Live rocks

bigolebossman

bigolebossman

New Member
So I moved from NY to NJ and I had to take down my two sw tanks. I had both live rocks and sand in the tank. I have about three 5 gallons water bottle, so I decided to put my sand in the water bottles with some of the water from the tank. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do the same with the rocks.
So after finally getting settled in the new place I decided to put my tanks back together. It's been 3 months since the move and I'm wondering will my rocks come back, and will I be able to reuse the sand. So far it's been three weeks and I'm starting to see some forms of Algae growing on some of the rocks. Last week I had all kinds of diatoms on my sand. Also there was all kinds of brown algae all over my glass. I did a 60% water change this past Sunday and so far everything look good. I tested my water and everything is going good. I'm not planning on adding any fish to the tank for another 2-3 weeks. I've experienced the art of losing fish and believe me it's not a good thing. So I just want to make sure everything is all good before adding any. I do plan on adding some form of cuc to help with normal algae growth.
Thanks in advance for all advive.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
Once the rock is cycled along with the rest of the tank the rocks at that point are basicly "back"
meaning there is enough bacteria built up on the rocks, filters adn anything else in your tank to take care of the ammonia (this is assuming that you cycled the tank using something to cause an ammonia spike)
Add fish slowly
Brownish diatoms all over the tank usually means that your inital cycle is coming to an end. thats a good thing.
I'd watch your water parameters (specifiaclly ammonia, nitrites and nitrates) for another week or two jsut to be sure everything is ok. if ammonia and trites are 0 and nitrates are high just do a water change or two to bring it down.
Shoot for 0 on all three but if nitrates are up in the 10-40 range that's probably ok to start with.
 
bigolebossman

bigolebossman

New Member
Thanks Jstdv8
I checked my water quality this past Sunday & everything (Nitrate, Nitrite & Ammonia) was at 0. I'm going to check my water again tomorrow to see if there's any change.
What do you mean by " assuming that you cycled the tank using something to cause an ammonia spike"
I appreciate the info.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
well, in order for your tank to run its initial cycle you have to have something in the tank that causes an initial ammonia spike. examples would be...
1.) Live Rock that has been left out of the water just long enough to have things die off on it but not long enough for everything to die on it and dry out.
2.) an uncooked dinner shrimp left in the tank to waste away and create ammonia.
3.) adding actual ammonia directly to the tank
4.) Peeing in the tank (no I'm not joking, ive heard of people doing this on more than one occasion lol)
If your parameters were 0 for all three the entire time you've had your tank up 1 of 2 things has happened.
1.) nothing died off in your move and you were able to keep all your bacteria up and running which would allow you to never get a spike or cycle
2.) everything was dead and dryed when you set it back up and you never introduced anything to cause an ammonia spike. Without an ammonia spike there will be no nitrites or nitrates either.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
yep. If you don't see an ammonia spike with that in there within a week the you will know that the bacteria that is in your tank is allready established.
If you do see an ammonia spike that means that your bacteria is not established and you will need to run the entire cycle which takes approx 4 weeks before you can put in any livestock.
make sure the shrimp is a good sized one and is raw
 
pauloesco

pauloesco

Member
Of course you can shorten the time by buying or trading for some live sand.
Personally I'd add some straight ammonia so you can test the water Paramaribo. If the ammonia gets eaten in hours or a day then you know you're good.
 
bigolebossman

bigolebossman

New Member
How much ammonia should I add.
The first time I set up my tanks, I've never done this before. All I did was start the tanks and let them run for about 2-3 weeks with the Live rocks & sand. Then after the 2-3 weeks period, I added a few damsels. They survived and them I went from there. Is this a way to shorten the tank cycling period.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I never suggest the ammonia thing becuase it always seems to be up in the air as to how much to add. plus the deterioration of a shrimp is a little more natural i guess
 
pauloesco

pauloesco

Member
Yea. I've done both, but a dead shrimp isn't too appealing and you don't know how fast it decays.
Ammonia -- add it by small amounts and test to 1ppm. Then it'll decrease over hours, days, or weeks and you know.
 
