Curing brs pukani rock question

[CoryD]

i bought some pukani dry rock from brs. it came with lots of dead stuff on it which i scrubbed and picked as much off as possible. i put it in a rubbermaid tub about three weeks ago. since then i have changed 100% of the water twice. My question is will the benificial bacteria grow naturally on this rock or does it have to be seeded by live rock? the nitrites and nitrates have been off the chart with my dip stick testers. i dont have an amonia tester yet. just ordered api tester kits they should b here by the end of the week.

[andy51656]

It will produce its own beneficial bacteria. You will need an ammonia test kit to watch you cycle. Do you have something to measure specific gravity (salt content)? Do you have something for flow in the rubbermaid tote? Is the temperature stable in the tote? What is the temperature?

Remember the bacteria that you are trying to grow is a living thing that requires stable living conditions (SG, Temp, Flow/Oxygen). Give it all of these and it will grow otherwise it will die. Do a search for "Cycling an aquarium" should help you.

[CoryD]

yes sg is 1.023, water temp approx 78, & i have a rio 2100 with the air tubing attachment circulating water. i read a thread that said more oxegen would speed up the cycle. true or not i dont know. So after i get the ammonia test. after ammonia is 0 is it good to put in tank or should i wait till nitrite and nitrate fall also? is the water changes good/necesary it seem like removing nitrite/nitrate w/ water change would slow down growth of bacteria that eat it?

[HatTrick]

Your SG is a little low, Id keep it at 1.026. Is the tank your adding the rock too already cycled? If not you can add it now. If its been running and you have fish/corals in it I wouldnt add that rock for at least a month or two untill its fully cycled

[CoryD]

i have had the tank up and running about 3 months. with about 35-40 lbs of live rock. 5 damsels used to cycle( i didnt know any better at the time),2 peppermint shrimp i used to get rid of all the aptasia that came with the live rock, 2 corals not really sure what they are they came from the live rock i guess. i think one is a kenya tree coral, and the other a red mushroom. i would like to think the tank is cycled but my nitrates are still around 20. i change 10-15 gal of water weekly and every week they drop down a little more. it seems the live rock would help take care of nitrates but i doesnt seem to be.

[funkejj]

i have had the tank up and running about 3 months. with about 35-40 lbs of live rock. 5 damsels used to cycle( i didnt know any better at the time),2 peppermint shrimp i used to get rid of all the aptasia that came with the live rock, 2 corals not really sure what they are they came from the live rock i guess. i think one is a kenya tree coral, and the other a red mushroom. i would like to think the tank is cycled but my nitrates are still around 20. i change 10-15 gal of water weekly and every week they drop down a little more. it seems the live rock would help take care of nitrates but i doesnt seem to be.

In a cycle you will see a rise in ammonia then it will drop you will then see a rise in Nitrites then it drops to 0. When Ammonia and Nitrites are both 0 it is cycled. You will have nitrates in your tank until you find the source and fix it. Might be you are not using RODI water, might be over feeding, etc. But if the two things are 0 you are cycled.

[chamjack]

I have just finished curing 50# of this rock. I hit mine with a pressure washer in the driveway about a month ago to knock off as much crud as I could. It just finished cycling about three days ago. Mine is still leaching out phosphate though. Its .5 ppm on API test kit. You might want to check yours at some point too. This could give you algae headaches down the road if not addressed now. There are numerous threads on here about how to deal specifically with the Pukani rock. I know this does'nt directly answer your question, but I thought it might be something else to consider with this rock. You gotta love this rock though. Well worth the aggravation IMO :thumbsup:

[andy51656]

Changing water while curing live rock is a good thing but there is a happy medium that you have to achieve. You want to dilute the amount of nutrients in the water so the rock doesn't absorb them and later leach them out in your tank but you don't want to change all of your water and take out all of the beneficial bacteria in your water column. I usually do about 50 % when I am curing in a seperate container when Ammonia approaches 2-3ppm. This is true live rock though, and I am trying to save more than just beneficial bacteria.

Like some body else said, don't add until nitrite is zero and make sure your SG is pretty close to the tank you are adding it too.

Yes, good water movement will spead up a cycle or I should say bad oxygen levels will slow down a cycle.

Your nitrate levels are probably high because you forced a cycle with your damsels. Now your tank is trying to catch up. Just feed lightly and follow a strict water change schedule and make sure they are dropping every week. The bacteria that takes the Nitrate out of the water takes time to grow inside the live rock as well.

[Dan49]

Once you put it in your tank you will get an algae bloom [at least i did] when you start your lighting cycle. just use water changes, a clean up crew ,and patience good luck!

[CoryD]

Thanks for all your comments! this really answers alot of questions i had.