odd????

[greatgman]

this is odd
i just checked my water parameters

an i have nitrate and nitrite in my water

this is odd because there is only 20 pounds of gulf base rock in my tank

with 120 pounds of caribsea

this is no problem for me since i have no plans to put any fish or other life in there till i get another 60 -80 pounds of caribsea on the 11 th.

the rock is aquacultured with many little spots of coraline algae
dotted about them.

when i got them i scrubbed them off good then put them in so the tank will look alright for the 3 weeks untill i can get enough money to work on it again.

maybe the rock had some past life on them that had died . hmmmm.

what do you think ?

the readings are not bad

just a slight reading

i will be doing a massive water change (over 50%)
after my caribsea is in and is no longer cloudy

 

[Sam]

I would guess you are seeing a mini cycle, as you suspect from some die off in the LR. Before you add any livestock, I would make sure you run a full cycle on the tank. Cheers!

 

[fishfreek]

The existance of nitrite is a clear sign you had ammonia prior and if the only thing in the tank is rock at this point then yes the rock did have some degree of dieoff due to transportation. This is not uncommon and will be something to look for when you put more rock in on the 11th.

 

[greatgman]

no lr just base aquacultured with coraline spots on them

no more rock untill 2 weeks after the caribsea and a massive water change

 

[fishfreek]

aquacultured is live rock.

 

[greatgman]

maybe u dont understand
its base rock it cant be live, it has been stiing out dry for several months (i think)
maybe once it was in a tank with live rock
i got it up here at pet supplies plus
in the dry rock section at 1.45 /lb with a bunch of little spots of coraline on it
with the tufa. paridise, and lace rock right beside it

 

[steve r]

i saw similar readings the day after i put in 40lbs of caribsea live sand. that is all that was in there just the sand and RO water.

steve r

 

[fishfreek]

I wouldnt classify it aquacultured then. Aquacultured is a term used to describe the rock that is sold out of Florida.

 

[dralarms]

If you bought it dry with the coriline on it then the coriline is dead. No way around this.

 

[Brad]

Something decomposed producing Ammonia...which in turn broke down into Nitrite. That's the unavoidable chemistry of the situation. It could have been anything that was on that rock, that only began to decompose after it got wet.

 

[dralarms]

Something decomposed producing Ammonia...which in turn broke down into Nitrite. That's the unavoidable chemistry of the situation. It could have been anything that was on that rock, that only began to decompose after it got wet.

Now that makes sense.

 

[greatgman]

so there is no worrys eh?
thanks all