LR and Ammonia spike question

[obelix]

If I was planning on establishing a new environment from scratch in a 200 gal aquarium. Would it be worth staging the addition of LR as to keep the ammonia levels down.. Say add 50 lbs of LR at a time and wait till ammonia levels drop to 0 before adding the next batch.. I'm assuming this will help keep the total ammonia level down during the cycling and save as much life on the rock as possible.. I'm thinking it will take a little longer but may be better in the long run..

 

[obelix]

one more question.. How is oxygen introduced into the Saltwater envirnoment.. Do you try to let water cascade somewhere?? Perhaphs it happens when the water goes into the overflow, perhaps it happens when water comes from the head to the top of the water line?

 

[andrew1113]

when i went to my lfs they had gulf rock(i live in florida so its preety cheap) but with this i had no ammonia spike and had fish in it within ten days. They had it cure in a tank for a long time so all the stuff that died from it being out of the water grew back which was good for me cause i didnt have the ammonia spike

 

[nereef]

adding uncured liverock to a new tank is a great way to cycle. i would get a rubbermaid with a few gallons of saltwater ready. give the rock a quick scrub and rinse in the saltwater, then add it to your tank. monitor the ammonia in the tank, and do a water change if the ammonia gets over 1ppm.
if you were to cycle the tank by adding uncured liverock in small increments, it would just take that much longer.
most gas exchange, inluding oxygen input, happens at the surface in the tank. adding ripples to the water's surface with a powerhead helps with gas exchange by adding surface area. skimmers also put oxygen into the water as they run.