Live Rock O.K. ?

[newsalt]

Today is day 20 of cycling for my 15g high tank. It's got roughly 20lbs of LR and 20lbs of aragonite sand. Ammonia is in the 0.5 ppm range and Nitrite seem to be 0 ppm (or close to it). Several days ago, I would occasionally see what I think is bristleworms ( 1 or 2) as well as very very small things mostly on the side walls of the tank. Lately (past 3 days or so), I haven't seen any bristleworms and the number of white things on the tank as decreased. Is the LR ok? Can anything bad happen to LR after its been put in the tank. I bought it from my LFS and it was but in a day after I initially added the saltwater. SG is usually around 1.023. At day 20, shouldn't the ammonia start going down by now?

Any insight is appreciated.

Originally Posted by newsalt

At day 20, shouldn't the ammonia start going down by now?

If it was purchased as cured LR, the NH3 should have come down long ago. If uncured, it would depend on how much die off there was and if you did any water changes to speed things along...

Have you had the ammonia reading verified to see if it's accurate and was there a nitrite spike?

Cheers
Steve

[newsalt]

I went to the LFS (where I bought the LR) about a week ago to have the water tested. They got both ammonia and nitrite reading but I can't remember what the were. Back on day 2, nitrite was (from what I could tell), 0.25 ppm and was that was until about day 7 when it started reading 0 ppm. The ammonia has been in the 0.1 to 0.5 range for a while now, so I'm not sure what's going on. As far as the LR, I ask the store owner if the LR rock was cured or uncured an I really didn't get a straight answer. I can tell you this, all his LR is kept in water in large tanks, if you can invision a kiddie swimming pool full of LR.

[newsalt]

Edited for double post

Originally Posted by newsalt

The ammonia has been in the 0.1 to 0.5 range for a while now, so I'm not sure what's going on.

Could be that they are testing total ammonia NH4 instead of free ammonia NH3. That or their test kits are faulty or out of date. I would take a sample to a different LFS and compare or better yet, purchase a new kit and test yourself.

If the nitrite went up and is now zero, there should either be no ammonia or still traces of nitrite. It does not make sense that you have gone through the nitrite part of the cycle with a zero and still have ammonia.

How are the nitrates...

Cheers
Steve