New aquarium advice.

[ZeroShadez]

So im on day 7 of cycling my 125gal aquarium.i have about 125 pounds of live rock that sat in 70 degree water for about a week with good flow but i scrubbed them all really good with warm fresh water cause they were really dirty from the guy i bought the also very dirty tank from which i also cleaned thoroughly. Not knowing if the live rock bacteria survived i used the seed bacteria in a bottle for the first week of cycling (7 days as the bottle suggested i do). Day 7 is here and i am beginning my daily testing of ammonia nitrites and nitrates.
My ammonia is at somewhere between .25 and .50 ppm.
My nitrites are at somewhere between 0 and .25 ppm.
My nitrates are at somwhere between 5 and 10 ppm.
It seems like my nitrates are too high for this early in the process of cycling im not really sure i have been phantom feeding daily to help the process. Is this a normal 7 day analysis of a tank at this early in the cycling process?
Also im running dual protein skimmers with a venturi pump. trickle filter with bio bals. Soon to add algea reactor hopefully.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Hmm it would be pretty difficult to kill off bacteria in live rock as it typically lives deep in the rocks themselves.

I’m guessing scrubbing might have caused enough death to spike ammonia but I’m shocked after a week the live rock didn’t convert it into nitrite and nitrate fairly quickly.

Do you have any pictures of the rock and more information around rinsing and scrubbing them?

 

[ZeroShadez]

Hmm it would be pretty difficult to kill off bacteria in live rock as it typically lives deep in the rocks themselves.

I’m guessing scrubbing might have caused enough death to spike ammonia but I’m shocked after a week the live rock didn’t convert it into nitrite and nitrate fairly quickly.

Do you have any pictures of the rock and more information around rinsing and scrubbing them?

Well i was expecting my ammonia to be higher and my nitrates to be lower this early. I lied btw lol on accident i scrubbed them in the water they were transported in proper salinity 70°f water scrubbed with a metal bristled brush and then rinsed in clean salt water room temp for a few seconds before plopping into the tank which is where they sat for a week before i fixed the plumbing and got the heaters in but they did have good flow and abot 70 degrees water ill post pics in a second here

 

[ZeroShadez]

Hmm it would be pretty difficult to kill off bacteria in live rock as it typically lives deep in the rocks themselves.

I’m guessing scrubbing might have caused enough death to spike ammonia but I’m shocked after a week the live rock didn’t convert it into nitrite and nitrate fairly quickly.

Do you have any pictures of the rock and more information around rinsing and scrubbing them?

 

[ZeroShadez]

Note i did not get the rocks perfectly clean that stuff on them i imagine is the bits of dead algea and stuff i couldn't get off but i hope will slowly go away with time once its better established the stuff on the black inner walls of the overflows is just stained coral putty stuff where he used to have corals running up the entire wall mostly.

 

[BeejReef]

What test kits are you using?

With that much live rock, there's every chance that the tank is already cycled.
If they were alive and cycled when you got them, nothing you describe should have un-cycled or killed them.

The touch of ammonia could well be the remaining bits of algae and coral dying off. It sounds more like you're curing cycled rock in your tank than cycling dead rock. That would explain the nitrates.

How long had the tank you got them from been running? The rocks don't appear to be many months or years old, but they're certainly not brand new.

What do your latest tests say?

 

[ZeroShadez]

What test kits are you using?

With that much live rock, there's every chance that the tank is already cycled.
If they were alive and cycled when you got them, nothing you describe should have un-cycled or killed them.

The touch of ammonia could well be the remaining bits of algae and coral dying off. It sounds more like you're curing cycled rock in your tank than cycling dead rock. That would explain the nitrates.

How long had the tank you got them from been running? The rocks don't appear to be many months or years old, but they're certainly not brand new.

What do your latest tests say?

Next test showed less ammonia 1 day later same nitrites and nitrates and the tank was running with that live rock for a few years dirty as heck. So i scrubbed them vigorously with metal brush. didn't get them perfect as you can see but compared to what they looked like before. Now within the next few days my ammonia and nitrites hit 0 assuming its cycled and after big water change to reduce nitrates should i continue to phantom feed until i start assing CUC or fish to keep the BB fed

 

[ZeroShadez]

What test kits are you using?

With that much live rock, there's every chance that the tank is already cycled.
If they were alive and cycled when you got them, nothing you describe should have un-cycled or killed them.

The touch of ammonia could well be the remaining bits of algae and coral dying off. It sounds more like you're curing cycled rock in your tank than cycling dead rock. That would explain the nitrates.

How long had the tank you got them from been running? The rocks don't appear to be many months or years old, but they're certainly not brand new.

What do your latest tests say?

Sorry is quoting you and replying the samething
Just want you to beable to see that i replied.