Question about cycling, my rocks not my tank!

Reefing_addiction · Aug 20, 2020

So I got my new set up of rocks all epoxied together and now they are in a bucket. Been there for a week or so. I added mostly fresh salt water and say a gallon or so of water from my tank after a water change. I ghost feed it once with left over Mysis skrimps. And have been adding seed bacteria for the last 3 days i tested ammonia yesterday and today (see picture)

should I test again tomorrow? Or wait a day or two?

my bucket smells of the epoxy! Yuck! Should I do a water change after it cycles? Let it sit for a few days?
After water change should I take a piece of rock from my tank and place it in the bucket?
I don’t want to run the risk of hurting anything in my tank.

can i then just remove old rock and put knew rock in? Or should I just put it all in there for a certain amount of time and then remove old rock? It’s be a tight fit but I think I can make that happen.

there is a high probability i will try and keep some of therock in my tank after I pull it out and break it up a bit.

there is at least one 8 inch piece i will definitely be keeping. Maybe another 5 inch piece. These pieces won’t come out when the rest does.

thank you for your knowledge
Left today right yesterday

Spare time · Aug 20, 2020

As long as you put bacteria in the rock container you should be fine. You can lower the salinity and increase the temp a little to speed it up. I would do a water change and try to not let ammonia to over 3ppm. You can get your cycle stuck if ammonia is too high and can slow things down so doing smaller amounts at a time is better.