Maybe I'm just crazy...........

[MACATUA]

The rock did smell a little funny, but he said not to worry about it. Any othere ideas?

 

[steve-s]

The rock did smell a little funny, but he said not to worry about it. Any othere ideas?

So instead of getting cured rock, you probabley purchased uncured or at most partially cured LR. Which is fine but at least now the ammonia source is known.

With this kind of rock it actually takes much longer to cycle a tank as the die off fuels the ammonia much longer and the levels go much higher. Typically ammonia will start to fall after about 7-10 days depending on when the NH3 started to form but with uncured LR it can be at least a few weeks.

In which case I see nothing really wrong with the timeframe of 3 weeks. Are you noticing alot of dead/decaying matter on the LR or sand? If so, try moving the water a bit more so the filter and skimmer can remove it better. I would also suggest keeping the HOB filter media very well cleaned every few days. I'll bet money if you take the filter media out of the HOB it stinks like gym socks.

Make sure that when/if you rinse the filter media you do so in saltwater. A 1 gal pail should work just fine. The SW will help preserve the much needed bacteria where fresh will kill the bacteria and prolong your cycle even further.

Do you know where the LR was harvested from?

Cheers
Steve

 

[MACATUA]

I don't know where it was harvested. I did change just the polyester part of the filter media the other day, maybe I should have let it stay? It was nasty. You are right. So is there any other precautions I should take?

 

[steve-s]

The only thing I would suggest at this point is making sure the filtration media is kept clean of debris and the skimmer is running at peak efficiency.

You may also wish to read >>this<< article for some additional insights.

Cheers
Steve