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Hello all, I am brand new to this hobby and have kept some freshwater fish before but never any marine. I collected all of the info I could before jumping into it and thought i did a pretty good job but now i am slightly confused. I have also spend countless hours on here tryong to find a solution to my prob but no posts had a concrete answer for my problem. Here are my tank stats:
55 gal glass
aquaclear 70 power filter
had a fluval 304 until it broke (that thing is a POS)
maxijet 900 powerhead (235 GPH)
.05-1 mm Caribsea aragonite sand bed (1.5 - 2" deep)
~ 10 lbs of LR
2 50/50 bulbs, 20 W each
I got my tank set and clear (after a change from CC) with the proper salinity and SG. I knew it was then time to aquire my LR so i drove on down to the local fish store (this is before i knew about this site mind you) and picked up 10 lbs of cured LR. I know it is fully cured becasue it has been there for 3-4 weeks and has coralline algea all over it (i think i am the only SW hobbyist in the area!!). Anyway, I broght it home and set it in my tank 3 days ago as I was informed by LFS guy that it will help cycle the tank faster.
Here is my question: Do I still need to add a shrimp or some sort of food to develop beneficial bacteria or will this harm the current LR? Will it speed up the cycling process? Also my levels seem skewed. as of 11PM last night they were:
Temp: 79
PH: 8.0 (norm)
Ammonia: between .25 and .5
Nitrite: .25
Nitrate: between 80 and 150
I thought during cycle ammonia spike, then nitrite, then nitrate. all seems to be spiking at the same time? I understnad patience is key but i just want to make sure i am doing things right. thanks for reading this disertation and the help.
55 gal glass
aquaclear 70 power filter
had a fluval 304 until it broke (that thing is a POS)
maxijet 900 powerhead (235 GPH)
.05-1 mm Caribsea aragonite sand bed (1.5 - 2" deep)
~ 10 lbs of LR
2 50/50 bulbs, 20 W each
I got my tank set and clear (after a change from CC) with the proper salinity and SG. I knew it was then time to aquire my LR so i drove on down to the local fish store (this is before i knew about this site mind you) and picked up 10 lbs of cured LR. I know it is fully cured becasue it has been there for 3-4 weeks and has coralline algea all over it (i think i am the only SW hobbyist in the area!!). Anyway, I broght it home and set it in my tank 3 days ago as I was informed by LFS guy that it will help cycle the tank faster.
Here is my question: Do I still need to add a shrimp or some sort of food to develop beneficial bacteria or will this harm the current LR? Will it speed up the cycling process? Also my levels seem skewed. as of 11PM last night they were:
Temp: 79
PH: 8.0 (norm)
Ammonia: between .25 and .5
Nitrite: .25
Nitrate: between 80 and 150
I thought during cycle ammonia spike, then nitrite, then nitrate. all seems to be spiking at the same time? I understnad patience is key but i just want to make sure i am doing things right. thanks for reading this disertation and the help.