Found PO4 source, question on live rock

I am using RODI (tested), and have been running with GFO and phosphate precipitators (bluelife) for the last 3-4 weeks, along with a fuge and twice a week water changes. The lowest I can pull my phosphates down is somewhere between 1-2ppm. I bought the rock used, and my suspicion is that the previous owner did not pay attention to phosphate levels, and let deposits build up in the rock.

I'm finding that replacing with dry rock shouldn't cost more than $200... and phosphate removers are starting to get expensive for me...

Nitrates are not a problem. Cyano is...

 

ok well that turns everything around..what about just taking your rock out and boiling it..so your tank wont have rock for a week or so..

im just trying to save you a couple hundred bucks..and yeah dry rock is cheaper but still you can get something cooler for your with that 200$ you save by just boiling it..

 

I know, and I appreciate everyone's effort. The fact is, I've probably spent an extra $100-150 in the last month in salt, GFO, precipitates, 'fuge add-ons, etc, trying to combat this. I'm accepting the fact that I'll have to bite the bullet, and spend to save, if that makes sense.

That, and I'm pretty much ready to plop down whatever it takes to get rid of the cyano that is COVERING my rocks within 2-3 days of cleaning.

From what I've read, boiling will not help with phosphates? Only "cooking" the rock, ie, letting it sit in darkness for weeks or months...

 

I think people have also had success with muriatic acid. I am not familiar with the procedure though.

 

Last night I placed 62 pounds of reefcleaner's dry rock in the tank, and pulled all but maybe 10 pounds of the previous live rock out. I left the 10 pounds (about 6 small peices) on top of the new rock to seed it with bacteria.

Question: how long until I can remove the "seed rock"? This rock has phosphate deposits within it, and so the sooner the better. A day or two? Weeks?

 

bump?

 

Just to close out this thread for anyone in the future, changing the LR with base rock and seeding it for a week yeilded PO4 levels of 0 after some GFO. I left about 10 lbs of LR among the base rock for about 5 days, slowly removing 1 peice per day, testing params daily. Seemed to work fine, I even have some specs of coralline growing on the acrylic overflow.

 

Good job on getting it taken care of. I think you made a good decision in just buying new rock.