Rock Releasing Phosphates?

+1. I heard that to

 

Thank you, that was most informative!

 

Hey, "Yes" was th first thing that went to my mind when I saw "Si".

 

I guess my real question was whether or not this "base" rock that has been in my tank for only about a month, could be releasing phosphates....

Bueller?

 

Yes, but it's not a biggie unless you're going 100% the SPS route. Once the rock is fully established with bacteria, they will be first in line to nab free phosphorus. Have a clean up crew to remove your current algae and graze new algaes. Keep your rock clean so detritus doesn't collect (turkey baste it or powerhead it every couple of weeks).

Not only are the bacteria the nabbers of the phosphorus, they are also the creators of it. Phosphorus chemically adsorbs to CaCO3. It also chemically adsorbs to many other things in your water like Calcium-phosphate, Magnesium-phosphate, Strontium-phosphate, Iron-phosphate, Aluminum-phosphate, Lanthanum-phosphate, etc. (The last three are how your various phosphate removers work....they are all Aluminum or Iron or Lanthanum-based). For a bacteria to reproduce via fission, they need additional phosphorus for their "offspring". If there isn't any freely available, they will chemically dissolve it off of your rock and sand. Eventually an equilibrium will happen where the amount of bacteria needed to handle your Ammonia and Nitrites will be there and won't need to reproduce so much to handle the amounts. When that happens, they'll stop pulling it off of your rock. That's why algae blooms are so common in new tanks (or real old tanks that weren't maintained properly).

 

Thank you! I quick lesson in chemistry helps!

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/algae/my-hair-algea-prob-figured-out-i-think-81970.html
here was my conclusion. lava rock holds on to phosphates and grows algae like a mofo