curing liverock nitrite issue

smaug1 · 03/28/2011, 04:18 PM

I'm new at this so assume I know nothing.2 weeks ago I bought a 15lb pc of fiji rock that I assumed I could just drop in. I was wrong,the ammonia spike by the end of that day and I thought I had a mini cycle. A friend told me about needing to cure most liverock,but at the time I didn't have an xtra tank so I got disgusted and took it out and placed it in an old cooler with tankwater from a water change and let it set in my cold front room for 3 days (40 to 45 deg). I then bought a tank a heater and a powerhead and started the process. Its been about 7 days now,3 days ago the ammonia dropped to 0,the trites are between 3 and 5 ppm,the trates are over 25ppm. It has been this way for 3 days. I did 4 75% water changes since I started this with 2 of those being in the last 3 days. I have the temp at 75 deg,the salinity at 1.023,there is a small powerhead and an empty hob on a 10 gal tank that I'm doing this in. How long should I expect this process to take?

HanoverFist · 03/28/2011, 04:23 PM

Nitrites take just as long, if not longer, than ammonia to drop. Just be patient. Almost there.

duncantse · 03/28/2011, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HanoverFist

Nitrites take just as long, if not longer, than ammonia to drop. Just be patient. Almost there.

+1

Nitrite takes a lot longer to go down than ammonia.

smaug1 · 03/28/2011, 05:19 PM

Am I doing the right things as far as water change frequency?

mktang · 03/28/2011, 06:29 PM

keep changing the water every week or so. eventually it will all settle down.

smaug1 · 03/28/2011, 06:34 PM

How long does it normally take to cure rock in this fashion?

duncantse · 03/28/2011, 06:59 PM

Usually takes 2-4 weeks. Depends on how much dieoff there was.

smaug1 · 03/29/2011, 03:45 AM

Thank you all for your help. I do appreciate it.

duncantse · 03/29/2011, 09:40 AM

No Problem

smaug1 · 03/31/2011, 03:57 AM

The trites are still around 5ppm,they don't decrease even with 80% water chang3s,of which I have done 3 in the past 7 days. Still no ammonia but the trates are over 25ppm. Are the big wc hurting the curing process? Or should I quit whining and just buy a big bottle of suck it up and wait?

Randy Holmes-Farley · 03/31/2011, 06:14 AM

Bear in mind, you are not needing to cycle the live rock (your tank is presumably already cycled), but rather you need to deal with dead and dying organisms on it. If ammonia is down, I probably would not bother doing big water changes in the rock holding container, but remoning dead crap from the rock may be very useful., Just be patient. Nitrite is not really very toxic in marine systems. It's the primarily the ammonia that you may want to limit during curing of live rock to preserve creatures on it (if there are any).

FWIW, the nitrate reading may read falsely high in the presence of nitrite.

smaug1 · 03/31/2011, 06:38 AM

So a good scrub down would help?

Randy Holmes-Farley · 03/31/2011, 10:42 AM

If it looks like the stuff on it (if any) is dead or dying, yes.

What does the rock look like?

smaug1 · 03/31/2011, 12:01 PM

As far as what type is it? Its supposed to be fiji rock,for what it looks like,kinda like a sandstone pebbly mix with small pores. For what junk may be on it,it doesn't look real cruddy or have much sticking to it,what is on it looks like some form of brownish algae. In comparison to the piece of soloman rock I have which was bought cured,the fiji is pretty dirty.

