Curing Live Rock/Ammonia

[thoroughbred]

So quick question here, I just received 50 lbs of Fiji ultra super uber amazing etc... prime live rock that I ordered off the net. It was sposed to be cured but I did as all would do and set it up to re cure for a while when it got here. Im curing it in my new 65 gal tank, no fish or anything. I was wondering what the expected ammonia levels would be while its curing. Also maybe I could get a recommendation on something that will help the development of nitrites. Thanks

ps: Im using the rock to cycle the tank.

 

[sign guy]

there is no way of knowing what the spike will be due to all the varibles like amount of die off on the lr and the depth of sand pluss the coarseness of the rock. what do you meen by the development of trates they will follow the amm.

 

[cmaxwell39]

If you are using the live rock to cycle the tank then you do not need to add anything else to help with the cycle. The live rock already has the beneficial bacteria in it to convert waste to nitrite and then to nitrate. The only other thing that you might want to do is throw a raw shrimp in with it to provide another source of ammonia.
As far as how high the ammonia will get, it really depends on how much die off you have on your live rock. It is hard to say exactly how high it will get. Just watch your levels and when you have 0 amm., 0 trites, and some trates you should be done.

 

[thoroughbred]

Well I figured they would need to build up over time to take down the amm. I'm just worried that the high levels of ammonia would damage the rock or kill the bacteria ie: trites.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Nitrites are a byproduct in the nitrogen cycle. You get ammonia from the breakdown of waste, uneaten food, ect. and some of the bacteria in your tank break that ammonia down to nitrites. The nitrites are then broken down by another bacteria to nitrates. This is the final step in the process in the aquarium. The nitrites are sort of a middle step, not an end product that you are looking for or the bacteria themselves.

 

[thoroughbred]

Awesome, even after thinking I knew how cycling works I learn something new. I just have one more question. Can high levels of ammonia hurt my live rock?

 

[cmaxwell39]

I am sure that too much ammonia could cause more die off in the live rock. I do not know at what level that would start happening. It probably would depend on what is on your live rock that has survived. As far as destroying them for filtration purposes, I do not believe that it would be possible to have an ammonia level that was too high and would kill off all the beneficial bacteria, especially since ammonia is what these bacteria feed on. HTH

 

[thoroughbred]

Well I'll try to keep em down just to be safe. Thanks so much

 

[sign guy]

Originally Posted by Thoroughbred
Well I'll try to keep em down just to be safe. Thanks so much

IMHO you should create the largest bio load you can for future stock. LR will grow back. I add shrimp when cycleing my tank