very confused now please help.

[Jonathan G.]

k i know what the cycle is and that my tank needs to cycle out right? well i got about 20lbs of live rock into my tank on tues and am getting very small readings of ammonia now. well my lfs dude said that with live rock your tank doesn't really cycle like with raw shrimp or whatever... i don't really know what he was trying to get at but do any of you know? is cycling with liverock different then with shrimp?

[Phyl]

Good live rock has enough beneficial bacteria to carry the die off, generally speaking. There is always a chance that with uncured live rock you will begin to see another small spike. If you have inverts in the water or *gasp* fish already do a good water change to help their survival chances. Otherwise ride it out. I think shrimp and base rock would give you a more pronounced cycle because you need to build the bacteria colonies from scratch.

The waiting is the hardest part!

[electrikat]

lr is fine. you don't need shrimp.

[loganj]

If you've added cured LR from the LFS tanks, then you probably won't see much of a cycle because the LR already has a good bacterial colony and there will be little to no die off. If you've ordered the rock online, it's uncured and the die off will supply the ammonia just like the shrimp would. Either way is fine...you still need to test regularly and add fish slowly no matter what.

[Jonathan G.]

yea i got around 20 lbs of live rock that has been cured and just sits in a tank at my lfs with some damsels in it. i was wondering if i need to cycle my tank out like when you do with shrimp or what the process is when you add live rock... i noticed a tad bit of ammonia earlier but barely anything. i added the live rock tuesday afternoon. what should i look out for and how should i know when to add fish?

Originally Posted by Jonathan G.

what should i look out for and how should i know when to add fish?

Keep testing for NH3 and NO2, they should eventually be undetectable. NO3 will typically rise up some but that is of no concern. Best suggestion is add the same amount of food every few days you would as if a fish was in there. If the biofilter is healthy, you should only see a change in nitrates, the other two should remain undetectable. Ammonia and nitrite generally show up in about 7-10 days so you should know by next weekend or sure.

Cheers
Steve