Cycling

[Guest]

i just added 18 lbs of LR to my aquarium and its been about a week now and my ammo. is maxed out on my chart, and my nitrites havent even begin to rise yet? is this normal?
i should say i had 16lbs of LR in my tank befor i added 18lbs more. it was all cycled and waiting on fish but i wanted more LR and did not want to hurt the fish if i had to cycle again. so i waited.
now i cant seem to get my nitrites up to bring down my ammo.
any ideas

 

[roka64]

Can you confirm your test kit is correct at your LFS?
If you added cured and shipped LR, you are seeing die-off from the new LR.

 

[Guest]

dont understand.
i bought 18 lbs of new fiji LR from Dr.fostersmth.com and i shipped it over night. yes it alot of die off and i put a few peices at a time in a 5gallon bucket with fresh saltwater and used a brush to try to get most of the die off. after i done that i added all the LR to the tank with my other LR and the cycling journey began. its been over or about a week now and ammo is off my charts on the test kit. and nitrites are still at 0.
i see alot of die off on the new LR the hermits are going as fast as there little legs can go. lol. i dont think they slept for days lol i do also have snails but the glass is being coverd in alage. i only have light on for about 2hrs now. to help out with that.
does that help any?

 

[roka64]

Ok, let me see if I have this right:
1. You ordered 34 Lbs of cured rock from the drs site?
2. You added 16 Lbs of the original shipment to your main tank?
3. You had the additional rock (18 Lbs) in a tub for a week?
4. You started your cycle (I believe you may have not had a complete cycle, at this point, due to the die off from shipping, which is totally normal).
5. You added the other 18 Lbs and got the spike?
or
Did you get 16 Lbs and then another 18 Lbs at a later date? Forgive me, but I am having a tiny bit of trouble figuring out what has happened.
I do imagine, you inverts might not make it through this cycle, unless you do frequent PWCs and watch you levels. Personally, I would just take them back and let your tank cycle natrually.

 

[Guest]

lol ok.
i bought 16lbs of rock about 1 year ago. and since then i have not added anything but 12 hermts and 12 snails. its been up and runing since.
i did not want to add any more fish beacuse i knew i wanted more LR At a later date and the cycle i would have to do would kill all the fish.
now, i just bought 18 more pounds of LR last monday and cleaned it and put it in the tank.
as for the inverts. u dont think they will live?

 

[melosu58]

What size tank?

 

[Guest]

24g

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Regardless of how you got there, yes... it sounds like you've ended up with another cycle. If your ammonia is high, and your nitrAtes are not going up, then it sounds like your bacteria just need some time to catch up with the increased bioload from your additional live rock. I know you said you cleaned the rock as good as you could, but there's still a bunch of stuff in there that can die off - including bacteria.

Unless you do something to bring down those ammonia levels, no... the inverts probably won't live. At the same time, you need some amount of ammonia to build back up the bacterial system.

 

[Guest]

so should i take out the snails and hermits? or what if they die , will they hurt my aquarium?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

If you want to keep your snails and hermits, then yes - you should probably find another home for them for a while. If they die and you leave them in your tank, the only thing they'll do is just elevate your ammonia levels even more. But at this point, it doesn't sound like you need more ammonia.

 

[roka64]

I agree, if they die, they will possibly prolong your cycle. Can you take out some of the new rock and put it back in the bucket, and add a little at a time? I think that might help you tank catch up to the new rock/die off....

 

[Guest]

i just finaly got my new tank. its a 36gtall so once new rock is cured i am transfering to ne tank. i am taking out the snail and hermits today . the best i can.