BRS Pukani dry rock

[avelino78]

Here's the deal I'm starting a 90 gallon reef build. I want to use this kind of rock. How do I make this rock work?

[SoLiD]

Pukani is some of the best rock around because life has a way of getting into all the nooks and crannies. IMHO it's only second to Marshal Island rock, but it's almost impossible to find and Marshal Island Rock costs usually around $12 per pound for the good pieces. Check these videos out.

BRS Video

http://youtu.be/8BdOqC_6ykU

http://youtu.be/4kiJ5bcHvr8

Mike Paletta - SPS Master

Go to 16:53 if it doesn't take you there already.

http://youtu.be/xifweoA0N4Q?t=16m53s

[OregonReefer2]

Personally I love this rock.

Get yourself a dremel, drill and chisel and you can make this stuff any shape you want.

The column like piece on the right was round and a little smaller than a soccer ball. I cut the stairsteps and cave in an hour or so. The flat shelf piece (some live gulf rock) was added by drilling both pieces anchored by an acrylic rod.

The left of center column was carved from a larger piece (you can see where it was cut/chiseled)
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff217/rtrons/RightSide_zps9277e446.jpg

Here the base pieces and arch are made from 3 pieces of Pukani (the smaller pieces on the sand bed and the shelf near the cave are more gulf rock)
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff217/rtrons/LeftSide_zps1339d06c.jpg


The only real concern with this rock, IMHO, is the possibility of leaching phosphates. Many people report not having a PO4 issue with it but, many people have had this issue (myself included) Your batch may vary

To answer your question in short after working with this rock to scape and then re-scape:

Do an acid dip, cure for a couple weeks and check for phosphates. Do a water change, check for phosphates again wait a few days and check for phosphates again. If your PO4 levels are going up you may want to consider an LC treatment.

There are a bunch of threads on the rock (a search will turn up quite a few)

[ChadRaay86]

Personally I love this rock.

Get yourself a dremel, drill and chisel and you can make this stuff any shape you want.

The column like piece on the right was round and a little smaller than a soccer ball. I cut the stairsteps and cave in an hour or so. The flat shelf piece (some live gulf rock) was added by drilling both pieces anchored by an acrylic rod.

The left of center column was carved from a larger piece (you can see where it was cut/chiseled)
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff217/rtrons/RightSide_zps9277e446.jpg

Here the base pieces and arch are made from 3 pieces of Pukani (the smaller pieces on the sand bed and the shelf near the cave are more gulf rock)
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff217/rtrons/LeftSide_zps1339d06c.jpg


The only real concern with this rock, IMHO, is the possibility of leaching phosphates. Many people report not having a PO4 issue with it but, many people have had this issue (myself included) Your batch may vary

To answer your question in short after working with this rock to scape and then re-scape:

Do an acid dip, cure for a couple weeks and check for phosphates. Do a water change, check for phosphates again wait a few days and check for phosphates again. If your PO4 levels are going up you may want to consider an LC treatment.

There are a bunch of threads on the rock (a search will turn up quite a few)

+1

Great advice. Its great rock and cheap, but you have to be careful with those phosphates ;)

[avelino78]

Thanks.

[KnightMetro]

I've looked at a lot of dry rock for the 120 i'm just about to aquascape. This is the only rock I'm going with.

One, it is a dream to aquscape and carve caves, etc.
Two, it takes up MUCH less water volume. I don't want to dump in a bunch of dense rock and lose water volume. Plus the porous nature give you more surface area.

It's a win win. I'd even buy this even if someone gave me a truck full of free dry Fiji.

[avelino78]

I figured I would clean it the best I can. Then put it in a safe container put in salt water. Some pumps to move the water and let it cure.

[ChrisKey]

I would let it cure or circulate for a few weeks, but I have heard of many people just washing and brushing it to go directly in their tank. You are going to cycle the tank for a few weeks anyways, so the Phosphates (if any) would leach out before you really start the reef anyways.

[avelino78]

That's what I plan in doing since my build is going to take a long time. My tank is going in my basement. I still have to finish it. So I plan on building the wall where the tank is going to be and at least set up the sump and pump. I can then let the rock cycle as I finish building the basement. I hope to plan on having that tank and basement build done by the end of this summer so even if it takes months to cycle it wouldn't matter.

