Help with cycle

[Nels22]

First off, liverock came in yesterday, and was very impressed, lots of growth on the rocks. I placed it in the tank and am now waiting for the cycle to occur. I checked the ammonia today and it gave a reading of 0.5, i was wondering if i should maybe help the process along and add a shrimp, will that effect the growth on the rock? or will the 60 lbs of liverock be enough to cycle my tank.

[scuba_steve]

the rock should be enough ! i wouldnt add any shrimp ! could cause a bigger cycle which in turn could kill off some good things ya might have got on the rock ! let it run a few weeks before you add anything ! the longer the better imo

[Nels22]

i have no plans on adding any fish, i will be fasinated by the rock for months!!! I just wanted my tank to have a complete cycle, rather than a "mini cycle" so to speak. If the rock alone will do the job i don't have a problem not using the shrimp. Also, should i be doing water changes once per week. I was thinking 20%, is that too much, and should i be running the protein skimmer?

[scuba_steve]

water changes yea ! skimmer always !! cool imo the longer ya wait for fish the better for your pods worms ect..
good luck
yea you will always find something new on/in your rock ! about a year ago i bought some lr and didnt want to cukes in the tank so i moved them well just found one in the tank that i never seen before