I'm currently 1 week into the cycling process with both cured and uncured live rock in my 55 gal tank. So far, everything looks great---my amonia spiked around day 3 or so, now its down to 0. However, currently my nitrites are sky-high, while my nitrates are 0 as well. First off, I just want to confirm that, when the nitrites reach 0 also, the cycling process is complete, at which time I can add fish...right? Next, I have 4 pieces of live rock currently (total of 35 lbs), 2 cured and 2 uncured. The cured rock looks fine, but the uncured rock has white mold (or so it seems) growing all over it. In some areas it looks almost like a spider web attached to the rock. I take it this is normal? Should I be concerned at all? Finally, regarding oxygen, I just want to confirm that I DO NOT have to pump oxygen into the tank and, instead, surface agitiation will do just fine (I'm running a wet/dry filter with protein skimmer and an additional power head, with 450 gph turnover). Thanks.
Two quick cycling questions...
- Thread starter tampa4
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You'll want to do a water change to reduce nitrates once th nitrites go to 0, but otherwise, yes, this is when you'll want to add livestock.
Most likley these are sponges--not a bad thing. Totally normal.
Nope, air bubbles are actually a pain in SW--the splashing they create increases evaporation and salt creep. The skimmer will create enough agitation to gas off CO2 and introduce oxygen.
Most likley these are sponges--not a bad thing. Totally normal.
Nope, air bubbles are actually a pain in SW--the splashing they create increases evaporation and salt creep. The skimmer will create enough agitation to gas off CO2 and introduce oxygen.
NO you dont need to pump oxygen in. FYI with a wetdry you will have a hard time getting your nitrates down to 0. The mold lookin stuff is normal.
Thanks to the both of you for your responses. One last thing---if I don't need to pump in oxygen, doesn't that affect the operation of my protein skimmer? (my wet/dry has a built in skimmer, which an oxygen intake tube.) Maybe I'm mistaken, but it looked to me like the skimmer didn't work as well when I shut off the oxygen tube. But then again, maybe I'm wrong?