New setup help.

[Park1marine]

I'm new to marine tanks but have kept fish for over 20 year.
I have converted my fluval 120 planted tank to marine.
I have 12kg of realreef rock which is man made and cured in America I believe. I'm also using a tunze skimmer.

Does anyone know much about cycling the tank with this rock as I have not seen any water test changes at all. I have been feeding flake food for a week. Today I have added a uncooked prawn to see if I get ammonia spike.

Thanks for any advice given.

[emilese]

Originally Posted by Park1marine

I'm new to marine tanks but have kept fish for over 20 year.
I have converted my fluval 120 planted tank to marine.
I have 12kg of realreef rock which is man made and cured in America I believe. I'm also using a tunze skimmer.

Does anyone know much about cycling the tank with this rock as I have not seen any water test changes at all. I have been feeding flake food for a week. Today I have added a uncooked prawn to see if I get ammonia spike.

Thanks for any advice given.

Welcome to the forum! I don't have any experience with the rock that you described but, a few questions:

How long have you been cycling the tank? Are you using anything else for biological filtration or just the rock?

[SAT]

Park1marine,

To Reef Central
Depending on the composition, your rock may or may not need any curing. If it hasn't been in an aquarium before, I would be worried about incompletely cured cement causing a pH spike, so you should monitor the alkalinity and pH to make sure it seems under control.

Flake food may not decay the way you would expect. The shrimp is a good idea. If you don't see an ammonia spike in the next few days, have your water checked with a different test kit.

[lapin]

I had a few pieces that came with a used tank I had bought. I had no issues with it. I did soak it for a few weeks to be sure nothing leached out. I recall it was pretty heavy compared to Pukani rock. It was a good shade of purple. It was added to an all ready established tank.

[Park1marine]

Thanks for the reply's
Only using the rock for biological.
Running a skimmer also and have e eternal filter which I will only run for chemical filtration if needed. I've had tank running for a week now readings are 0.5mg/l ammonia same for nitrite and 10 for nitrate .
Do the bacteria that consume ammonia grow on there own within the tank.
Also have not seen much decay of the raw shrimp.
Temp is steady 26.
Can anyone also advise on t5 lighting.
I'm looking for a dull effect as want a natural look and want to keep corals.
Thanks is again

[SAT]

Let the ammonia drop to an undetectable level, or at least below 0.15 mg/l, before adding fish. 0.5 mg/l is marginal. The nitrite can be safely ignored. I suggest leaving the shrimp in there for a few more days and then discarding whatever is left over. I know it's hard to be patient at this stage, but in aquaria nothing good happens fast.

I have never used T5 so can't give you a specific recommendation. I prefer Kessil LED pendants because they use less power than T5 and I like the intensity & color controls and the glitter lines. However I believe T5 is at least as good for coral health as LED.

[Park1marine]

Thanks Stuart