unclepancake
New member
Got 30 lbs of dry live rock I believe to be pukani and fiji.
- I picked at all the rocks and took out any debris inside and around the rocks.
- High pressure washed just to make sure. Bleached with RODI x3 weeks. Went through the cloudy water and stinky smells.
-Rinsed with RODI thoroughly over and over again til I could barely smell bleach.
-Placed back in container with fresh RODI water with Brightwell dechlorinator x 1 week.
-tested with chlorine tester and no trace no smell.
-emptied water, rinsed again with RODI and placed back into container with fresh RODI saltwater at 1.025 x 2 weeks.
-used smart start complete bacteria and frozen mysis to start the ammonia spike. increased temp to 82 F for bacteria growth
-2 days later ammonia spike at 1.0 ppm
-then nitrite at 0.25 ppm
-then nitrate at 10 ppm
-no hitchhikers and water is crystal clear, current parameters as of today :
sg: 1.026
pH: 8.2
alk: 8 dkh
calc: 430
mag: 1300
phos: 0 ppm
ammonia: 0.5 ppm
nitrite: 0.25 ppm
nitrate: 10 ppm
My main question is, do I have to wait til the ammonia and nitrite levels go back down to acceptable levels or will that not happen at all? I was thinking that ammonia turns into nitrite then turns into nitrate? What am I missing here? I feel like if I put the rocks in now I will be putting the nutrients (NH, NO) into the main tank. 30 gallon cube tank with refugium/sump has been established for 5 months now mixed reef with fish.
- I picked at all the rocks and took out any debris inside and around the rocks.
- High pressure washed just to make sure. Bleached with RODI x3 weeks. Went through the cloudy water and stinky smells.
-Rinsed with RODI thoroughly over and over again til I could barely smell bleach.
-Placed back in container with fresh RODI water with Brightwell dechlorinator x 1 week.
-tested with chlorine tester and no trace no smell.
-emptied water, rinsed again with RODI and placed back into container with fresh RODI saltwater at 1.025 x 2 weeks.
-used smart start complete bacteria and frozen mysis to start the ammonia spike. increased temp to 82 F for bacteria growth
-2 days later ammonia spike at 1.0 ppm
-then nitrite at 0.25 ppm
-then nitrate at 10 ppm
-no hitchhikers and water is crystal clear, current parameters as of today :
sg: 1.026
pH: 8.2
alk: 8 dkh
calc: 430
mag: 1300
phos: 0 ppm
ammonia: 0.5 ppm
nitrite: 0.25 ppm
nitrate: 10 ppm
My main question is, do I have to wait til the ammonia and nitrite levels go back down to acceptable levels or will that not happen at all? I was thinking that ammonia turns into nitrite then turns into nitrate? What am I missing here? I feel like if I put the rocks in now I will be putting the nutrients (NH, NO) into the main tank. 30 gallon cube tank with refugium/sump has been established for 5 months now mixed reef with fish.