Where's the ammonia???

[yardboy]

Okay, after the fact I'll ask this question of you all. I've just set up a 67g I plan to eventually have as a reef tank. I've got a 15 gallon wet/dry with bioballs and 50# of lr (Fiji base and branched) I'm into the third week of setup and already am seeing no ammonia, nitrite and about 10ppm nitrate. A decorator crab came with the rock(along with copepods, sponges, anemone, algae,etc.) I've put a small fighting conch, and two damsels after the first week and they are eating fine. My first casualty was a banded cleaner shrimp after three days(today) Guess I should have waited longer, or what?

Split from the previous topic to get more exposure.

 

[reefrunner69]

I'm into the third week of setup and already am seeing no ammonia

If the rock was cured or mostly cured when you got it...........it is likely younever will. LR is it's own biofilter, with enough LR (1-2 lbs per gallon) you do not need the additional filtration of the bioballs.

My first casualty was a banded cleaner shrimp after three days(today) Guess I should have waited longer, or what?

IMO, yeah you probably should have waited a little longer, but not cause of the ammonia or nitrite (as indicated there is none), but so you could research these critters. IME mobile inverts do not take the stress of salinity and temp changes very well. Taking a little more time, you could have found out what the store keeps theres at and either adjusted yours accordingly or done a slow acclimation.