Testing PO4 after nuking LR rock question

[cvrle1]

I got a bunch of LR rock from local reefer that was sitting in buckets (without water) for several months. After I got them home, i did a bleach bath for a week to kill and get rid of all dead organics. Rocks came out white and clean, so that was good. Rocks dried out and sat dry in a plastic tub last several months and there is no sent of bleach.

I filled up plastic tub full of rocks with RODI water 2 days ago and placed couple of powerheads for water movement. Checked PO4 using Hanna HI736 (ULR Phosphorus) and got reading of 1, which converted to PO4 comes out to 0.003 PPM.

Have few questions about this:
Since I am not curing or cycling rock yet, but just checking to make sure PO4 doesnt leach, is using fresh RODI water without salt fine for this test?
I was going to keep checking for next 7-10 days to see if numbers change. Is this enough time, or should I test for longer periods?
Anything else I may have missed that i should be doing?

Thanks for the help

[WarDog]

If you've got it all in a bucket, why not just start curing now? Test once a week until you're ready to use and you'll have some nice rock. Use some PO4 remover if you see elevated levels.

Water doesn't need salt to test for PO4.

Whether it leaches or not, depends on the rock, and how much organics were removed. Who can really say?

[cvrle1]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking about starting curing/cycling now, but wanted 1st to check PO4 levels. If they come back elevated, I planned on using lanthanum chloride. If they come out fine then I can always add salt, bacteria, etc and start cure process. it will take several months till it is done, but so will my setup, so that would save me time in the end.

[WarDog]

IMO checking PO4 levels before you start curing is just a waste of your time. I'd throw in salt and bacteria now and monitor PO4 weekly, adjusting if need be.

[cvrle1]

Thanks again, I shall look into starting that up then. Just need to get some salt and bacteria. Looks like I have some reading to do to figure out what is the best way of going about bacteria wise. Will also need some heaters, as rock is in the garage.

[cvrle1]

Originally Posted by WarDog

IMO checking PO4 levels before you start curing is just a waste of your time. I'd throw in salt and bacteria now and monitor PO4 weekly, adjusting if need be.

Question, since I will need to aquascape my rocks once I get to that part, should I do that now and then start curing, or can I cure and then do it when time comes? I am guessing it would be better to do it now, as rock will be outside the water for several hours while I mess around with aquascaping. This way bacteria and so on isnt outside the water for too long.

Or does it even matter?

Thanks again

[kruler]

Originally Posted by WarDog

Water doesn't need salt to test for PO4.

You sure about this? I read that you will get inaccurate results if you test RODI.