kloseo

I got a 29 gallon tank set up 25 lb live sand on nov 10,2008 and with 7 pounds of live rock on nov 14, 2008. I added 7 lb more live rock nov 22, 2008. I added the additional 2nd round of rock to finish off my tank appearance. Did i goof by adding the 2nd rock and start my cycle over? I have the temp at 77 for most part and pH at around 6.3 but did dip to 7.8 after i added rock, i think because i remove water to add rock then added more and just not enough buffer.
so my questions are:

was it ok to add the 2nd set of rock or did i start my cycle over ( all live rock has shown a variety of living organisms)

2nd am i rushing it and being impatient as i have not really seen any ammonia or nitrite spikes yet for my cycle

thanks for your help and imput

fishrule101

Was your LR cured?? My LR was semi-cured and my tank cured in just one week. I thought my tests were liying,but it turned out to be true.

soldieroffortune1974

As long as the cycle didn't complete,before you added the live rock,it wont start over,but may take longer to complete.You can add 2,20,or 100 pounds at a time,and it wont hurt the cycle. You do need to wait for it to complete before stocking with fish/inverts.

kloseo

yes the rock was cured i saw a very small spike in nitrites between zero and .25 about 3 days ago and thought that i was on my way because my ammonia was zero
so i thought i would be patient my original plans were to have it cycled by dec 19 and add 3 green chromis
i know patients, patient and patients
does all sound ok so far

soldieroffortune1974

so far,so good. You may not be able to stock on the original Dec. 19 deadline,maybe a week or so afterward.

kloseo

thanks for all your advice
i love this website

Peterpiper

The thing with adding LR to a tank that has started to cycle is,
The new LR being added will have some die off, now the ammount of die off will depend on how long the LR has been out of water, the longer it has been out of the water, the more die off, the more ammonia.
It would also depend on how far the tank is into the cycle, if it is near the end of the cycle, you would have a large amount of bacteria that would make short work of the extra ammonia.
The key is to keep testing the water, once you have ammonia-0 and nitrite-0 then its done and dusted

Matt

I would say u need to raise your PH to around 8.2-8.4 they are the recommended levels. I would use "Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Marine Buffer" to raise the PH. It has worked really well for me and now my PH is spot on day after day

I Hope You Have The Tank cycled and a few fish in there by christmas

From Matt

Dont Forget To Post Pics

Hope This Advice Helps

nemo addict

ph buffers only work for a short while and will not cure the problem of a high or low ph and will cause instability in your water,, which is the reason for most ph crashes ,, try and steer clear of buffers ,what water are you using distilled,tap RO,RO/DI ?

also if you have a 0 ammonia reading and you have a nitrate reading you are cycled and you can add fish and inverts cylce ammonia>nitrite>nitrate = cycle complete ,, using semi cured rock can speed your cycle time very quickly to as little as a week , a good test is put somthing dead in there or food and test about 8 hrs after and you should have no ammonia reading

travie

Definitely what nemo addict said. pH buffers are not good. Since the tank hasn't matured yet, the pH won't have stablized. As the tank matures, you should get a stable pH reading. The salt mix and araganite sand should buffer the water to right pH.

Angela_96

I had issues w/ my ph when I was using tap water and when my tank was cycling. When I started using distilled water my ph went up to 8.2 and has been consistant w/ no buffers, having african cichlids I have kept a ph in their tanks of 8.0 w/ no buffers for months on end w/ no problems.

Using buffers like mentioned above is only a quick fix. Now that my tank is matured enough for livestock my ph is stable at 8.2, so I see the same happening for you.

Oil_Fan

I have no choice but to use buffers. The pH out of the water I make using my RO/DI unit is insanely low. Even with the salt mix I use, it only gets it back up to about 7.8 or so. So for me, it's now part of my weekly water change schedule.

Matt

I dont need to worry about that because i buy Pre-mixed SW from my LFS. Its really cheep so far i have bought about 450 litres from them for refilling my tank

It has only cost me about $50AUD.

Maybe you guys might wane try buyinfg Pre Mixed.

Matt

Oil_Fan

I did do that originally. But my problem is that the place I was getting it from was a good 45 minutes away. Plus it was a $1 per gallon. Not exactly cheap. Far, far cheaper for me to make it myself.

Matt

lol. Yeah for some its cheaper to make it themselves

Matt

travie

What salt mix are you using? And how long do you let it mix before you add it to the aquarium?

Oil_Fan

Oceanic Natural Sea Salt.

And I mix it at least for 24 hours but usually it's 48 hours or more.

travie

Does it say anywhere on the container what pH it buffers the water too? If it doesn't, personally, I would change salt mixes to one that states what it buffers the pH.