Sps and phosphates

[ROGERWILCO357]

Ok I have noticed my corals loosing color and checked the phosphates and bam they are at .35 using the hanna meter. I have another tank my 45gallon QT and that one is at .07 not perfect but alot better than the 35-40. My question is can i take my rock and water from one tank and empty the high level tank of its water and rock and swap without problems to the sps? I think my rock is leaching po4 and needs to be cleaned rinsed and put in the qt tank for cycling and p04 removal ..I have way to much rock in the display tank anyway ..I have been running the gfo for 48 hours and my phosphates went from 45 to 35 still wayy to high ..not sure what to do I could move the corals to the qt tank and work on the rock or phosphate issues but what do i do with the large tang they wouldn't fit in the QT tank problems problems I have corals coming in another 9 days so need to figure out something any ideas on how to handle this would be nice need some options I have missed .
Roger

 

[MIKE NY]

there are two ways to approach this..the fast,but hard way or the longer and easier way...I went with the longer easier way...I had the same problem a few years ago. Many pounds of my rock have been in my tank for over 20 years when I started as a FOWLR so my Phos was very high....it eventually cycled out and some of my coral suffered. The quicker way is to remove a few pounds at a time and re-cycle it, but obviously alot more work involved....If you remove it all at once you may have a spike which will be even worse for the SPS....just my experience any fast changes in water parameters for the better or worse and SPS suffer....slow gradual changes are best...

 

[ROGERWILCO357]

yes thinking of doing just that taking a third out since i have alot in there and bleaching it rinsing , rinsing and cycling it out and leaving it in a tank for a couple of months then take another third out and put in the clean and cycled rock for easier transition over the summer ..running the gfo carbon vodka has helped but have a way to go..

 

[MIKE NY]

you may want to try rock cooking...alot less drastic than using bleach
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=485572&highlight=cooking+live+rock