Feeding Lr And Water Change

[Uriel]

Hi I've just done a set of water tests on my LR tanks and have come back with

NH4 0
NO2 0
NO3 50-100
PO4 0.05

Also unfortunately due to lack of light my coraline seems to be dieing off and going white

Do i need to do a water change to reduce the nitrate or can i just allow this to drop normally. The display tank isn't ready yet so I'm in no rush.

Do i need to start "feeding" my live rock now by throwing in a frozen prawn or 2 ?

 

[woody88]

Hi I've just done a set of water tests on my LR tanks and have come back with

NH4 0
NO2 0
NO3 50-100
PO4 0.05

Also unfortunately due to lack of light my coraline seems to be dieing off and going white

Do i need to do a water change to reduce the nitrate or can i just allow this to drop normally. The display tank isn't ready yet so I'm in no rush.

Do i need to start "feeding" my live rock now by throwing in a frozen prawn or 2 ?

When curing LR then regular wc are required.
Phosphate should be undetectable. If you have phos in there then it will contribute to algae blooms.
If the rock is completely dead then it will need to seed which takes months.
Throw a prawn in as this will help speed up the process.
You could do with a light to help also
The White residue usually means that the coraline is dead. You will find that it might go brown then greenish before the coraline comes back.

I've broken down my curing tank as the pong was getting too much. Plus I have too much rock in my tank as it is so the rock in the curing tank is now as dry as a whistle...........and well dead! Lol!

 

[Uriel]

Not really sure if i'm curing or cycling the LR. The LR was cured and was transported in salt water. So the die off should be minimal. I've not had any smell which most people say about LR curing. I'm just trying to keep the LR in as good a state as possible till i can get it in display tank. I'm not overly worried about low phosphate reading as i have Rowaphos running in the second larger tank. I will probabbly suffer with algea at the start till things start to stabilize anyhow. Basically as long as the nitrate doesn't leech into things(like phos) and cause future problems or offer any threat to LR then I would rather leave changing water till it gets into display tank.

Like i said my other concern is that there is nothing really in there producing ammonia now.

 

[woody88]

A decomposing prawn will produce the ammonia needed for the LR to filter.
Just keep testing the water and when ammonia and nitrite read zero then add another!

That's what I done and seemed to be working!

 

[seffieuk]

A decomposing prawn will produce the ammonia needed for the LR to filter.

You test results indicate that the rock has cycled, you dont need to do anything, once ammonia and nitrIte are 0 and you have had a nitrAte spike then do a water change of approx 50%. your rock is in a holding tank so once it is cycled just add some fish food flakes every couple of days and it will be fine.

As already said, if you have no light on the tank the coraline will die, this is not such a bad thing as some rock is smothered in the stuff and this blocks the filtering capability of the rock

Seffie x

 

[woody88]

A decomposing prawn will produce the ammonia needed for the LR to filter.

You test results indicate that the rock has cycled, you dont need to do anything, once ammonia and nitrIte are 0 and you have had a nitrAte spike then do a water change of approx 50%. your rock is in a holding tank so once it is cycled just add some fish food flakes every couple of days and it will be fine.

As already said, if you have no light on the tank the coraline will die, this is not such a bad thing as some rock is smothered in the stuff and this blocks the filtering capability of the rock

Seffie x

Doh!....I forgot about those results at the top. I thought the rock was seeding or was well uncured to begin with!....my bad!

 

[Uriel]

Would doing a 100% water change cause any issues/ have any advantages ? Got my RO unit on order now so don't need to plan water usage by the 25l container

 

[woody88]

Would doing a 100% water change cause any issues/ have any advantages ? Got my RO unit on order now so don't need to plan water usage by the 25l container

Honestly no need to. Like seffie said a 50% would suffice!