cure live rock

[phuture1]

hey guys and gals. i am cureing some live rock i got a couple of weeks ago. my amonia went down to zero but my nitrites are high. is this normal? this is the first time i'm doing this. any advice?

 

[dustin_P74]

thats completely normal, give your rites about a week and they should fall, once they reach zero you can do a water change and then wait about another week to see if everything stays stable. if it does your can add a fish

 

[RyanG]

Yep that is how the nitrogen cycles goes. Elevated Ammonia leads to elevated nitrites which leads to elevated nitrates which leads to a water change and reefing! Sounds like you are well on your way.

 

[reeffreak]

Perfectly normal.

Once both ammonia and nitrites are at zero then the live rock is fully cured.

 

[phuture1]

thanks for clearing that up for me. just wanted to know i was going in the correct direction.

 

[sen5241b]

A water change will make the cycle take longer. The only reason to do a water change during a cycle is if the nitrates, nitrites or ammonia gets to high for any fish that are present.

 

[dustin_P74]

A water change will make the cycle take longer. The only reason to do a water change during a cycle is if the nitrates, nitrites or ammonia gets to high for any fish that are present.

i only mentioned the water change after the nitrites fall to zero and then you can do a water change to take the nitrates down

 

[phuture1]

hey folks.

amonia 0ppm
nitrite 1ppm
nitrate 20ppm

i should probably wait a little longer, huh?

 

[Bifferwine]

Yup. Wait until nitrite is at zero also. You're almost there!

 

[phuture1]

will do. thanks much.

 

[Piggy]

Almost there. I know it sucks to wait. But we've all been there.

 

[phuture1]

Tic-------------------------------------------toc
tic-------------------------------------------toc
tic-------------------------------------------toc...........lol

 

[yote]

Aint it fun?:D

 

[phuture1]

my wife thinks i'm nuts because i keep checking on the rock. little does she know i'm just trying to get away from her. ha ha!

 

[reeffreak]

I know the wait is excruciating but you're almost there.

 

[wontonflip]

What's worse is waiting to buy equipment/livestock because you're waiting for extra money to come in LOL

 

[Alexander]

You know I used to hate the cycle, after setting up 3 tanks i look forward to my next. you will learn things as you go on that make things better and you also have more patients for adding things immediately. I am totally content waiting through a cycle and hunting for pods and bristleworms crawling around it the tank. And whatever other hitchhikers may have came on the liverock. You learn things you will do differently and try to beat that inevitable algae bloom from hell that will happen after the cycle

 

[phuture1]

I'm just throwing this out there.... would the nitrites be only in the water of the curing tank and not on the rock itself, or is this some crazy logic that my brain has cooked up? is'nt it the water that goes through the cycle? once there is no more amonia in the tank that means that there are bacteria on the rock. or is it a different bacteria that changes nitrite to nitrate? i'm sure i'm probably wrong. i'm just trying to learn as much as possible. perhaps i'll even learn to spell during this whole process........LOL!

 

[yote]

Nitrite is the end product of the bacteria thats eating the ammonia.You need to wait for the other bacteria that eats nitrites to build up.When the nitrites are zero,then you know that bacterias in place.

 

[phuture1]

thanks for clearing that up for me.