cycling with uncured live rock
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Brew12
Electrical Gru
That is good news. 8ppm won't do much to hurt your cycle, although it would have been nice to skip the cycle completely.
If I were going to spend money on anything, it would be for a few extra 5 gallon buckets. With a 200L (53g) aquarium you probably have 40g of water. A single 20g water change after 4 days will be much more effective than daily 5g water changes.
And I wouldn't do the water changes because of the ammonia so much as to reduce the amount of nitrates you will end up with once things stabilize.
Now I'm curious though if the rocks sit in 8ppm ammonia water for an extended period of time, isnt that going to kill whatever life, outside of bacteria, that remains on the rock?
Ideally you change out the water or add Prime anytime you see the ammonia spike which prevents a cascade of death. Or am I understanding this wrong? Or are we assuming most of the hitchhikers are already toast anyway after a 3 day ship?
Ideally you change out the water or add Prime anytime you see the ammonia spike which prevents a cascade of death. Or am I understanding this wrong? Or are we assuming most of the hitchhikers are already toast anyway after a 3 day ship?
Brew12
Electrical Gru
In addition to the 3 day shipping the tank has been setup for at least a few days in the high ammonia water, so yes, I suspect that any life that cannot tolerate temperature fluctuations, dry"ish" conditions and high ammonia are already toast.
fishybizzness
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I would let it do its thing. Ammonia will come down in a few days and nitrite will be undetectable. Nitrates will be higher at that point than they are now. Wait a few days and if ammonia and nitrite are zero then do a big water change. Learning patience is the number one skill that must be mastered in this hobby. Without patience, the journey will not be fun or rewarding.
Brew12
Electrical Gru
You could go either way with the water change. There isn't any pressing reason to do one imo, but it wouldn't hurt and you are going to end up with a very high nitrate level when it ammonia and nitrite hit zero. It's up to you if you would rather wait and deal with it all at once or do the occasional water change to save some work at the end.
And as an FYI, you probably still have fairly low nitrate. Nitrate tests work by breaking nitrate down into nitrite and measuring the nitrite levels. They are only accurate if nitrite levels are effectively 0ppm. Some people get confused when they see nitrate drop as their nitrite drops but that is normal and due to testing, it doesn't reflect what is happening in the system.
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we need pics
this rock better be knurled, twisted growths of ventalina gorgs, periphyton, purple tunicates
but if its reef rock and coralline, not whiskered covered in plants and dead crabs, and you posted 8 ppm api, who doesn't get that reading when sampled heh
jj
lets see pics though. I know curing emits ammonia but as a hobby we all tend to completely dismiss the counter-uptake ability of the nitrifying/ filtration portion, which is arriving as super charged as it will ever be from then on out + its arriving on the highest degree of possible contact surface area the system will ever know.
that rock handles 5 ppm ammonia conversion input not a problem, several completed cycle threads show that breadth of filtration post-cycle.
so lets see the rocks that are inputting more than 5 ppm constant ammonia, for a true accumulation. also noting water clarity compared to a normal running reef on the upcoming pic. you can easily, easily be done curing out and the leftover metabolites are triggering that reading though a seneye would not agree its in the tenths, unless water cloud, smell, visible rot is about to be shown.
the 8 ppm ammonia reading from api has been known to shut down entire cities before in concern, im still hunting for a single time the reading was right.
whats stated is 8 ppm ammonia after known confirmed ability to uptake massive free ammonia. by rule, that comes with smelly stink water it does not present as pics -that after this long- look like every reef tank known.
we need to see a cycle crashed tank as a pic.
no more are the days of believing api with zero alternate visual confirmations, they'll present when ammonia is truly noncontrolled. I have never in all cycle posts read ever seen someone's aquarium display the real true effects of ammonia noncontrol, and line that up with a test reading.
