bought 20lbs of key largo dry rock from my LFS last week. I have it in a plastic bin where I plan on doing my cycling. Temp is 80f. Salinity is 1.21. And I have a aquaclear for water movement. I put a shrimp in on day 2 and left it in until ammonia was about 3.0ppm then took it out. On day 7 ammonia is now reading closer to 4.0ppm. Just wondering if I should be doing any water changes or just wait it out. Should I raise the ammonia level again once it drops or just leave it? What should I be looking for on the rock? I hear diatom is brown growth that might show up and that it isn't a bad thing. When can I expect to move it to my aquarium?
First time curing/cycling rock. Need advice!
- Thread starter Adasfish
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deerhunter06
Valuable Member
No do not do any water changes, No do not raise the ammonia again, There really isnt anything to be looking for, You can expect to move it to your aquariums when ammonia and nitrites read 0. The only thing i would suggest doing is ghost feeding a small amount of food like once a week. Do not let anyone here tell you your bacteria is going to starve if not fed ammonia because that is not true at all. The only reason i tell you to ghost feed is because bacteria need nutrients like phosphate to efficiently convert nitrite to nitrate.
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Thanks, if I did ghost feed could I just put a raw shrimp in the filter for half a day or so? Or should I be using fish food? And should I be checking nitrate and nitrite? Or can I get away with just checking ammonia?
deerhunter06
Valuable Member
no i wouldnt put the raw shrimp in just use fish food you dont even really need to do this. Some people are just hell bent on doing something during a cycle so this is what i suggest. Also dont bother checking nitrate until nitrites are 0, Just monitor your ammonia and nitrites every few days. Come to think of it you never need to check nitrates since you are curing in a seperate container, assuming you are going to be using all new water for your tank? IF so the nitrates will be 0 in your tank when you move the rock over.
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