Thanks guys for responding. Alot of kind words were said and im trying to take this in the most mature approach.
I have no problem with cycling. I even have no problem waiting, if the cycling would have taken me 2 months. Its all part of the game. But thats not what kept me at bay, honestly. It was the fact that i spent so much money on something i needed and i received lemons. I am fully aware as well, that "critters" on live rock is just an extra if your lucky. But that wasnt what i was worried about at all. I could care less if the rock i bought brought anything to my tank. Its just that the rock i got, was not living. Meaning it did not have what i was looking for, and that was what CaptainAhab said, the colonization of livebacteria on the rock. But regardless. I could have lived with that. I even came to terms that i would have to seed it and let it become live after a some time. Not a problem. The part that really stuck me, was that it brought in so many things that i DIDNT want into my tank. Crud, crap, dirt, dead plant matter, and everything else that was dead inside of the rock. This is what shot my ammonia up so high in the first place. 10ppm.. i mean come on. In the first two days it was at 10ppm. And tbh, the card stops reading at 10ppm, which is a dark green color. The color in my test tube.. was a dark blue color. Which god only knows what that means, and how high it was at that point. After HN1 allowed me to see the light, on how at 8ppm beneficial bacteria could not even survive, i was already on the stage of giving up. I just had one more trick up my sleeve and that was water changes. I did 3 30% water changes, and that day my ammonia went down to 4ppm. I tested at the same time i was done with the water changes, the next day, and it was the same Blue color i originally had. How can someone work with something like that.
In spite of all this, i do want to continue, but i just dont know how much more i can really do.. and how much more money i can actually spend, trying to get it back up to even a simple starting point. It just doesnt seem logical.
I may or may not continue. I just want to thank everyone for the support they've given me. I'll update if anything new comes along, but i dont know how much its worth anymore anyways.
, but I agree with SM. You could have easily left it up, ignored it for awhile, and allow it to cycle naturally. My first tank looked like moldy poo for a couple months, but I let it do it's thing and everything cleared up. NOTHING good happens quickly in SW. It takes time and patience.
