In the process of curing LR

[ctxmonitor1]

Hi everyone. I have brought 40 lb of kaelini LR two week ago. I have it sit in a 30 gal tank with 2 maxi-jet 1200 powerhead. It smell really bad the second day. So i did a full water change and cleaning the second day. On the 4th day, I did the same thing because the water was nasty and the smells was very horrible. Now after a week, I changed 20% water.

Yesterday, when I check the water with ammonia it is still very high.

I want to know if I should do another 20% water change or full water change? I need to know what to do..

Thanks, let me know please..

PS: All the coraline on the LR is turning pale.. Is this normal?

 

[Anonymous]

IMO you are getting the smell from the lack of plant life. The die off is causing ammonia that is not being consumed by macros, micros or other plant life. Ammonia drops to 0.0 in less than a day and more likely a matter of hours with sufficient plant life.

 

[Len]

Almost always, a really terribly stench is from dying sponges. Check the rock to remove decaying sponges and any blackened areas (which smells like rotten eggs).

Coraline has a tendancy to turn pail when stressed, but it will bounch back.

 

[ctxmonitor1]

so you guys suggest I shouldn't do any water changes?

 

[Len]

Water changes are fine (and I recommend it to alleviate the NH3 toxicity) but you still should locate the source of the problem. Look for dying sponges and blackened areas to remove. This should cure the bad smell within 48 hours.

 

[Anonymous]

so you guys suggest I shouldn't do any water changes?

Well this guy doesn't anyway. for instance ammonia will never go to 0.0 with partial water changes. But ammonia will be 0.0 in less than a day with plant life.

and all other parameters will never be maintained at acceptable levels through water changes alone. What is much more effective is to set up a system where the system maintains itself. That way water changes are not only unecessary but probably detrimental.

A key element is using plant life to complete the nitrogen cycle, stablize the system, filter out toxins, and consume carbon dioxide. that plus a calcium source in an aerobic environment is about all that is needed to maintain a reef environment. A non- reef environment does not even need the calcium source. IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

The bad smell is a short term situation and plants will do nothing to alleviate it. If the sponge growth isn't obvious and easily removable, just keep up with the water changes and eventually it should minimize.

Do you have water flow and skimming at present in the tank?

 

[Anonymous]

so you guys suggest I shouldn't do any water changes?

Definately do a water change in my opinion. 20% - 50% is good. If you can keep your Ammonia level at or below 0.5ppm you can maximise the amount of life you will have in your system.

The suggestion about looking for sponges is excellent. Scrub them off because they've been exposed to air and will completely die off and smell really nasty. If you scrub them them there will be small bits of sponge that can survive and pop up once your tank is healthy.

The suggestion that the odor is caused by a lack of plants is total hogwash.

 

[Mihai]

Beaslbob, please read the initial post before preaching again. HE'S CURING LIVE ROCK FOR GOD SAKE! What system that maintains itself? I asked you time and again to stop misleading the junior members.
The guy just got into the hobby. He has a pile of stinking rocks on his hands. You don't even know if he has lights! What macroalgae? Where to get them? It takes time for them to get established! Stop giving bad advice, especially to junior members.

Ctxmonitor it would have been great if you would have asked how to cure LR before you got the problem, now it's hard: you want that ammonia out of there as soon as possible (assuming that your goal is to save as many creatures that came on the LR as possible). The best (fastest, safest) way to do it is large water changes (make sure you match salinity and temperature when you do that).

Another method may be to neutralize the ammonia - I never tried, maybe someone else did: there are chemicals at the fish store that "detoxify" ammonia (actually turn it into something not as toxic as ammonia). The only issue with using this may be that it can starve the ammonia bacterias, but I would worry less about bacterias at this point and more about the hitchhickers, so in your shoes I would use some of that if I can't put in the time and effort to do major water changes.

Finally, beaslbob has a point. Farfetched, but a valid point: if you would have had lots and lots of thriving macroalgae (like another 100 gallon connected to this one) they may be able to absorb lots of this ammonia as it gets produced. But this is out of question at this point. Next time get some sponge filters and seed the system with a dead shrimp a couple of weeks before you get the LR in - it will make wonders for your LR.

All the best,
M.

 

[ctxmonitor1]

Thanks everyone for the help. I don't have any light the tank as I know this will cause a major algea outbreak. I don't think there is any hitchhiker here since when I got the LR, the person selling it to me had it sitting in the shipping box for 3-4 days. So if there were any hitchhiker, it would have been dead by now.

 

[Anonymous]

the person selling it to me had it sitting in the shipping box for 3-4 days. So if there were any hitchhiker, it would have been dead by now.

Not by a long shot

If you treat the rock well you'll be surprised what cool critters you can find once your tank gets established.

 

[ctxmonitor1]

the person selling it to me had it sitting in the shipping box for 3-4 days. So if there were any hitchhiker, it would have been dead by now.

Not by a long shot

If you treat the rock well you'll be surprised what cool critters you can find once your tank gets established.

Really? There will be critter that will survive the curing process?? That would be great and exciting then.. I will do a 50 % water change today so I can lower the ammiona.. Hope that help whatever life forms is in those rocks...

 

[ctxmonitor1]

I just change like 50% of the water. And check the ammonia and the kit say its still 4ppm of ammonia.. It doesn't seem to get lower..

Do you think if I put some cured liverock into the bunch would help fasten the process?

 

[Anonymous]

Probably a little. More surface area = more bacteria. I've done this quite a few times and you're almost past the worst of it. Amquel does help quite a bit but ammonia will probably still show up on the test.

Just continure the water changes daily if need be. Add the Amquel right after the water change.