A
Anonymous
Guest
I bought some live rock at the not-so-local fish store, and by the time I had it home, it had an aroma, so I set it outside in a 10 gallon tank with circulation. There is no more ammonia, but the nitrites are still very high (too high to get an accurate reading, but way in the red zone).
So this is about 5 or 6 rocks weighing in under 20 lbs total, and it is headed for an established 100 gallon (+/-) tank.
Can I just pop the rocks in, reasoning that no new ammonia means no more decay, or should I wait until all the nitrite that accumulated in the 10 gallon tank is metabolized?
I know what most people would say, but the question I have is this: Once there is no more decay taking place, does the rock present a hazard to the occupants of an established tank if I now put it in? Presumably it won't be releasing nitrite but not ammonia, so I am assuming that this is just the characteristic lag phase one sees when cycling a tank (First ammonia peaks, then nitrite peaks as ammonia disappears, and eventually nitrate appears as the nitrite is metabolized away). Since adding completely sterilized rocks should neither help nor harm an aquarium, would I be doing anything worse at this point if I simply drained the old water off while lifting the rock and placing it in the main aquarium?
So this is about 5 or 6 rocks weighing in under 20 lbs total, and it is headed for an established 100 gallon (+/-) tank.
Can I just pop the rocks in, reasoning that no new ammonia means no more decay, or should I wait until all the nitrite that accumulated in the 10 gallon tank is metabolized?
I know what most people would say, but the question I have is this: Once there is no more decay taking place, does the rock present a hazard to the occupants of an established tank if I now put it in? Presumably it won't be releasing nitrite but not ammonia, so I am assuming that this is just the characteristic lag phase one sees when cycling a tank (First ammonia peaks, then nitrite peaks as ammonia disappears, and eventually nitrate appears as the nitrite is metabolized away). Since adding completely sterilized rocks should neither help nor harm an aquarium, would I be doing anything worse at this point if I simply drained the old water off while lifting the rock and placing it in the main aquarium?
) are able to keep up with the ammonia that's being produced during the decaying process.
