Holy Ammonia

[audisteve]

I just got my 30lbs of uncured lalo liverock. I put the rocks in last night (after the Eric Clapton concert, and yes it rocked). And this morning before I headed off to work I tested the water condition and my ammonia was way off the charts. Over 8ppm! The water is a bright yellow color, I will have to do a water change already. But the uncured liverock was well worth the price...I can't believe how much stuff was on the rock when I recieved it, I hope most of it survived.

 

[wocka]

when ever my ammonios went up my water wasnt yellow.. do u have any one else living with u? could be pee lol

 

[col]

What else is in the tank, any livestock?

 

[audisteve]

No this is a new tank, with new uncured liverock. I will do a 50% water change today. Do you think that livesand would help a new tank with uncured liverock.

 

[verde_ad]

You probably don't want to add live sand to a tank with uncured live rock. There will be quite a bit of die off from that rock and this is why you are seeing the ammonia spike. With the ammonia spiking like this you will kill off much of what you pay for in the live sand. I would just put normal sand in their and let the rock cure and then if you want to add a bit of live sand to sead the tank then go for it. It will most likely take a while for the rock to cure. I would give it at least 4 weeks, but many people say to cure lr for up to 8.

 

[crm13]

Hi, audisteve. Don't want to say this the wrong way, but I think that I disagree with the live sand suggestion (sorry, verde.

) I think that you should put the live sand in there. I mean, the only difference between live sand and "just" sand is nitrifying bacterial colonization in the sand. Unless of course you buy that really expensive live sand that comes right from the ocean floor that has all kinds of critters living in it, then yeah, you may have problems with SOME of those living through that high of a level of ammonia. But, with levels like that, live sand will only help out your situation in that it will actually accelerate your cycle. The nitrifying bacteria in your live sand will multiply and your cycle will take off like a rocket. The more bacteria you introduce, the faster your ammonia will start to come back down. I think that uncured live rock and live sand combinations are an excellent way to cycle the tank because you're introducing all the right components.