Live rock curing

Ok I am cycling my 30 gallon with the 45 pounds lr that I ordered . I keep doing water changes every couple days and today I took out the rock and scrubbed off some of the stuff thst looked like was dying or dead. Is this what I want to be doing. The stuff I scrubbed off really stunk and it looked orange but when I removed it was really dark or black underneath. That was only on one or two places. Most of the stuff smells ...well ...not quite as bad as the ones with the dead stuff, Any way my nitrites are off the chart. Should I just not worry about the nitrates since I did a 100% water change thursday and a 75% today? If my nitrites are still high tommorow should I change more water or just wait? And will the high nitrites kill my rock?

Thanks.....I would really be upset if I messed this up...those rocks cost me some coin ya know.

Thanks for your time and advice.

Jay

 

Jay,

Best advice I can give is STOP Take a deep breath
Now without wanting to go through the whole water change routine again just slow down a bit.

Sure if you want to clean your rock, but just do it once and then leave it alone. Let the tank cycle by itself, it needs no interference from you. When you see the Nitrite levels drop to zero, then by all means do a water change as the Nitrate levels will probably be high because of all the live rock you used.

While you wait, have a really good look around this site. You'll find some really useful information about setting up a tank and also some good books you should get.

Have fun

John

 

Johno:

Thank you very much. This is EXACTLY what I wanted to know.
I didnt know could just wait for the nitrites to drop themself then do a change. At the rate I was going I would have burned through 70 clams worth of reef crystals and been back at the web store swipin the plastic again. Since I started a month ago buyin all this stuff Ive givven my credit card quite a workout. kinda jumped in with both feet.
Better get back to the ZZZ'z gotta work in the morning.

IF ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR COMPUTERS OR NEED ANY HELP REMOVING VIRUSES OR ADWARE/SPYWARE OR HELP WITH ANYTHING COMPUTER RELATED LET ME KNOW>>> ....except html and web stuff
these really bore me and I havent spent the time learning .

I do these things durring the day to make my living and would like to return the favor. You all have been very helpful and I am glad I found this place. It has awnsered alot of my questions.

Thanks again

Jay :

 

Can you post some pics as you go? I know I like to watch new tanks go up and see pics of established ones as well!! ;D

 

Birdlady. My old poleroid camera I got way back in the day takes really primative digital pictures. It only cone 200 bucks and that was 5 years ago. I can try when I get home tonight but the pics will need a little imagination to apreciate.

Jay

 

Jay, are you curing the LR separately or in your display tank?

 

Just got home from work. Im curing it in my display tank. Its a 30 gal acrilic. I have that aregalite corse grind white rock on the bottom and 45 pounds sitting on top of it curing. Checked the nitrites tonight and they seem to have at least came back down so I can read them on the chart. When I do the nitrate test it looks like it has rose off the chart. the rock has started turning white but Ive been told that its normal for some og it to turn white. I think my tank got to warm...up to 84 degrees the other night and I bet that didnt help either. What do you think?

Jay

 

OK Jay,

The real problem is you still have a real problem

IMHO it's not a really good idea to drop 40 pounds of live rock into a 30 gallon tank.

You may get over the initial Ammonia and Nitrite spikes but you will end up with high Nitrate levels, whch will mean a large water change. That may seem like a small price to pay, but now that you have this mass of biology in your tank and as you do that water change to remove the Nitrates some of the organisms will die off and guess what, another Ammonia and Nitrite spike.

If it was me, and I am sure others may disagree, I would remove a lot of the rock and cycle it in a separate container. Leave a little bit only in your 30 gallon thank and do a complete water change.

In other words start again with fresh water mix and 2 containers.

John

 

[quote author=JohnO link=board=Newbie;num=1093236601;start=0#7 date=08/23/04 at 19:37:36]
If it was me, and I am sure others may disagree, I would remove a lot of the rock and cycle it in a separate container.  Leave a little bit only in your 30 gallon thank and do a complete water change.  

In other words start again with fresh water mix and 2 containers.[/quote]


No disagreement here!

 

Not sure I follow. If there is nothing else in the tank, what do you save by separating? Seems like more work to me than an occasional water change if necessary. :-/