I have seen literally six hundred thousand stated instances of non control factoring only test reading, however.
this rock better be knurled, twisted growths of ventalina gorgs, periphyton, purple tunicates
but if its reef rock and coralline, not whiskered covered in plants and dead crabs, and you posted 8 ppm api, who doesn't get that reading when sampled heh
jj
lets see pics though. I know curing emits ammonia but as a hobby we all tend to completely dismiss the counter-uptake ability of the nitrifying/ filtration portion, which is arriving as super charged as it will ever be from then on out + its arriving on the highest degree of possible contact surface area the system will ever know.
that rock handles 5 ppm ammonia conversion input not a problem, several completed cycle threads show that breadth of filtration post-cycle.
so lets see the rocks that are inputting more than 5 ppm constant ammonia, for a true accumulation. also noting water clarity compared to a normal running reef on the upcoming pic. you can easily, easily be done curing out and the leftover metabolites are triggering that reading though a seneye would not agree its in the tenths, unless water cloud, smell, visible rot is about to be shown.
the 8 ppm ammonia reading from api has been known to shut down entire cities before in concern, im still hunting for a single time the reading was right.
whats stated is 8 ppm ammonia after known confirmed ability to uptake massive free ammonia. by rule, that comes with smelly stink water it does not present as pics -that after this long- look like every reef tank known.
we need to see a cycle crashed tank as a pic.
no more are the days of believing api with zero alternate visual confirmations, they'll present when ammonia is truly noncontrolled. I have never in all cycle posts read ever seen someone's aquarium display the real true effects of ammonia noncontrol, and line that up with a test reading.
I have seen literally six hundred thousand stated instances of non control factoring only test reading, however.
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MightyMO
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Imo, even if I started with live rock and a bacteria cycle boost, i wouldn't have added a live critter for at least 2 weeks... Impatience is very costly in this hobby...
BradB
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Your situation is bad, but should get better on its own. You probably killed anything interesting on the rock, and ammonia should fall on its own now. In 2 months, you will be in the same place as if you started with dry rock.
I'd buy a better RO before spending anything on livestock.
I'd buy a better RO before spending anything on livestock.
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Im taking a virtual bet poll with no real money on the line: we are about to get pics of a clear tank, doesn't smell, rocks look normal, and this for API is like our uncles perpetually pulling quarters out of our ears but for our entire lives and we do not catch on. you can just run the same trick tomorrow morning, and eternally surprise as if new every single time ran.
making the brash prediction because if someone offered me 400$ paypal right now to post a link showing actual symptoms of ammonia noncontrol from any recent aquarium posted on the entire internet, I could not.
I can only locate 66, 497 instances of perfectly normal reefs not stalled at all, posting 8 ppm api. For a bounty, literally I can only find people concerning over a test kit I cannot find the single picture of the wiped out reef due to confirmed nh3 noncontrol and a known event to cause it.
I am unable to locate among thousands of seneye logs posted a single time any reef included first day cycle hit 8 ppm.
counter data
making the brash prediction because if someone offered me 400$ paypal right now to post a link showing actual symptoms of ammonia noncontrol from any recent aquarium posted on the entire internet, I could not.
I can only locate 66, 497 instances of perfectly normal reefs not stalled at all, posting 8 ppm api. For a bounty, literally I can only find people concerning over a test kit I cannot find the single picture of the wiped out reef due to confirmed nh3 noncontrol and a known event to cause it.
I am unable to locate among thousands of seneye logs posted a single time any reef included first day cycle hit 8 ppm.
counter data
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that looks like the rock my skip cycle reef was started with. we call that group B rock here
www.reef2reef.com
though I just got lucky
api uncle'd us
that's a thirty page review of exactly your kind of rocks. and the impacts of test misreads. I bet a virtual dollar that system can move ammonia if you run the calibrated special approach, seen here, on yet another 8 ppm run/fix:
www.reef2reef.com
The microbiology of reef tank cycling.
You can skip your cycle. Ive been reefing online for twenty years and have never waited one second for a tank to cycle, because I buy rocks that are already cycled and move them home. Here's two: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/...
www.reef2reef.com
though I just got lucky
api uncle'd us
that's a thirty page review of exactly your kind of rocks. and the impacts of test misreads. I bet a virtual dollar that system can move ammonia if you run the calibrated special approach, seen here, on yet another 8 ppm run/fix:
100% Water Change
So in my previous thread, I had an ammonia issue that was out of hand. As suggested, I did a 100% WC and now i’m wondering when I should start adding fish back. If anyone has suggestions, let me know!
www.reef2reef.com
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we cover whats happening I think a paradox is occurring really / test issues vs what pics showed from prediction.
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