Adding Live Rock HELP

[cj10488]

Ok I was going to Cycle my 55gal with shrimp and threw a couple lage shrimp in last night.. Today I came accross Enough Cash to to say forget the shrimp and bought 40lbs of LR from liverocks.com with shipping like 175.00 delivered to door. From my understanding this is fully cured being shipped out overnight..

My question is The shrimp brought up the levels in my tank some..

Salinity 1.023
Temp 80f
pH 8.0-8.2 kinda in between
Nitrite .2
Amm .25
nitrate 2.5
Alk Normal to Normal-high

Using Redsea Test kit results from approx 20 mins ago

With these levels can I still throw in fully cured LR with all the critters that came along for the ride without any harm???

Should I do a partial Water Change?
If so how much.. LR will be here Friday so I need to figure this out ASAP I as well just had them throw in some LS as well. I have 40lbs of Natures Ocean Premium Aragonite Reef Sand and would like to have a DSB.. If I added lets say another 50lbs of playsand from the local Hardware store would be ok.. Should make is about 3-4" deep.. But the sand i have now is a creamy whitish color and i would like to have that on top.. Would the playsand eventually sick to the bottom or should I pull up as much of the LFS bought aragonite sand and put the playsand on the bottom of the tank?


TIA,
James

 

[cj10488]

Well I say forget the DSB.. None of the stores around here carry silica free playsand.. So I guess over time I will just add the same aragonite sand until i get up to a 3-4" sandbed.. I seem to buy out the LFS here @ 1.00 per pound it might get a bit spendy.... As for the LR and LS With the above readings can i add the cured LR and LS to the tank safely? or should I do a Partial water change before i add the LR and LS

Tia,
James

 

[reefrunner69]

Using Redsea Test kit results from approx 20 mins ago

First piece of advice, get some quality test kits, I only use Salifert or Seachem, but prefer my salifert kits.

With these levels can I still throw in fully cured LR with all the critters that came along for the ride without any harm???

With no more harm than if you hadn't added the shrimp. This rock should be coming to you from FL, the rock cannot be cured if it is being shipped to you overnight, much less a 2nd day delivery. I think precured would be a better term, you will experience die off, there is no way around it.

As for your sand, at this point you can do it however you want. Since the tank is not established, there should be no reprecussions, save the cloudiness of the tank, this may make aquascaping a chore come friday