Can I push live rock for 10years plus…?

[splanken]

I have 55g live reef with some basic corals and about 6 fish. I recently have been inspired to try to beautify the tank and have got nitrates down from 65 ppm to 3 with many water changes, a new skimmer and better fleece foundation. However….i can not get the phosphate level below 1ppm. It was above 3 ppm….
I’m assuming there is a LOT stored in my rock. So question…..after 10 yrs can I expect to keep pushing the live rock or is it better to just start over? The tank looks ok but chemistry is challenging. I have phosguard in a bag but it is doing nothing. Just put rowaphos in a media bubble so will keep an eye on it.
Anyone got a 10 yr or older live tank…?

 

[Miami Reef]

People are having tanks with over 1ppm phosphate. Most corals will do just fine with very high nutrients.

The rock doesn’t expire. If you want to reduce phosphate, either replace the rock or use more phosphate binders.

 

[ca1ore]

The rock I used in my last tank was over 20 years old, including a 4 year stay in the woods behind my shed.

 

[SonOfaGoat]

The reason people are dealing with dinos so often is because of the use of dry rock. If you have mature rock all the better. You can always trade some pieces for diversity.

 

[Spare time]

The reason people are dealing with dinos so often is because of the use of dry rock. If you have mature rock all the better. You can always trade some pieces for diversity.

To be fair, no one actually know what causes dinos. It mostly seems to be correlated with 0.00 phosphate.

 

[SonOfaGoat]

To be fair, no one actually know what causes dinos. It mostly seems to be correlated with 0.00 phosphate.

Yes that is fair. But dinos fill a void, they are very much linked to newer tanks. Newer tanks above all have less established biodiversity.

 

[stephj03]

Get an algae scrubber and keep nitrate stable as it produces (i.e. maintain or be ready to provide a nitrogen source that doesn't bring excess phosphate along for the ride).

You could also try a lanthanum regimen, unless it doesn't bother you to price in GFO etc for the long run.

I've done all 3, and with a large tank, I don't think I'd ever go back to chemical export again.

 

[JTP424]

I think you'll be surprised with the improvement near 1ppm.
How long has it been since you got things to where they are now?

 

[Spare time]

Yes that is fair. But dinos fill a void, they are very much linked to newer tanks. Newer tanks above all have less established biodiversity.

But do they fill a void? Established tanks can have dinos with rocks that are multiple years old.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I dosed fenbendazole to knock out the blue clove polyps over growing my tank. It killed the clove polyps along with my snails and urchins.

So Dino’s broke out. The tank biology was thrown off. I raised the temperature to 82-84 and started dosing microbacter 7 and the dinos are fading.

It’s true, they pop up when the tank biome is destabilized. I’m going through it now.

 

[SonOfaGoat]

But do they fill a void? Established tanks can have dinos with rocks that are multiple years old.

I think so. They fill a void or outcompete other organisms when the environment is beneficial. When a lawnmower blenny ate all my GHA, I had no algae for a week. Then dinos came. I never had dinos with mature rock, but I did with dry rock. Just my experience.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I think so. They fill a void or outcompete other organisms when the environment is beneficial. When a lawnmower blenny ate all my GHA, I had no algae for a week. Then dinos came. I never had dinos with mature rock, but I did with dry rock. Just my experience.

Yes, but when a piece of rock has been in a tank for a long period of time, it is quite reasonable to assume that most of the original biome has died and been replaced by a much simpler biome.

I've noticed quite often that rock in older tanks is almost sterile compared to fresh from the icean.

Eventually even old tanks get Dinos, unless you cycle in new rock occasionally.

 

[Big E]

I have Fiji rock that is close to 30 years old and have never had dynos, old tank syndrome, P04 laden rock, ect. The rock can get plugged up with detritus, so that may be the only reason it would hold P04. If you make a habit of blowing off the rock in the display occasionally it helps with cyano, algae and other stuff that get fuel from it & the lighting.

My current 150g has about 95% of the rock in the sump which I haven't touched in 2 years and I have had zero nitrates and P04 mostly on and off. The levels were always low and the acros thrived.

As I added more fish the levels went up and are more manageable to keep stable.

Basically what I'm saying is it's about how the nutrients are cycled through the system. How much you add per food and your livestock load are the main contributors.

 

[splanken]

Thanks guys. Sounds like I will keep the well established rock and keep heading toward a stable chemistry. This is the first time I’ve started checking levels properly in 10 yrs! My ammonia and nitrite are detectable. I find myself a little obsessed right now. The bug has taken control!!

The phosphate came down to 0.55 ppm overnight with Rowaphos. I’ll keep an eye on it. I read a lot about phosphate nitrate ratios and mine is at about 12. I’ll keep an eye on the levels. Excited to get some new corals in over next couple of weeks. This is all HoB equipment so giving it all I can.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

New real ocean rock is great, and very expensive. I'd always pick it in a head to head over anything else (except maybe beautifully coralline covered rock in colors you like for part of the display), but budget also needs to be considered.