bacteria on live rock

[thien]

I'm curious about the bacteria levels on the live rock. Let's just say my rocks are cured and the tank is cycled. If I don't add any livestock to the tank for the next month or two, will I "starve" the bacteria and kill the live rock?

BTW, it's now 2 weeks for my live rock. Still the same level of ammonia (0.1-0.2), registering a little nitrite (0.1). If there is no other die off happening, does this mean that my levels of good bacteria won't build up to a higher level? does that make any sense?

thanks.
thien

[tang_man_montreal]

You still have to "feed" the liverock.
Basically throw in a small pinch of flake food every couple of days.

Regarding your cycle... have you seen an increase in your nitrates?

[thien]

thanks.
Yes, I registered a little nitrate (o.1). I'm getting some new test kits (sea-Test) this weekend to see if my Hagen is junk.

Couple of questions:
How do I know if my rocks are dead?
If my rocks were somewhat cured (hence no spikes), does that mean that my tank won't be able to cycle and develop a reasonable amount of good bacteria?

thanks.

[ALRHA]

the bacteria will develope no matter what (as long as there is "food" for them). just feed the tank a drop and they will multiply to the required levels to break it all down to nitrates.

[tang_man_montreal]

Hmm...
I'm gonna have to answer your questions with a few of my own...
How did you cycle the tank? Did you use "cured" rock only, or did you try the "cocktail shrimp method"?

Either way, I would let the tank cycle until you have 0 ammo and 0 nitrites. This will be an indication that the cycle has completed. Once the cycle has completed, you'll most probably be measuring some nitrates. At this time, you can do a 5-10% waterchange, and start with your first small fish.

[thien]

No shrimps.
I put in about 60pounds of what was called "semi-cured". The distibutor told me he had these rocks curing in his vats for 2 weeks. I had these in wet newspaper for 30 hrs. Put them in a fresh tank, skimmer running (was getting some brownish stuff, but pretty clear now), powerheads, and a marineglo (the blue one) for 4-5 hrs a day. It was 2 weeks Sunday and my ammonia has been the same (0.1-0.3) the whole 2 weeks. That's it. Haven't added anything else. Water is crystal clear. There's wavey stuff on the rocks that seems to have turned whitish, greyish. I did scrape off some of the black spongy stuff. There's also these purple nubs on the rocks. I knock some off but there's still some on the rocks. They're about maybe 3-4mm high. No idea what they are.

Anyways, I'm perfectly willing to wait this out. I was just concerned that I might have 60pounds of paper weight sitting in the tank doing nothing.

[ALRHA]

the bacteria will grow on them with time. they are still adding to your surface area.

[tang_man_montreal]

thien,

The purple nubs.... if they're what I think they are, they're good to have.
Their name escapes me right now, I'll try to find a pic and proper ID for you.

[tang_man_montreal]

Found it!

Foraminiferans, also known as Forams

[thien]

hmmmm....it doesn't look like what I have. I'll have to take a picture tonight and I'll post back tomorrow. thanks.