bigolebossman

bigolebossman

New Member
With the dead shrimp, do I have to wait until the shrimp decay before adding livestock?
How how much ammonia do I add & how often.
 
bama man

bama man

Member
I would not pour ammonia in my tank. All you need to do is put the shrimp in the tank and yes you can put in a filter sock of some sort just to make it easier to remove it. Give it a day or so and start testing your water daily. It's important that you keep an eye on your results so that you don't miss the ammonia sopike when it occurs. Initially you should see an increase in the ammonia level, Then you will see nitrite levels increase. The nitrite levels will begin to decrease and you will see Nitrates and their levels will increase. Once this happens you will know that the tank has cycled. If you skip a few days between testing your water parametrs you could miss the cycle as it occurs. To lower your Nitrates you have to do water changes, otherwise the nitrates will just continue to climb. The best advice I can give you is "Whatever you do, when dealing with salt water tanks, take your time because everything takes time in order to get the results we all hope to obtain. Nothing about salt water tanks happens fast. I know it's not easy being patient sometimes, but you can do a lot more harm than good by trying to rush things".
 
tlsohio

tlsohio

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bama Man http:///forum/thread/381601/live-rocks#post_3324955
I would not pour ammonia in my tank. All you need to do is put the shrimp in the tank and yes you can put in a filter sock of some sort just to make it easier to remove it. Give it a day or so and start testing your water daily. It's important that you keep an eye on your results so that you don't miss the ammonia sopike when it occurs. Initially you should see an increase in the ammonia level, Then you will see nitrite levels increase. The nitrite levels will begin to decrease and you will see Nitrates and their levels will increase. Once this happens you will know that the tank has cycled. If you skip a few days between testing your water parametrs you could miss the cycle as it occurs. To lower your Nitrates you have to do water changes, otherwise the nitrates will just continue to climb. The best advice I can give you is "Whatever you do, when dealing with salt water tanks, take your time because everything takes time in order to get the results we all hope to obtain. Nothing about salt water tanks happens fast. I know it's not easy being patient sometimes, but you can do a lot more harm than good by trying to rush things".
+1 on Bama Man's post
I don't think that in 2-3 weeks time is enough to start adding fish. And I would definitely stay away from damsels as they are agressive towards tank mates and very territorial. Just be patient and give it a couple months, while testing your water and after the amonia spike add the fish you really want, slowly.
 
bigolebossman

bigolebossman

New Member
Yes, I do understand about damsels. I had a domino damsel that thought my tank belonged to him. That fish would challenge all of my fish, including my huma trigga, & my Porcupine Puffer. I had a green wolf eel that I was hoping it would take care of my problem, but to no avail. My bully maintained his living arrangement.
Again I plan on adding a cuc this weekend, and then I 'll start adding fish two weeks after.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
you should really wait to see how the ammonia thing turns out before you add anything at all.
You could easily get into a cycle after the fish are added and kill everything in there.
 
bigolebossman

bigolebossman

New Member
So I added the shrimp to my tank and my ammonia levels are up some, but both nitrates & nitrites are still at zero. I notice that my live rocks are back to normal. I'm seeing all kinds of algae growing all over them.
How long should I keep that shrimp in the tank.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
looking to get ammonia up to at least 1.0
it will take a few days and you will see the nitirites come up next. if the shrimp is still decaying good the nitrites and ammonia might be rising at the same time for a while, but eventually you will see the ammonia fall to 0. by that time some of the nitrites will likley be converted to nitrates so you will see ammonia 0 nitrites up and nitrates up.
Then your nitrites will fall off to 0 and all you will have left is nitrates.
if the nitrates are over 20 at that time do a 25% water change or a couple of 10% water changes with a few days.
check to be sure the perameters are still 0 for trites and ammonia and then start adding your Clean up crew.
Keep shrimp in there until you see at least 1.0 ammonia
 
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