zoas to smooth skinned wild Acros growing in that tank...so if you make up your water carefully there are no worries with doing large water changes.