Randy Holmes-Farley · 03/31/2011, 05:04 PM

Yes, I meant things like dying sponges, macro algae, etc

Sisterlimonpot · 03/31/2011, 05:14 PM

pointing a powerhead at it forcing water in its nooks and crannies, may do some wonders as well. get all that junk out.

smaug1 · 03/31/2011, 06:47 PM

Okeedokee. Tonight I scrubbed it real well ,it had a handful of dead or dying soft tissues of some sort on it which I removed. I cleaned it out of the tank I'm curing it in and used tankwater to scrub it with. There may be some residue on the surface that I can't quite get off though. It is much holier then I remember it. I removed about 3 gallons of the 5 it was in and replaced with new water then checked it about an hour later. It was still between 2 and 5 ppm of trite with a possible .25 ammonia now.I wish I would have known about curing when I bought it,the way I first treated it probably caused a huge die off which caused this . Randy: you say that trites aren't such a problem in a marine tank correct? The tank has a g.chiragra mantis 2 firefish and a damsel,its a 20 gal with roughly 15 lbs of already cured lr. Ta what point would the trites be low enough to add it to my tank?

Randy Holmes-Farley · 04/01/2011, 10:45 AM

Randy: you say that trites aren't such a problem in a marine tank correct?

Correct. It may be OK now, but it depends on the filtering capacity of your tank. You aren't cycling the rock, just curing it, so the number in the container the rock is in is fairly meaningless. I discuss nitrite here:

Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.htm

smaug1 · 04/01/2011, 12:14 PM

Thanks Randy. I will read that article. I appreciate your time.
Mike

Randy Holmes-Farley · 04/01/2011, 02:07 PM

You're welcome.

Happy reefing.

smaug1 · 04/02/2011, 03:23 PM

I placed it in last eve and checked the readings this morn with no ammo or trite reading at all. Thanks again Randy!

Randy Holmes-Farley · 04/03/2011, 06:23 AM

Sounds good!

03/28/2011, 04:18 PM	#1
smaug1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: usa Posts: 216	curing liverock nitrite issue I'm new at this so assume I know nothing.2 weeks ago I bought a 15lb pc of fiji rock that I assumed I could just drop in. I was wrong,the ammonia spike by the end of that day and I thought I had a mini cycle. A friend told me about needing to cure most liverock,but at the time I didn't have an xtra tank so I got disgusted and took it out and placed it in an old cooler with tankwater from a water change and let it set in my cold front room for 3 days (40 to 45 deg). I then bought a tank a heater and a powerhead and started the process. Its been about 7 days now,3 days ago the ammonia dropped to 0,the trites are between 3 and 5 ppm,the trates are over 25ppm. It has been this way for 3 days. I did 4 75% water changes since I started this with 2 of those being in the last 3 days. I have the temp at 75 deg,the salinity at 1.023,there is a small powerhead and an empty hob on a 10 gal tank that I'm doing this in. How long should I expect this process to take?

03/31/2011, 06:14 AM	#11
Randy Holmes-Farley Reef Chemist Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Arlington, Massachusetts Posts: 86,233	Bear in mind, you are not needing to cycle the live rock (your tank is presumably already cycled), but rather you need to deal with dead and dying organisms on it. If ammonia is down, I probably would not bother doing big water changes in the rock holding container, but remoning dead crap from the rock may be very useful., Just be patient. Nitrite is not really very toxic in marine systems. It's the primarily the ammonia that you may want to limit during curing of live rock to preserve creatures on it (if there are any). FWIW, the nitrate reading may read falsely high in the presence of nitrite. __________________ Randy Holmes-Farley Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef

03/31/2011, 10:42 AM	#13
Randy Holmes-Farley Reef Chemist Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Arlington, Massachusetts Posts: 86,233	If it looks like the stuff on it (if any) is dead or dying, yes. What does the rock look like? __________________ Randy Holmes-Farley Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef

03/31/2011, 05:04 PM	#15
Randy Holmes-Farley Reef Chemist Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Arlington, Massachusetts Posts: 86,233	Yes, I meant things like dying sponges, macro algae, etc __________________ Randy Holmes-Farley Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef

03/31/2011, 05:14 PM	#16
Sisterlimonpot R.C. Fraternity President Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Litchfeild Park AZ Posts: 11,490 Blog Entries: 2	pointing a powerhead at it forcing water in its nooks and crannies, may do some wonders as well. get all that junk out. __________________ Jimmy MASVC President Dishes are done man! Current Tank Info: 300 in progress

03/28/2011, 04:23 PM	#2
HanoverFist Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Phoenix, Az Posts: 626	Nitrites take just as long, if not longer, than ammonia to drop. Just be patient. Almost there.

