ammonia spike

[unclemd]

New to SW aquarium.
I recently set up a new 10Gallon SW aquarium. Today i put 10lbs of cured live rock in my tank at least i though. LFS just had the shipment come in today and when i placed the rock in my aquarium, then I did an ammonia test and it was of the scale. PH was 8.2-8.3, nitrite was around 0.3 using hagen test kit, salinity was 1.023. The tank has only been up and running for 3 days now so it is not cycled. Should i do a water change right now or should i waite till the ammonia drops. Tank has 54Watts of fluorescent lighting if that helps at all.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Did you retest for ammonia? I wouldn't expect the ammonia to be "off the scale" only after 3 days, even if you had stuff dying off from the rock.

If the shipment was just received at the LFS, that implies it spent some time out of water, correct? If so, then you'll see a little bit of die off of both bacteria and critters depending on how long it was out of water - even if it was "fully cured" before it was shipped to your LFS. You might see a little cycle, or a big one.

Sounds like you're going to have at least a little cycle, so I wouldn't do any water changes at this point. Keep testing to see where you're at in the cycle, and do a big water change at the end of the cycle - when your ammonia and nitrites are back to zero.

 

[melosu58]

I agree that you should not do any PWC`s until your ammonia and nitrites are at 0. This will only slow up the cycle. You dont have any fish in yet ,right. In a 10 gallon tank I would think the die off of the rock would be sufficient for your cycle. Here is a link on cycling your tank.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

 

[roka64]

WELCOME TO AA!!

I agree with the rest, let the cycle run it's course. If you happen to have fish in the tank, I would take them back and let the cycle complete.

 

[unclemd]

thanks everyone for the advice.