Ammonia from dry rock

[Mebbid]

I bought approximately 40 lbs of dry rock from BRS and have been getting tons of ammonia production from them. Is it normal for that to happen?

 

[jeffaquarius]

How did you figure out the ammonia is coming from dry rock? Have you already set up your new tank with salt water and just dry rock?

 

[Mebbid]

How did you figure out the ammonia is coming from dry rock? Have you already set up your new tank with salt water and just dry rock?

Yep. In fact, I had some rubble sitting in a bucket of water that I had cleaned very thoroughly. I tested the water in that bucket and the ammonia reading was well above what my chart can read

 

[jeffaquarius]

I have never used dry rock before but IMO ammonia is beneficial when cycling tank. It boosts the regeneration of bacteria converting it to LR.

 

[Mebbid]

I was originally planning on using it for a hyposalinity treatment because I have ich in my DT. I was buying the dry rock at the same time so I figured I might as well set the rocks up in the tank to give the fish some rock work to hide in. I set up the rocks added water and got the salinity to where I wanted it, waited a couple days and added a sponge from my DT thinking it would help get things started to keep ammonia levels down.

Right before I started acclimitizing the fish to the lower salinity, I checked the levels of the tank on a whim and it had a 6ppm ammonia reading

 

[jeffaquarius]

LR or substrate in QT is not necessary when you are treating with hyposalinity. The reason is that low salinity slows down the activity of bacteria. That is why PVC tube is recommended in place of LR as hiding places.