Quick Cycle Question

alextheromanian · 07/14/2008, 04:40 PM

i have a 29 with a 14 gal sump and about 20 lb of rock in it that had been sitting in my main tank for 8 months.

the rocks have been put in the 29 for about 2 weeks with no signs of ammonia spikes or any spikes of any kind(i have no other living things in the 29 gallon tank.

Today i bought 15 pounds of live rock and put it in the 29 on top of everything else thats already in there.

the ammonia immediately shot up to 2.0

question is wether or not the amonia would kill the live rock at 2.0 or not....should i do water changes asap or no?

i know it has to cycle and eventually will go down...i just dont know whether the amonia would kill the living things on the rock

Aquarist007 · 07/14/2008, 04:44 PM

It won't kill the bacteria on the live rock but the ammonia will kill all invertebrate life in the tank, sand bed and new live rock
Suggest you do an immediate water change followed by daily water changes if needed
I am not trying to be judging here but why would you add so much new live rock to an established tank all at once?

jtma508 · 07/14/2008, 05:01 PM

I disagree. Your ammonia shot up because you don't have a sufficient population of amonnia fixing bacteria to handle it. Only by letting it sit will these bacteria multiply. Ammonia may be bad for us (and our fish/inverts) but food for these bacteria. By doing water changes you'll be interfering with the natural nitrogen cycle that you are trying to establish. You will lose some inverts but the vast majority will survive. If that were not the case every new tank would end up sterilizing the LR of all inverts. We know that doesn't happen.

Aquarist007 · 07/14/2008, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jtma508
I disagree. Your ammonia shot up because you don't have a sufficient population of amonnia fixing bacteria to handle it. Only by letting it sit will these bacteria multiply. Ammonia may be bad for us (and our fish/inverts) but food for these bacteria. By doing water changes you'll be interfering with the natural nitrogen cycle that you are trying to establish. You will lose some inverts but the vast majority will survive. If that were not the case every new tank would end up sterilizing the LR of all inverts. We know that doesn't happen.

normally yes, you are correct but this tank has been established for a bit. Putting all that live rock in an established tank is really not the way to go here IMO and with an ammonia level of 2 a water change will not hurt. There will be plenty of dead stuff on the live rock that can cure slowly without causing such a drammatic peak in the ammonia level

alextheromanian · 07/14/2008, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
normally yes, you are correct but this tank has been established for a bit. Putting all that live rock in an established tank is really not the way to go here IMO and with an ammonia level of 2 a water change will not hurt. There will be plenty of dead stuff on the live rock that can cure slowly without causing such a drammatic peak in the ammonia level

yeah but i have no inverts or fish in the 29 gal tank...i needed a place for these rocks to cycle and i figured might aswell let them cycle in an empry tank rather than my main one with allthe fish inverts and corals.

07/14/2008, 04:40 PM	#1
alextheromanian Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Binghamton NY Posts: 1,007	Quick Cycle Question i have a 29 with a 14 gal sump and about 20 lb of rock in it that had been sitting in my main tank for 8 months. the rocks have been put in the 29 for about 2 weeks with no signs of ammonia spikes or any spikes of any kind(i have no other living things in the 29 gallon tank. Today i bought 15 pounds of live rock and put it in the 29 on top of everything else thats already in there. the ammonia immediately shot up to 2.0 question is wether or not the amonia would kill the live rock at 2.0 or not....should i do water changes asap or no? i know it has to cycle and eventually will go down...i just dont know whether the amonia would kill the living things on the rock

07/14/2008, 04:44 PM	#2
Aquarist007 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Hamilton, Canada Posts: 28,240 Blog Entries: 1	It won't kill the bacteria on the live rock but the ammonia will kill all invertebrate life in the tank, sand bed and new live rock Suggest you do an immediate water change followed by daily water changes if needed I am not trying to be judging here but why would you add so much new live rock to an established tank all at once? __________________ I prefer my substrates stirred but not shaken Current Tank Info: 150gal long mixed reef, 90gal sump, 60 gal refugium with 200 lbs live rock

07/14/2008, 05:01 PM	#3
jtma508 Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: MA Posts: 1,232	I disagree. Your ammonia shot up because you don't have a sufficient population of amonnia fixing bacteria to handle it. Only by letting it sit will these bacteria multiply. Ammonia may be bad for us (and our fish/inverts) but food for these bacteria. By doing water changes you'll be interfering with the natural nitrogen cycle that you are trying to establish. You will lose some inverts but the vast majority will survive. If that were not the case every new tank would end up sterilizing the LR of all inverts. We know that doesn't happen.