[EasyEd77]

I would let it cure or circulate for a few weeks, but I have heard of many people just washing and brushing it to go directly in their tank. You are going to cycle the tank for a few weeks anyways, so the Phosphates (if any) would leach out before you really start the reef anyways.

Pukani is notorious for leaching phosphate for more than a few weeks. It leached in my tank for over 6 months and took large amounts of GFO to fix it. I'm not saying not to get it, but if I could start from the beginning again I definitely would have done some sort of acid wash followed by a curing process. It sounds like you are planning on taking your time so be sure to do a search on the best way to clean the rock before you use it.

[coralsnaked]

+10 on the PO4 for many weeks, but it can be addressed prior to cycling. Just buy it base and not live. Do a simple acid wash and nuetralization process if you like, or treat outside of display w/ lanthanum chloride then wait a few days and remove rinse and place in display for cycle process. Will save you a lot on the issues up the road. If you choose live rock I would personally go w/ the Tonga deep water slab, Stacks really nice for a canyoon look and is a great bacteria factory.

Merry Skerry

[tassod]

I soaked mine in a 50/50 mix of Hydrogen Peroxide 3% and RO/DI water for 30 minutes, rinsed and put in my tank. I'm just now ending my cycle which started 1 month ago and rocks are very clean and no signs of algae.

[avelino78]

What is this acid everyone talks about and where can I get it??

[DUPioneers]

The acid wash won't necessarily cure all of the phosphate problems with BRS Pukani.

I did the whole muriatic acid wash thing. Then, I sprayed off with tap and rinsed with fresh RO/DI. Then, I chucked the rock into a 150 gallon stock tank w/RODI SW, a couple of heaters, and a couple of MJ1200s.

24 hours later, I grabbed my Hanna ULR checker and did a phosphate test - it was out of range. Retested 24 hours later - out of range again. Then, I began the Lananthum Chloride treatment (PM me for exactly how I went about it). Long story short, after about 30 days with weekly water changes (20% +/-) and a LC regimen, the Hanna told me that the LC did its job; reducing phosphates to a level that I felt I could manage without resorting to a mortgage payment's worth of GFO.

IMHO, the Pukani is worth the hassle...but, make no mistake, if you're operating on some sort of time-line, it may well be a big, hairy hassle.

[Fishmommy]

Boy am I glad I saw this and gave myself a year to set up!


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[DUPioneers]

What is this acid everyone talks about and where can I get it??

Muriatic (Hydrochloric) Acid.

If a lot of people have backyard pools in your neck of the woods, you might be able to find it at Home Depot or Lowes.

If not, you might have to search out a pool supply company - Muriatic Acid is used to lower PH and Alkalinity in the pool trade.

Anyway. Make sure you don't wind up with the "Green Safer" stuff - it's far too dilute.

[DUPioneers]

What is this acid everyone talks about and where can I get it??

Also. Do an RC search on either Muriatic Acid or BRS Pukani. There are several people on the site who have documented their adventures with this process with photos and much detail.

Suffice it to say, like any chemical, there is a right way and a wrong way to use this stuff. Doing it wrong could cause some nasty burns and if you're splashy, eye damage. And it kinda stinks.

Don't worry. It's not difficult - you just have to be smart about it.

[gotwake89]

I recently just bought 20lbs of the pukani. I did the muriatic acid 10:1 solution for 30 minutes twice. I do not advise doing that, especially on an apartment balcony (see my thread here http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2260070)
A few pieces of my pukani became very brittle due to being dissolved in the acid and I probably won't be able to use them in the PVC build I was originally going for. It also didn't do all that well of a job removing phosphates or organic material. I had much more luck just putting them in water with a heater and powerhead.

The rock is super light weight and the pieces are hand selected and look very nice, just be careful about putting them in acid for too long

[erock68]

Here's my 75g "in wall" done, with 100% Pukani from BRS. You can't tell from this picture but, I have clearance all around my glass, for cleaning. The Pukani actually sits, in the middle of my reef. I have at least 4" of space all around (including the back) 5" in the front. You can also see the powerhead I have, for getting flow, through the back. Lots and lots of swimming space and lots of hiding spots too!!:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=6222&pictureid=50624

Here's how it started out. Order more than you think you will need. You get some very nice pieces and YOU WILL eventually add to your DT, as you start to progress. The extra I didn't use, right away, I kept in my sump:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=6222&pictureid=45353

Be warned...I did have phosphate issues and have battled cyano. It's well worth it though!

