help.. curing rock and need help with ammonia levels etc..

[ARNP]

First of all I new to all this.... I'm setting up a new tank 55 Gal. I purchased live rock from local dealer all the rock but two small ones came from cured tank.. have 45 pounds total.. From everything that I've read the ammonia should be rising now but I've tested and doesn't seem to be rising yet?? Take a look at these numbers and let me know what you think... I appreciate any info..

12-9-10 Live rock at 6:00PM
12-10-10 Ammonia <0.2 at 8:35PM
12-11-10 5 Gallon water exchange due to SG 1.030 @ 6:30
@ 10:30 SG 1.026
12-12-10 SG 1.026 - Ammonia: <.02 Nitrite: <.02 Nitrate: 10

I'm putting some numbers less than .02 because the colors are lighter than .02 in color chart..

There are several types of flowering thinks coming from rocks now that retract to light. and small transparent mushrooms?? with tenticle like projections?? sorry about descriptions.. Like I said I a rookie at this...

 

[Bifferwine]

If the rock was cured already, you may not see a spike in your parameters. Add some fish food to the tank or a piece of frozen shrimp from the grocery store (and let it rot). If that doesn't kick off a cycle, your tank is probably done and won't cycle at all.

There are lots of hitch hikers that come in on live rock. Can you get a picture of them? Some are good, some are bad.

Google aiptasia and majano. Do they look like these? If so, these are very common pest anemones that you'll want to work on killing before you add anything to the tank.

 

[BL1]

If you use cured rock, and it doesn't spend a lot of time out of water during transport and setting up your tank, it is possible to skip the initial cycle all together. What type of tests are you using, you probably don't have any ammonia or nitrites in your tank at all. Just keeping testing every other day or so, if after a week or two you still don't see the ammonia or nitrites spiking the. You most likely skipped it, or just missed it.

 

[ARNP]

The rock was out of water around 1.5 hours... and were transported wrapped in wet newspaper.. I definitely see aiptasia are these problematic?? If so, how do I get rid of them? There are also worm looking thinks that stretch and seem to be feeding off the algae; which happens to be reddish in color.. Only one rock has this… So I should put a piece of raw shrimp in the tank or just test the water over the next week to see what happens??

Thanks a lot guys..

 

[BL1]

The aiptasia will definitely become problematic. You can get a product calle Aiptasia X that will get ris of it or, after your cycle there are a few livestock options like peppermint shrimp, copper-banded butterfly, and filefish.

 

[ARNP]

Here are pics of some of the rocks… Would you recommend I take the rock out with this algae and clean it or just leave it be?? These pics are take with my iphone so I apologize in advance for the images….

 

[Bifferwine]

I would take the hairy rock out and scrub it with a stiff-bristled brush in a bucket of saltwater. Get as much of the algae off as you can. And the other stuff is indeed aiptasia. But it looks like really nice rock -- lots of nice shapes and crannies. The last picture shows a mushroom coral -- a good guy. Congrats on the nice hitch hiker!

 

[Piratefish]

That definitely aiptasia. Use aiptasia-X to kill them follow the instructions it has worked well for me. I cant really tell about the red stuff it may be red turff algae or . Is it slimey?

 

[ARNP]

No, it doesn't look slimey... looks hairy..

 

[Smitty]

Welcome to the site...like mentioned earlier, your tank may not have much of an initial cycle.

 

[ARNP]

So if my ammonia is zero after another week am I okay to start with my CUC or fish??

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah, I'd say you are ready to go.

 

[Piratefish]

No, it doesn't look slimey... looks hairy..

Take a look in the aglae section and see if it looks like the red truf algae. If its red truf you should deal with it fast.