This is only my opinion, but if yu have live rock that yu intend to
have in the tank use it to initiate a cycle. It does the job and does
it well. No need to acc cycle or dead shrimp or live fish, let the
rock do the job. Ammonia and nitrite levels will not be anywhere near
as high as usuing dead shrimp or no fish will be in jeopardy either
like the commonly used Damsels usually are. Your cycle will be just as
good and more than likely better than one that had higher ammonia and
nitrite levels that used dead shrimp, and yur rock will have more life
left on it that will flourish into unique hitch hikers that may not
normally be available through most LFS.....

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:39:34 GMT, "TheRock" wrote:

NOW YOU TELL ME !!!
THANKS A LOT : )

"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
arthlink.net...
Yep that's right it's best to keep as much alive as one can. A lot of
people do a lot of killing in the name of curing.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Tristan wrote on 1/14/2007 10:37 AM:

There is lots of debate on what is cured or cycled rock as different
places use these terms interchangebly. My lfs hewre sells rock that
is fully cured........in other words if its pulled from their tank,
and placed in water, and carried homoe and placed in your tank with
little to no exposure or fooling aorund there would not be enough of
die off to make it noticeable. They sell only fully cured/cycled rock
that is ready to place in the tank (within a reasonabale time frame )
and within a day or two its more than safe to start adding fish.

I have cycled lots of tanks already, and do find that when ammonia and
nitrite levels get too high stuff on the rock and in the rock starts
to die as well. So I try and keep my ammonia and nitrite levels as as
possible (Ammonia no higher than say 1 or 1.5) . It may take a bit
longer but I get much more diverse critters that survive the cycle
times.

The rock the lFS here sells is some nice rock, and lots of goodies
come on it..Its not unusual to find small tiny polyps of yuma or other
shrooms.....as well as sea squirts, sponge and dusters.......brittle
serpent stars etc. I much prefer to take longer in getting a tank cycled
than do it
faster with aditivies like dead shrimp etc or usuing live fish. It
will still cycle, and also keep my ammonia and nitrite levels low. I
do water changes during cycle so levels are not high, and I run a
skimmer most of the times.



On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 15:09:25 GMT, "TheRock" wrote:

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
wrote:
I just bought a 25gallon aquarium about a week ago and put the
substate
and live rock in it. I haven't put coral and fish in and today I
suddenly found the water turned yellow!

I have pumps (Rio 800) running and using Biological filter calls..
What
do you guys think the problem come from? I changed water (about
60%
change) today but still feel water is yellow. What do you think?
Shall
I do a complete water change?

Thanks!


OK I'm a newbie but want to ask a few questions of you....or
clarify that you are following the same concepts that I am....

The point of Live Rock is that it does your filtration for
you....once it is cured of course and most of the die off has
happened - and this die off is generally down to shipping and the
decay of stuff that died during shipping - cured rock is a good way
to go when starting up unless you are prepared to wait for it to
cure itself - and it sounds pretty much to me that this is what you
are doing....even if unintended....uncured rock is cheaper because
your LFS hasn't made the investment of keeping it for weeks to do
it themselves....

Mechanical and convential biological filtration, from my research,
are fine if you want a fish only tank....but they will mean that
your nitrates and phosphates will be at a level that can sustain
fish but not inverts....so it is a choice as to what your
priorities are......I want corals, inverts and fish so have opted
for all my "filtration" and "conversions" being done by my live
rock and now live sand (the sand having been populated by the
creatures in my rock)....

I know that you have been asked about whether you have a protein
skimmer or not....from my experience with my little 15 gall Nano I
would not be without one....this yellow water you are talking about
is what I empty into the sink from the cup of my skimmer.....what I
see in the cup of the skimmer is enough to freak me as to what it
would be like if I didn't have my cheap budget protein skimmer
(cost me £18 plus the air pump - £22)....it has to be said every
penny spent is well worth it...and if we got into a larger tank (or
even my small tank) - if you evaluate the cost of your corals
against this one essential piece of kit the cost works out.....the
loss of your frags at between £20 and £40 pounds compared to a more
expensive model still costs out well - let alone the emotional cost
and the frustration....

Gill


Somebody correct me if I am wrong but i believe there is no such
thing as cured rock.
As soon as you remove it from the ocean everything on it and in it
starts to die.
It's is possible to get rock from a LFS that has been marinating in
water
and you can get it home quickly. But still, live rock doesn't come
with all the goodies
that it would have as it was in the ocean.

GET YOURSELF A SKIMMER MAN !!! : )



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I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!




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I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!