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View Full Version : brs reef saver rock / algae


geckoejon
08/13/2014, 01:36 PM
hello,

i already have 3 tanks going... mixed reef, frogfish/nem duplex, and a clown cube. i wanted to add some rock. so....

on july 23, 2014 i placed an order to brs that included reef saver rock and some regular reef rock rubble. the day that it arrived, i stuck it into buckets with saltwater and a powerhead
for circulation. this is how i have cured rock numerous times. it has
been cooking for several weeks now.

i looked in yesterday, and there is a bright green algae growing on the rock! this is my first time using reef saver rock. is this normal??? it sure doesn't look normal...

if you notice that some of the rock in the orange bucket does not have the algae. that is the regular reef rock rubble. if it seems like if it was the curing method, then it would be growing on all the rock, and not just on the reef saver.

i'm not sure what is up with this reef saver rock, but i hope this doesn't continue to have algae issues...

thoughts?

Fade2White12
08/13/2014, 01:54 PM
It looks like Cyano...

Did you rinse it first? Is there a reason you are either lighting it or leaving the bins uncovered? You should have 0 algae if the rocks were kept in darkness.

geckoejon
08/13/2014, 02:57 PM
It looks like Cyano...

Did you rinse it first? no, why would i have to rinse man made rock?

Is there a reason you are either lighting it or leaving the bins uncovered? i am not doing either. the buckets have the lids on except for the crack in order to get the power head cord through.

You should have 0 algae if the rocks were kept in darkness.exactly.... that is why i wrote the original post...

once again.... notice the orange bucket has some rock that is algae free and some rock that has algae? the algae free rock is real reef rock. the algae covered rock is reef saver....

anyone else??? i have actually heard from a few people locally since posting this that have had serious phosphate leaching issues with man made rock... great.... i think i am going to call and demand a refund....

Sugar Magnolia
08/13/2014, 03:15 PM
I cycled my brs reef saver rock in a plastic tote in the dark for two months and never saw an algae outbreak like that. I rinsed the rock in rodi before cycling. Are you using rodi water to mix up your salt water?

geckoejon
08/13/2014, 05:10 PM
I cycled my brs reef saver rock in a plastic tote in the dark for two months and never saw an algae outbreak like that. I rinsed the rock in rodi before cycling. Are you using rodi water to mix up your salt water?

yes, i have a 4 stage ro/di and i check the tds often. i am not having any algae issues in my other tanks.

Rutrag
08/13/2014, 06:30 PM
anyone else??? i have actually heard from a few people locally since posting this that have had serious phosphate leaching issues with man made rock... great.... i think i am going to call and demand a refund....


Just to clarify, this isn't man made rock, but it is mined from a terrestrial source. The only mass marketed man made rock I know of is (ironically named) Real Reef Rock.

I have 65 pounds in a 65 gallon that I didn't even rinse or "cook." It's not growing anything like that. Just diatoms. I wonder if there was some contamination in your bucket?

geckoejon
08/13/2014, 06:38 PM
Just to clarify, this isn't man made rock, but it is mined from a terrestrial source. The only mass marketed man made rock I know of is (ironically named) Real Reef Rock.

I have 65 pounds in a 65 gallon that I didn't even rinse or "cook." It's not growing anything like that. Just diatoms. I wonder if there was some contamination in your bucket?

i stand corrected... my mistake... non-reef rock :)

i think the contamination would be plausible, if it was growing on all of it and not just the reef saver. the real reef rubble didn't have any one it...

i'm just repeating myself here... i put it back in the garage and going to let it cook for another week and see how it looks.

gaberosenfield
08/15/2014, 09:45 AM
I don't know about brs reef saver rock specifically, but I have heard of people having phosphate issues with rock mined from terrestrial extinct reefs. Apparently groundwater leaches down onto these rocks while they are buried and carries phosphate from above with it. As we probably all know by now, phosphate binds to calcium carbonate so the rocks end up covered in phosphate. Sometimes people don't seem to have any problems with this, other times they do. There are three methods I have heard of to deal with phosphate on dry rock:
1) soak the rock for a few days in RODI. Change the water and repeat until the water reads ~0 phosphate after a week of soaking with the rocks.
2) while curing, run large amounts of GFO or use lanthanum chloride (cheaper, available from pool store) on the curing rock. Continue until phosphate in the water reads ~0.
3) before curing, wash the rock in RODI and then wash it in dilute hydrochloric acid (concentrate from pool store as muriatic acid). Rinse in RODI again and it will be phosphate free and ready for your tank or curing.

I'm going to do option 3 on my dry Marco rock. It is inexpensive and takes the least amount of time. Of course it may be unnecessary, but you can always test if phosphate is the problem by making fresh saltwater, soaking a rock in it for a few days, and testing the water for phosphates. If you read more than you started with, the rocks are leaching phosphate.