Stirring up dead material during cycle

[cmcimino]

I'm currently cycling my 28 gallon JBJ nanocube, and was moving some of my rock around when I noticed a lot of decaying/dead material coming out from it. I have pukani rock so there are lots of crevices and holes that have all sorts of decaying material in them. These parts of the rocks have little flow so I'm wondering if it would be helpful to use something like a turkey baster to knock some of that decaying material lose in the water?

 

[ArcKatana]

Certainly can't hurt. I'd even go so far as take the rock out and shake it in a bucket of water to get more of the junk out. Turkey bast the tough spots.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I'm currently cycling my 28 gallon JBJ nanocube, and was moving some of my rock around when I noticed a lot of decaying/dead material coming out from it. I have pukani rock so there are lots of crevices and holes that have all sorts of decaying material in them. These parts of the rocks have little flow so I'm wondering if it would be helpful to use something like a turkey baster to knock some of that decaying material lose in the water?

Typically you would cure the rock in a separate container just to remove all the dead stuff. Looks like you are gonna cure it in the display. This will take some time.

 

[Animagus]

I'm currently cycling my 28 gallon JBJ nanocube, and was moving some of my rock around when I noticed a lot of decaying/dead material coming out from it. I have pukani rock so there are lots of crevices and holes that have all sorts of decaying material in them. These parts of the rocks have little flow so I'm wondering if it would be helpful to use something like a turkey baster to knock some of that decaying material lose in the water?

Absolutely, but you might want to do this before your next water change. Get that muck out of there. Blasting your rocks with a powerhead every time you do a water change is definitely a good habit to get into as well.

 

[reeferfoxx]

You'll be turkey basting for months lol. Have fun with this. Do yourself a favor and do some research on curing dry live rock as a lot of phosphates will be leeching.

 

[cmcimino]

You'll be turkey basting for months lol. Have fun with this. Do yourself a favor and do some research on curing dry live rock as a lot of phosphates will be leeching.

I did my research into this prior to buying the rock. I did not feel like messing with an acid bath, or anything like that. I also don't mind letting it cure in the DT because I have all the time in the world. I'm in no rush with my first SW tank. Once the tank completes the ammonia cycle I'll do a 100% water change (2 50% water changes over two days) and just keep an eye on my phosphate/nitrates. Once everything stabilizes I'll start add some livestock. I'm no stranger to water changes or aquarium maintenance, I have a fully planted freshwater tank that gets a 5o% water change once a week. Thanks for you advice.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I did my research into this prior to buying the rock. I did not feel like messing with an acid bath, or anything like that. I also don't mind letting it cure in the DT because I have all the time in the world. I'm in no rush with my first SW tank. Once the tank completes the ammonia cycle I'll do a 100% water change (2 50% water changes over two days) and just keep an eye on my phosphate/nitrates. Once everything stabilizes I'll start add some livestock. I'm no stranger to water changes or aquarium maintenance, I have a fully planted freshwater tank that gets a 5o% water change once a week. Thanks for you advice.

Freshwater experience is different. Dry pukani holds dead matter, yes. Not only does it hold dead matter in the cracks and crevasses but in tiny holes. It will take months before adding anything into the tank. And if you have sand in there, all the tiny dead matter and phosphates will store in the sand bed. I wouldn't bother rushing the cycle. Because, you'll have at least 6 months of algae. First diatoms, then cyanobacteria and finally hair algae. You shouldn't add livestock until PO4 levels reduce. The acid bath really does help.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'm currently cycling my 28 gallon JBJ nanocube, and was moving some of my rock around when I noticed a lot of decaying/dead material coming out from it. I have pukani rock so there are lots of crevices and holes that have all sorts of decaying material in them. These parts of the rocks have little flow so I'm wondering if it would be helpful to use something like a turkey baster to knock some of that decaying material lose in the water?

yes, do it. and put floss in the chamber to catch it. on my cube I wound up doing all wc from the back, it catches detritus like mad.

You'll be turkey basting for months lol. Have fun with this. Do yourself a favor and do some research on curing dry live rock as a lot of phosphates will be leeching.

it depends on the rock.
a simple test on leeching is test the water it is in. you can do it in the tank or a bucket of rodi.

 

[recess62]

You want to remove as much of the organic material as possible. If you leave it you will likely have high phosphate problems in the future. I agree with taking out the rock and trying to clean as well as you can. This will save you headaches in the future

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

Yup, acid bath. you'll be battling for a long time it sounds like.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'll do a 100% water change (2 50% water changes over two days)

if there's nothing in the tank you can do 100%.
IF the po is high a wc wont change the po numbers. gfo or poly pad if it gets high.
I think its prob fine. keep an eye on it.

 

[cmcimino]

Yup, acid bath. you'll be battling for a long time it sounds like.

So you reccommend doing an acid bath? I'm assuming that would restart my cycle.

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

Your tank isn't cycled yet, so now would be a good time to do an acid bath. then cycle it.

So you reccommend doing an acid bath? I'm assuming that would restart my cycle.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So you reccommend doing an acid bath? I'm assuming that would restart my cycle.

its a good way to get a fresh start.

 

[cmcimino]

yes, do it. and put floss in the chamber to catch it. on my cube I wound up doing all wc from the back, it catches detritus like mad.

it depends on the rock.
a simple test on leeching is test the water it is in. you can do it in the tank or a bucket of rodi.

If my rock was to leach phosphates would they already be detectable? If so what would be a concerning level?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

If my rock was to leach phosphates would they already be detectable? If so what would be a concerning level?

yes, it would be detectable. .25 and above I suppose would be worth looking in to. As it may slightly increase(or decrease too as the bacterial cycle begins). at .25 a ploy pad or some gfo would probably suffice. at that level a refugium has actually worked for me in an established tank.

The concerns voiced by others is the organics on the rock will dissolve and increase the amount of Po I believe in conjunction with what is(may be) bound to the rock.

Please check out Rand Farleys Parameters recommendations. But know that from species to species this changes. You'll hear the saying "Zoas like dirty water" so higher nutrient Po and No, and everyone has their own secret recipe. So really it also matters from species to species, and parameter recommendations are just that, to set a zero ground to start with. Zero Po and Zero No are actually bad for the coral. detectable amounts are actually good.

Many now esp here on R2R are quite flexible on the numbers and as they gain experience, dont check . Its a good way of learning though and knowing whats going on and tracking is how you gain experience in it.

I never really checked Po on a cycling tank when I was just starting, dry or live. I never experienced and extended ugly phase either. I only lost one tank to high po(1) and no(20-40?) and it didnt crash it just got cyano bad and I rehabbed it with good high light, a little peroxide, a scrub brush and a refugium. Its now sitting behind me and is fine. and i didn't lose coral or fish or my nem.

I do recommend a strong bacterial cycle and diversity as for me Im pretty sure that was my only accidental secret. get the nutrients processing. I just did my first dry cycle in a long time with dry sand and rock, with limited bacterial sources. it went ok. got diatoms and some algae a little green stuff that went away. Ive never had diatoms before.its been ugly a while too. None of the coral i put in died though. I only tested Am and confirmed the cycle with addition of Am. But that was an experiment. Kinda yucky, I dont know why folks do it like that.
IMO is now get as many strains of bacteria as you can in there. there seems to be plenty of food. That food is Po, fwiw(its in the second article)

Parameters
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

Phosphate
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/