New Tank Set Up with BRS Pukani

J

justin81

Just looking for some opinions on this as I have been out of the hobby for 4-5 years now and starting a new tank. I've been doing a lot of reading on the pukani and it seems like everyone has a different idea of how this should go. From what I have gathered the pukani comes with a good amount of dead sponges and what not and take a while to cure.

My question is I am setting up a completely new tank and wondering if I need to do all of the acid baths and curing for months in a tub or "cooking" it.

With my past tank setups I've always purchased live rock from the LFS, added sand, rock, water, and let it do it's thing until all water parameter tests come back good. Can I use this method with the pukani, or is it necessary to cure this rock outside of the tank it will be going into.
 
I started my tank 1 year ago with BRS dry Pukani. I gave it a day in bleach, half a day in acid, a fresh water dip, let it dry for a day, then began aquascaping with it. It took over 2 months for the tank to complete the cycle, but I attribute that to not seeding the tank with a piece of live rock or a scoop someone else's sand. A year later, over half of the Pukani is encrusted with coraline.
 
The one thing you need to be careful of is leaching phosphate. Mine leached a lot even after the bleach and acid bath. I cured mine in a thrash can with Dr tims one and only along with his ammonia and that allowed me to dose it with seaklear to get rid of the phosphate. You can do it in tank, but would have to use much more expensive gfo to get rid of it, where as in a thrash can you can dose seaklear and not worry about the precipitation.

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@Andrew wrote:
The one thing you need to be careful of is leaching phosphate. Mine leached a lot even after the bleach and acid bath. I cured mine in a thrash can with Dr tims one and only along with his ammonia and that allowed me to dose it with seaklear to get rid of the phosphate. You can do it in tank said:
True Dat. I had a big cyano outbreak 2 months in and had to add a GFO reactor to get it under control.
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Man this rock kind of seems like a pain, kind of wish I would have just gone with LFS live rock. It's so nice looking though. I'll search around for bleaching and acid bath technique as I'd like to get the tank running eventually lol. I read some had to wait 3-4 months before it would stop leaching phos.
 
I'll cure it in the garage. I have a big blue rubbermaid tub i can use along with a heater and maxijet.

So let me see if I have the steps correct
1) RO/DI rinse
2) 24hr bleach 1/10 parts
3) Acid bath
3) RO/DI rinse
4) Into the tub with RO/DI saltwater, heater, and maxijet for 4 or more weeks with added seaklear if needed
5) RO/DI rinse
6) put in DT and cycle the tank
 
+1--"I've got what I did on the first page of my build log."

I just followed Mike's instructions and I haven't had a single problem. I did add (Fritz Zyme) live bacteria to the tank and haven't had any problems.
My nitrate is undetectable, and my phos is at .02.
 
A little trouble, but ull be so happy u did it. This is just a one time deal and u definitely want to do it right the first time. Also, bleach and acid don't go well together, so make sure u give It a good rinse in between.
 
I soaked for a week in FW and just tossed into the reef with SPS and other corals. Ran GFO and never had any issue with phosphates etc
 
I'm going to take the safe route and bleach and etch the rock. I don't want to deal with a 4 month cure, and the wife is not happy that there may be a smell if it does go rancid LOL. Rock should be here tomorrow. I'm headed to Home Depot now for supplies.
 
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