Did I kill my liverock?

[shogun1964]

I just recent;y got 10 pounds of premium live rock that had lots of algae and plant life plus some sponges attached. The first couple of days the ammonia levels was sky high in a 5 gallon bucket, after 2 days I cleaned all matter off the rocks and put them in a 20 gallon container and now the ammonia reading is in the safe zone. This is my first time with live rock, so please tell me how much how long do I leave it in the curing tank, and do I need to add ammonia to cause the bacteria to grow faster and would it help if I added a bacteria booster? I really appreciate any help given as in my tank I have about 50 pounds of base rock that I want to seed with the 10 pounds of really nice liverock.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

No its not dead. SOme bottled bacteria wouldn't hurt at all. Safe is zero on a test IMO. . Its just like cycling a tank too. Have you tested N03 and Po4?

 

[shogun1964]

No, Iv'e only cycled the rocks about 3 days now and will check in a couple more, should I add a little ammonia to give the bacteria something to eat and grow on?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

No, Iv'e only cycled the rocks about 3 days now and will check in a couple more, should I add a little ammonia to give the bacteria something to eat and grow on?

No decaying organics will supply ammonia and the live rocks are already cycling.
They are live.
There is no need to start a cycle.
They do need a bit of time to let organics die off. That's it.