live rock

ballwall

New Member
i have a tank with some live rock thats been in there for a year i just added some more how long do you think i will take to re cycle every thing is zero but my nitrite. rocked way up and is was suppose to be fully cured when i got it
 

deejeff442

Active Member
might be fully cured when you bought it.then moving it from the lfs to your tank will cause some die off on the rock.due mostly to air hitting it.if lr is not cured the ammonia will be off the charts.do a small water change every other day and keep testing.the lr already in the dt will help cycle it faster.shouldnt take too long to get stable.
 

flower

Well-Known Member

From the LFS to home even if it were an hour’s drive would not cause enough die off to create a cycle. The rocks hold water in those little crevices. I have moved my tank and it took hours, with no die off and even had a Royal Gramma hide in one rock for the ride to the new digs, with no problems whatsoever.
I don’t think there is any way that a tank that is 1 year old to have 0 nitrates and 0 ammonia and nitrites way up there. NITRATES could be way up there but not nitrites without an ammonia spike already. Lots of tanks have high nitrates, it isn't caused from cured rock being moved from one place to another a short distance.
Redo the tests and double check at the LFS, either the test kit is old or you did them wrong.
 

deejeff442

Active Member
you must have magical lr then because any sponge on lr will die when it hits air.he probably missed the ammonia because ammonia is the fastest toxin to go away in a cycle .also the nitrites probably didnt convert to nitrates yet.he also didnt post what the nitrite reading is.probably not that high.tell ya what flower take a stick and stir up your sand bed and see what the water tests do.anytime we disturb live bacteria in a tank there will be a change in water tests
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by deejeff442
http:///forum/post/3278606
you must have magical lr then because any sponge on lr will die when it hits air.he probably missed the ammonia because ammonia is the fastest toxin to go away in a cycle .also the nitrites probably didnt convert to nitrates yet.he also didnt post what the nitrite reading is.probably not that high.tell ya what flower take a stick and stir up your sand bed and see what the water tests do.anytime we disturb live bacteria in a tank there will be a change in water tests

My sand sifter keeps my sand stirred up so it won't make a difference to stir it. I did so once and the PH rises, my PH was low and a friend told me stir my sand..years ago. I’m not sure what would happen in your tank or what the point was..I just don’t know, I’m not being difficult.
I don’t intend a confrontation, but we differ in opinion…
An established 1 year old tank has enough bacteria built up to clear any issues a few hours would create in a few rocks out of water. OP said he/she? added some live rock, already cured to an established tank and had nitrites off the chart...So I stand on my first assessment.
 

deejeff442

Active Member
whats in the tank?if there is hardly any fish and he dont throw in some food once in a while there wont be bacteria in the tank.you are supposed to rinse off lr with saltwater to knock off the die off before adding it to the dt.he probably didnt.
i wish over the last 25+ yrs doing this i could just put in lr without having a little cycle or just raise the temp to kill ich.dont seem to work for anyone else.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by deejeff442
http:///forum/post/3278864
whats in the tank?if there is hardly any fish and he dont throw in some food once in a while there wont be bacteria in the tank.you are supposed to rinse off lr with saltwater to knock off the die off before adding it to the dt.he probably didnt.
i wish over the last 25+ yrs doing this i could just put in lr without having a little cycle or just raise the temp to kill ich.dont seem to work for anyone else.

Well maybe after 30+ years like me it will...
 

ballwall

New Member
the tank finally did its thing the nitrites went down got a babby clown fish swimming around in there i have big time water flow going on 1 hydro flow pumping 750 and one pumping 1000 in a 30 gal long 100 pounds of live rock now
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
i wish over the last 25+ yrs doing this i could just put in lr without having a little cycle
can you elaborate on what this quote means
 

deejeff442

Active Member
how long of an explanation do you want?if you take lr out of a lfs expose it to air on the ride home then just put it right into the dt the die off will create ammonia.of course if you put it in a tub for a couple days with clean water and a pump the die off will be left in the tub.you can also just simply rinse the lr in sw before adding and the tank probably wont have a mini cycle.i am simply assuming the op saying that the lfs said it is fully cured he just put it into the dt.is that the elaboration you are looking for?just wondering what you are looking for since you already know all this?
it is totally possibe to have a cycle adding rock.if it is a small tank like 75 gallons and adding 40 lbs more rock this way you dont think a cycle will happen.the op said he now has 100 lbs of rock.flower said straight out there is no way there can be a cycle.bs
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
my LFS is 1 hour away. Ive brought home 20 lbs before and just plopped it in there with no visibale ammonia spike..
I must have magical LR too. SWEET!
 

deejeff442

Active Member
i am not saying it will always get a little cycle.i have moved my tanks plenty of times and not had one.i am saying it is possible.he might have had eneough dies off to spike the tank.if then when someone sets up a new tank cycles it with a hob filte rand you then just fill it with all the lr you want and not worry about it?i bought 60 lbs of lr on craigslist ,came right out of this guys tank.it had sponge all over it .i put it in a tote ,put bathroon towels on it and poured saltwater all over it.drove home put it in a tote and had a full cycle .all the sponge died.might be i just have bad luck .i have also read somewhere people cycle tanks with cured lr.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
well you probably allready know this but sponges die as soon as they touch any air. so naturally you are going to have mass die off on those rocks if it had alot of sponges. The only way to prevent that would be to bring a tote full off tank water, take the new rocks out of the existing tank with a bag and put them in the tote and bring it home, put it in the tank without the sponges ever seeing air at all.
 

deejeff442

Active Member
yes sir.but when i went over there to pick up the rock being only a buck a pound i didnt expext it to be so nice.my whole point of this argument was there is a chance that just taking lr from a lfs and putting it into a dt right out of the box can cause a mini cycle.now that i think about it i havnt been on craigslist for a while and could use some more rock for my 250.
 

ballwall

New Member
i checked everything and its back in check one question my live rock has green coraline alge is that common i did my best for purple will it turn purple i do have purple all so it not hair alge its all over the tank glass hard as heck to clean off
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
i wish over the last 25+ yrs doing this i could just put in lr without having a little cycle
i am not saying it will always get a little cycle.i have moved my tanks plenty of times and not had one
which one is it ?
also i am very interested in the instant death of sponges when exposed to air in my very uneducated opinion . If the sponge is exposed to air out of the water, the air becomes trapped in the matrix of channels that line the inside of its sponge body, blocking the path for food to reach its cells. if this is true then the death of the sponge is slow do to starvation
how long of an explanation do you want?if you take lr out of a lfs expose it to air on the ride home then just put it right into the dt the die off will create ammonia
so in 25 plus years you have never thought of bringing a bucket of salt water to your LFS to transfer the live rock, you did say that you wish in 25 years you could bring the live rock home and put it into you tank and not get a cycle.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
you got me again Joe. I guess I didnt expalin it very well. I was in a hurry to get the message posted before I got caught looking at fish while on the clock at work :p Not very well thought out. I guess my point was that the instant that airtouches the sponge its pretty much game over even if it takes a while for it to actually happen.
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
I guess my point was that the instant that airtouches the sponge its pretty much game over even if it takes a while for it to actually happen.
this IMO is absolutely correct
 
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