Hi Folks,
A little guidance please and if any of my suppositons are incorrect, please set me straight. Thanks.
I am in the process of dealing with part 1 of Tampa Bay Saltwater's "The Package" For my 75 g. tank, it consists of 75 lbs. live sand and 75lbs of live rock which happen to be 4 big ole' chunks of great looking rock with sponges, calerpa, barnacles, and I'm sure, a whole bunch of other stuff which has not yet been seen.
Now, as I understand it, this uncured rock already has it's host Nitrosomas and Nitrobacter already in place. If there were no die-off it theoretically should be already cycled right?
Well, as been alerted to, there is die off. I guess mainly of encrusting sponges though I've seen dead bristleworms,lancelets,crabs,shrimp,and detached calerpa. This, of course, has caused quite substantial ammonia spikes and stinky water along with very stinky portions of rock. I've scraped off offending sponges and done water changes. I received my sand and rock on Saturday and I have done 25% changes 5 times already in reaction to the ammonia spikes which have been over 1.5 (forgive me if my decimals are incorrect, suffice it to say,it's high though).My skimmer is going wild also. I wonder if I should do even more substantial changes. I am really hoping that it's on it's way to stabilizing.
With that preamble said, my question: Will part 2 be any easier? Part 2, which will be sent when part 1 settles, will consist of 75 lbs. more of "decorator rock" which I expect will be even livelier along with other goodies such as gorgonians, tree sponges, condi anenomes and such along with a bunch of hermit crabs, snails, serpent stars, and cukes(the whole cleaning crew). Why wouldn't I expect the same sort of die-off that I'm experiencing with the first part and it's accompanying ammonia spikes (and nitrite, to be sure)? These spikes,if repeated, I expect would be enough to kill the livestock just introduced. I understand that the sponges are very difficult to keep under any circumstances and the stress from collection, shipping and re-introduction will inevitably cause casualties.
Would you expect the tank to go through the same trauma as it's going through now with the next step?
Any thoughts?
A little guidance please and if any of my suppositons are incorrect, please set me straight. Thanks.
I am in the process of dealing with part 1 of Tampa Bay Saltwater's "The Package" For my 75 g. tank, it consists of 75 lbs. live sand and 75lbs of live rock which happen to be 4 big ole' chunks of great looking rock with sponges, calerpa, barnacles, and I'm sure, a whole bunch of other stuff which has not yet been seen.
Now, as I understand it, this uncured rock already has it's host Nitrosomas and Nitrobacter already in place. If there were no die-off it theoretically should be already cycled right?
Well, as been alerted to, there is die off. I guess mainly of encrusting sponges though I've seen dead bristleworms,lancelets,crabs,shrimp,and detached calerpa. This, of course, has caused quite substantial ammonia spikes and stinky water along with very stinky portions of rock. I've scraped off offending sponges and done water changes. I received my sand and rock on Saturday and I have done 25% changes 5 times already in reaction to the ammonia spikes which have been over 1.5 (forgive me if my decimals are incorrect, suffice it to say,it's high though).My skimmer is going wild also. I wonder if I should do even more substantial changes. I am really hoping that it's on it's way to stabilizing.
With that preamble said, my question: Will part 2 be any easier? Part 2, which will be sent when part 1 settles, will consist of 75 lbs. more of "decorator rock" which I expect will be even livelier along with other goodies such as gorgonians, tree sponges, condi anenomes and such along with a bunch of hermit crabs, snails, serpent stars, and cukes(the whole cleaning crew). Why wouldn't I expect the same sort of die-off that I'm experiencing with the first part and it's accompanying ammonia spikes (and nitrite, to be sure)? These spikes,if repeated, I expect would be enough to kill the livestock just introduced. I understand that the sponges are very difficult to keep under any circumstances and the stress from collection, shipping and re-introduction will inevitably cause casualties.
Would you expect the tank to go through the same trauma as it's going through now with the next step?
Any thoughts?
It was my experience that Part 1 was more work since the "ecosystem" and bacteria are trying to stablize and colonize. Once that happens you will have a stable system which will handle the bioload of Part 2.
