OK finally got my LR 45 LB's from SWF

D

dragonzim

Active Member
Originally Posted by SH2000
http:///forum/post/2487727
what type of hitchikers would u expect to get from ordering 45 lb's of LR from this site ? which wuld be bad and which would be good ?
now that my ammoniais at 0.25 just wait till it reads 0 then wait a few days retest and put into the DT.
My rock has been in my tank for 2.5 years and there is still new stuff springing up out of it on an almost weekly basis. Snails, sponges, little feather dusters... All sorts of stuff that was in the rock and that can be wiped out by letting your ammonia get too high.
 
sh2000

sh2000

Member
the rock started curing last wed. i did an 80 percent water change then a 100 then another 100 last on was on sat. the ammonia read 0.25 so far i left it alone no tests no water changes...suppose i test tonight and the ammonia is 0 then I can put in my DT???...it will have only been cured for 1 week i had 2 maxi jets 1200 in a tub 25 gallons and the temp was at 80F sal-1.026 can rock be cured in 1 week with the water changes and temp setings and powerheads I had in the curing setup ?
what else to test for before putting in the dt..?
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Your ammonia spiked really high and water changes brought it down but that doesn't mean the rock is cured. It's going to take longer. By performing water changes you removed a lot of ammonia as indicated by your testing. The ammonia needs to convert to nitrite as it does, ammonia will go down but still be present and then nitrite will spike and continue to read while ammonia reads zero. Then nitrate will show and nitrite will level off. When you have zero ammonia and zero nitrite you need to ghost feed for a few days and test to make sure you have enough beneficial bacteria to immediately convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. When my tank cycled and my ammonia and nitrite first went to zero I ghost fed. The next day I had ammonia. A day or two later I had zero ammonia and nitrite again so I ghost fed again. I showed only nitrite. Within the next few days after ghost feeding all my tests showed zero and then I did my water change. When this happens to you, then and only then, can we guarantee that you will not have a spike if you add it to your DT.
 
sh2000

sh2000

Member
update: the ammonia is at 0.10
1 week in a tub with 2 maxi jet 1200's and a heater at 80F,I did 3 water changes 80 % 100% 100%. So still waiting
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
good progress. No need for any more water changes until ammonia and nitrite are at zero. I don't see your ammonia getting any higher.
 
sh2000

sh2000

Member
Update: Ammonia-0,nitrite 0.2, nitrate 20 ppm...when is it safe to put into my dt and considered cured completely..also to be on the safe side should i add the 45 lb's in 3 segments ? or all at once is ok ?
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member
Ghost feed for a couple days and check your ammonia and nitrite levels. Nitrates won't read properly until nitrite is fully gone, but once you see ammonia and nitrite stay at absolute 0 for a couple days of ghost feeding, then it's cured and you can put it in your DT. At that point it's up to you whether you want to do it all at once or a little at a time. Just as long as the rock isn't sitting out of water, you won't have die off during the transition to your DT so you shouldn't have much to worry about.
 
sh2000

sh2000

Member
just to be prepared in advance suppose something goes wrong whne I add the 45 lb's of LR in the DT I wanna have mixed sw and stabalize the PH...if i test and see the ammonia go from 0-0.12 or the nitrite go from 0 -0.2 what do i do to get the levels back to 0 and 0 ? what would be recommended ? a 20 percent water change daily ? a 10 percent water change daily ? or a larger change like 40 percent ? any help in advance would be great so I can be prepared that everything stays level...last time I added live rock to my tank it wasn't fully cured an nuked my tank.
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member
Originally Posted by SH2000
http:///forum/post/2498518
just to be prepared in advance suppose something goes wrong whne I add the 45 lb's of LR in the DT I wanna have mixed sw and stabalize the PH...if i test and see the ammonia go from 0-0.12 or the nitrite go from 0 -0.2 what do i do to get the levels back to 0 and 0 ? what would be recommended ? a 20 percent water change daily ? a 10 percent water change daily ? or a larger change like 40 percent ? any help in advance would be great so I can be prepared that everything stays level...last time I added live rock to my tank it wasn't fully cured an nuked my tank.
You could definitely be prepared for water changes, just in case. I wouldn't be worried as much that the live rock would kick off ammonia as much as the aquascaping process, so just be careful not to shake up your existing rock and sand too much and you'll be fine.

I'd only worry about stress on the inverts if you're doing water changes, the more water you change out the more your parameters would change, so I'd stick in the 20-30% range every other day if it's needed, but usually with this sort of thing one water change will cover it.
 
sh2000

sh2000

Member
The rock is in the DT looks amazing a bit of a hassile to cure it but 11 days with 4 water changes and 2 maxi jet 1200's and at 81F worked..it's really beautiful..great buy..In my LFS for fiji rock cured they charge $10/LB
 
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