What should i do now?

[m_wonnacott]

Ok so i was lucky enough to get a bunch of nice dead and some live rock from nineball just over a week ago. So my husband and I took about half the rock and some of the epoxy nineball wall using and started a section of the rockwork and then put it in some fresh salt water with power head and a heater and a nice big chunk of frozen homemade fish food.

This rock will replace half of the current rock in my tank with the other half of this rock replacing the other 45%.

I have been testing daily for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. I waited three days before the first test and when i did i was showing all three with ammonia at about 1.5. So i added anothe big chunck of food hoping to make sure there is enough bacteria to suport the fish in the tank after I remove half the rock that has been in the tank.

When I tested Saturday the ammonia had dropped to 0 and nitrite was down to 1. The only thing is I noticed latter that night that we had a leak in the container we are using and I had lost about 3 or 4 gallons of water that i then had to top up after solving the leak problem.

So I tested again today and amonia is still at 0 and nitrite as well. Nitrate is at at 0 for some reason today after being at about 5-10 yesturday. It was higher before the lose of water and therefor having to replace the lost water with more salt water. So basically its sorta like i did a small water change on it.

So what I want to know is what should I do now I am in no rush at all but want to know what is the best way to procede since I am replacing a bunch of the rock thats in the tank. I don't want to have to much bacteria on the rock for the fish load and have bacteria die off but want to have enough. Is this rock ready to be switched or should I wait. Should i keep feeding the rock?

I haven't been doing most of the other tests but can if anyone wants them. Sg is at 1.024 atm raiseing it a bit more now.

 

[Palting]

It's only been a week. It may be OK, but, if it were me, I'd throw in another chunk of fish food and see. If the ammonia doesn't go up after a week, I'd say your rock is cured and ready.

 

[m_wonnacott]

for those who want it here is a link to my build thred
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1912297

 

[scubasteve06]

Agreed with Palting, more food and more tests for another week. Give us the test results at the end of the week and then we can tell you where to go from there. Also sprinkling in some cheap flake food each day won't hurt and will help colonize the bacteria as long as you keep it aerated which it sounds like you are doing.

 

[m_wonnacott]

Ok like i said I will wait as long as i need to just wasn't sure if adding more food will build it up to much causing me to have bacteria to die of and cause a mini cycle. I also forgot to mention the this have of the batch has all the live rock we got from peter in it.

 

[m_wonnacott]

Ok so if thats what everyone things is best i will go add more food now. I was thinking this may be best anyways since the leak and addition of fresh salt water may have messed it up a tad bit since my nitrate has dropped to 0 as well. Anyone else have anyidea why nitrate that was up to 20 is sudenly gone now with only a 3-4 gal change of water?

Ok so I went ahead and added another thin 2"x1" piece of frozen homemade food. Will continue to test daily and see what happens its a smaller piece then what i used the last two times so should be no issue if the rock is fully cycled.

 

[scubasteve06]

Ok so if thats what everyone things is best i will go add more food now. I was thinking this may be best anyways since the leak and addition of fresh salt water may have messed it up a tad bit since my nitrate has dropped to 0 as well. Anyone else have anyidea why nitrate that was up to 20 is sudenly gone now with only a 3-4 gal change of water?

Ok so I went ahead and added another thin 2"x1" piece of frozen homemade food. Will continue to test daily and see what happens its a smaller piece then what i used the last two times so should be no issue if the rock is fully cycled.

Sounds like you will be ready to put it in in a week or two at the absolute most. I wouldn't worry about die off too much since it probably won't be in there any longer than two weeks at the most. As long as it has circulation and a heater I don't see any die off happening in this period of time.

 

[m_wonnacott]

Ok.

So does anyone have any ideas as to what has happened to the nitrate? There is a few pieces of live rock in the bin but I don't see that taking care of about 20ppm nitrate in a couple days? Even after the small "waterchange" after the leak still only brought it down to 10-15 so where did the rest go? Its this mistery which is the biggest reason I decided to add some more frozen fish food

 

[m_wonnacott]

Ok so I added the piece of frozen food Tuesday and then have tested both yesturday and today.

Wend Am

Ammonia was at less then .25
Nitrite was at .25
Nitrate was at about 4
Sg 1.026

Thursday AM
Ammonia was I think at 0 maybe a tad higher (hate how hard it is to read clear)
Nitrite less then .25
Nitrate 5
Sg 1.026

 

[m_wonnacott]

Ok so today ammonia and nitrite both are at a solid 0 and nitrate is at 5. Is it ok to add to the tank now?

 

[Palting]

I would. CUC, and start with a hardy fish just in case, and maybe a zoa or shroom. Start doing water changes, keep an eye on parameters, keep that logbook going.

 

[m_wonnacott]

Um well I already have fish in the tank I am replacing the rock I have because it is very dense and not very nice looking either. I did decide to go ahead and add the new rock to the tank taking out about have of what was in there. I will monitor very closly over the next week but don't expect any issues. I will be starting the second batch of rock tonight.