[avelino78]

A lot of great info.

[AT_Hiker]

I would personally prefer to treat Pukani with lanthanum chloride instead of an acid bath, especially if you have some time. Acid does eat away a bit of the rock. I've seen many before and after pictures of people proudly showing off their acid washed rock, and was completely horrified how they had ruined their beautiful rock. Why buy something so nice and then destroy the look of it? Lanthanum Chloride will not alter the appearance of the rock, and will reduce the phosphates down to a reasonable level, but it takes time. Pukani has A LOT of dead matter in it, and needs to be cured anyway otherwise you'll just have a smelly mess in your tank. As long as you're curing it just leave it in a vat for a couple of months and treat it with lanthanum chloride while you cure it.

Here's my Pukani right after I added it to my tank:

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i368/Steve_Acosta/IMAG0419_zps5d2e4033.jpg

[kissman]

Tagging along

[OregonReefer2]

I would personally prefer to treat Pukani with lanthanum chloride instead of an acid bath, especially if you have some time. Acid does eat away a bit of the rock. I've seen many before and after pictures of people proudly showing off their acid washed rock, and was completely horrified how they had ruined their beautiful rock. Why buy something so nice and then destroy the look of it? Lanthanum Chloride will not alter the appearance of the rock, and will reduce the phosphates down to a reasonable level, but it takes time. Pukani has A LOT of dead matter in it, and needs to be cured anyway otherwise you'll just have a smelly mess in your tank. As long as you're curing it just leave it in a vat for a couple of months and treat it with lanthanum chloride while you cure it.

Here's my Pukani right after I added it to my tank:

I would actually agree and disagree

Yes, you can totally ruin this rock with an acid treatment. I turned one soccer ball sized piece into... well, into the trash can

On the other hand for my original treatment of this rock I did the LC nuke treatment/no acid dip... well chronicled here:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2049855&highlight=pukani

Not to say it's a bad way to go but when I re-aquascaped with rock I had leftover/hadn't used I found I was much happier with the end result after an acid dip.

If you look at my pics above you'll see the rocks on the left are much darker. These are rock I only did the LC treatment on. If you look at the "new" piece on the right you'll see it's not as "dark" as the rest... The piece on the right was the only piece that got an acid dip (5 minute dip @ 10:1)

On the pieces that only got the LC treatment (yes I could have treated longer but...) I battle a strange, short white algae and an odd bacteria (both are going away with the recently resupplied CUC army)

On the piece I did the acid dip on I don't have this issue at all.

I've chatted with many people about this rock (that I'd totally buy again) some have had the same issue and others have not. It seems to be very "batch" related... Like everything in this hobby what works for one person may not work for another

[avelino78]

Here is my plan from all the information everyone has posted. Since I have plenty of time untill I set up my tank. I think I will buy the rock now I have a 90 gallon so I think I will buy 60 lbs plus I have 30 in my biocube that will be going into the tank. I will buy a large safe container or take one of my friends extra 50 gallon tanks. I will put the rocks in salt water with a few pumps and just let it leach all out. It will take time and that I do have. My concern is the smell since this will be happining in my basement. I guess I will have to do a lot of water changes. I think over time all the phos will leach out and when its all gone I can set up the tank. I figure if I have the tank and basement built before the end of the fall this year I will be good. What does everyone think???

[gotwake89]

sounds like a plan, the acid and LC are really to speed up the process. If you don't need them til fall and don't want to worry about altering the rock at all then do as you said. For the first few weeks you can probably just put them in RO/DI instead of salt in order to save salt because you'll want to do water changes every few days because it will start to smell. Make sure you throw a heater in there too as the heat will help degrade the organic material. After a few weeks you won't have to do the water changes as often, I've been doing them about once a week. you won't have to wait until fall until the process is done, though. just monitor the phosphates in the water and when its down to 0 it should be complete

[avelino78]

Thanks I think this will be the best way to do it. I just might wait until the summer and do it all outside under a cover and let the heat of the summer help out and keep the smell out of the house.

[AT_Hiker]

The worst part of the smell was over for me after about 1 week. I did a
100% water change after that and really didn't notice much of a bad smell after that. But it was in my garage and not in my house

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