WOW - Cycling like crazy - Concerns?

[Charlie]

My tank has been fishless cycling for about 8 days. Finally some big results:

Ammonia 4.0
Nitrites 2.0
Nitrates 20 ppm

My live rock will be here this afternoon. Is there any precautions that I should take before putting the LR into the tank???????????

 

[roka64]

I would think you should be able to put the rock in and help out your cycle. I would wait for others to add their input, but it looks like you are on your way. Do you already have a cocktail shrimp in there?

 

[lando]

Since your tank is cycling, I would just throw it in and continue with the cycle. You can srub off any dead sponges or corals but you may scrub away some good stuff in the process.

 

[Charlie]

Do you already have a cocktail shrimp in there?

I have a JUMBO shrimp which has been in the tank since the 4th of July. Should I reduce the size of the rotting shrimp? Is it possible that the giant rotting shrimp is producing too much ammonia too fast?

 

[neilster1]

No...let it rot. It will likely completely disappear. You have a few weeks to go yet... just be patient.

 

[tecwzrd]

Since you paid for overnight shipping I assume its uncured lr and probably will have some desirable algae/coral you want to keep.

If so you may not want to put it in the main with such high nh3 levels that would adversely affect some of the algea/corals you may want. Any die off is going to further increase your nh3 levels and once nh3 reaches above 6 ppm it will have a negative effect on cultivating bacteria from the overload.

What size is your tank and if using shrimp for fishless cycling how many are you using? Personally I would cure the lr in a separate container till the nh3 levels get at or below 3 ppm to salvage the algae/coral which is why you pay $$$ for it in the first place.

If that isn't possible then at least remove your shrimp and do a pwc to reduce the nh3 3 ppm before adding the lr.

 

[Charlie]

The rock was sold as "pre-cured". It can be seen here: http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=2392

I did a 25% water change to be safe. However, nitrates are still close to 20.
I think I would need a massive water change to get the nitrates below 6. Tank is a 46gal bow with 40lbs of live sand.

As to the number of shrimp being used - 1 jumbo shrimp is all that I used. It's all blown up and nasty.

 

[tecwzrd]

Not the nitrate below 6 ppm. I was talking about getting the nh3 (ammonia) at 3 or less ppm before adding the lr. Pre-cured live rock will not have as much die off as uncured lr and since you shipped it overnight you should experience little die-off but you still will probably want to remove the shrimp to keep your nh3 levels from getting too high and just let the die-off from the lr continue your cycle.

Here is a thread on Select Fiji Premium Live Rock from liveaquaria.com to see others experience. And here is one of Lalo rock from liveaquaria.com They aren’t the cheapest but they do have some quality rock.

 

[Charlie]

Newbies ???

Not the nitrate below 6 ppm. I was talking about getting the nh3 (ammonia) at 3 or less ppm

Hey, I thought you meant NO3 so I went to my nitrate kit. What do you expect from a newbie.

Before the rock arrived and while I was in panic mode here is what I did:
1. Removed the nasty a$$ shrimp which is now the consistency of jello
2. Did a 10 gal PWC in the morning (out of the 45gal total)
3. Did an additional 15 gal PWC just before noon

LR arrived at noon, exactly 24hrs from shipment time. Not bad.

All the LR was dipped/rinsed ina pail of SW with a SG of 1.037 for 60 seconds. Rock was immediately placed in tank.

Water was tested again:

AMMONIA - .05
Nitrates are still 20 despite a 50% water change
SG - 1.022
Temp 80.5 with heater off // AC in my office building went on the fritz

QUESTION - Should I put that disgusting, rancid shrimp back in the tank or throw it out??

 

[tecwzrd]

Re: Newbies ???

You didn’t do a 50% pwc at one time which is why you didn’t put much of a dent in the no3 level.

You did a 10 gal change which is roughly 20% then filled it up I assume and then did another 15 gal change which is roughly 32% and then filled it up. The first one only cuts your no3 level by 20% i.e. from 20 ppm to 16 ppm and the second one cut it 32% to around 10 ppm but of course you have nh3/no2 still in heavy quantities adding to it at this time.

I wouldn’t add the shrimp back in and just let the die-off from the lr finish your cycle IMO.