water change

[batfire]

Hi all. 55 gal. FOWLR. No fish yet still curing rock and cycling tank. The rock has been in for two weeks, I did a water change one week ago to help keep all the hitchhikers alive. Now the ammonia is between 1 and 2 pmm. Should I go ahead a do another small water change. I am in no hurry and want to keep what appears to be, according to the LFS as some type of shrimp. They are running around everywhere !!!!

With freshly harvested rock you will get much more die of than the stuff typically purchased at your LFS that sits for weeks. The more salvagable life in/on the rock, the more need for water changes. This will not prolong the cycle time as long as some ammonia is detectable. The more you can reduce the polutants from the water, the more critters will survive the cycle. I would actually suggest water changes until the NH3 reading falls just below 1 ppm (closer to 0.5 ppm). You may find that daily water changes are needed.

The amount of ammonia produced is directly related to the amount of die off so the sooner that subsides, the sooner it will move on to the nitrite stage of the cycle. You should still continue with the water changes to keep the NH3 and NO2 at reasonable levels until the cycle is done. The more you keep up with this the more that will survive.

I am in no hurry and want to keep what appears to be, according to the LFS as some type of shrimp. They are running around everywhere !!!!

Most likely mysid shrimp or amphipods, both great hitchikers!

Cheers
Steve