Cycling and Ammonia question

[Anubis1]

During cycling...
for a tank with just sand and live rock.. how high should you let the ammonia get before doing a partial water change? (it would have a powerhead and a protein skimmer.. if that makes any difference).

How much of a water change does everyone do when cycling a new tank?

The live rock is SUPPOSED to already be cured.. but lets face it.. there will be some die off from shipping. (it's supposed to be here thursday). I want to save as much life on the rock as possible.. and am not in a great hurry to add fish or inverts.

 

[ChrisRD]

IME the lower you can keep ammonia levels during the curing process the more life you will save on the rock. It's possible to keep ammonia levels undetectable (on a hobby test kit) if you use a strong enough skimmer (cleaned frequently), strong circulation and do large water changes (if necessary) during the curing process. It also helps to pick-off and remove anything that is obviously dead/dying before it really starts to decay.

Contrary to what some seem to think, you do not want or need to see a spike in ammonia for the tank to be "cycled". IMO this is a misconception left over from the days when people cycled biological filters that had inert plastic media in them. This doesn't really apply to live rock/sand which comes "ready to use" so to speak...

HTH