03/28/2011, 05:19 PM	#4
smaug1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: usa Posts: 216	Am I doing the right things as far as water change frequency?

03/28/2011, 06:29 PM	#5
mktang Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 49	keep changing the water every week or so. eventually it will all settle down.

03/28/2011, 06:34 PM	#6
smaug1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: usa Posts: 216	How long does it normally take to cure rock in this fashion?

03/28/2011, 06:59 PM	#7
duncantse Fish Advisor Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 1,604	Usually takes 2-4 weeks. Depends on how much dieoff there was.

03/29/2011, 03:45 AM	#8
smaug1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: usa Posts: 216	Thank you all for your help. I do appreciate it.

03/29/2011, 09:40 AM	#9
duncantse Fish Advisor Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 1,604	No Problem

03/31/2011, 03:57 AM	#10
smaug1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: usa Posts: 216	The trites are still around 5ppm,they don't decrease even with 80% water chang3s,of which I have done 3 in the past 7 days. Still no ammonia but the trates are over 25ppm. Are the big wc hurting the curing process? Or should I quit whining and just buy a big bottle of suck it up and wait?

03/31/2011, 06:38 AM	#12
smaug1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: usa Posts: 216	So a good scrub down would help?

03/31/2011, 12:01 PM	#14
smaug1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: usa Posts: 216	As far as what type is it? Its supposed to be fiji rock,for what it looks like,kinda like a sandstone pebbly mix with small pores. For what junk may be on it,it doesn't look real cruddy or have much sticking to it,what is on it looks like some form of brownish algae. In comparison to the piece of soloman rock I have which was bought cured,the fiji is pretty dirty.

03/31/2011, 06:47 PM	#17
smaug1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: usa Posts: 216	Okeedokee. Tonight I scrubbed it real well ,it had a handful of dead or dying soft tissues of some sort on it which I removed. I cleaned it out of the tank I'm curing it in and used tankwater to scrub it with. There may be some residue on the surface that I can't quite get off though. It is much holier then I remember it. I removed about 3 gallons of the 5 it was in and replaced with new water then checked it about an hour later. It was still between 2 and 5 ppm of trite with a possible .25 ammonia now.I wish I would have known about curing when I bought it,the way I first treated it probably caused a huge die off which caused this . Randy: you say that trites aren't such a problem in a marine tank correct? The tank has a g.chiragra mantis 2 firefish and a damsel,its a 20 gal with roughly 15 lbs of already cured lr. Ta what point would the trites be low enough to add it to my tank?

04/01/2011, 10:45 AM	#18
Randy Holmes-Farley Reef Chemist Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Arlington, Massachusetts Posts: 86,233	Randy: you say that trites aren't such a problem in a marine tank correct? Correct. It may be OK now, but it depends on the filtering capacity of your tank. You aren't cycling the rock, just curing it, so the number in the container the rock is in is fairly meaningless. I discuss nitrite here: Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.htm __________________ Randy Holmes-Farley Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef

04/01/2011, 12:14 PM	#19
smaug1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: usa Posts: 216	Thanks Randy. I will read that article. I appreciate your time. Mike

04/01/2011, 02:07 PM	#20
Randy Holmes-Farley Reef Chemist Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Arlington, Massachusetts Posts: 86,233	You're welcome. Happy reefing. __________________ Randy Holmes-Farley Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef

04/02/2011, 03:23 PM	#21
smaug1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: usa Posts: 216	I placed it in last eve and checked the readings this morn with no ammo or trite reading at all. Thanks again Randy!

04/03/2011, 06:23 AM	#22
Randy Holmes-Farley Reef Chemist Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Arlington, Massachusetts Posts: 86,233	Sounds good! __________________ Randy Holmes-Farley Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef

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