Quote:
Originally Posted by Gwenda
We have 10 pieces of livr rock in the display tank.And we ouy a !00 pounds of sand which we washed.The three day cycle is called Bacter Vital. And the water from the skimmer is brownish gray.
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The live rock in the display tank is "fresh" rock from the LFS? If so, it needs to be cured. The curing process releases ammonia as there will be die-off from the rock, when the nitrifying bacteria have reached a high enough population the ammonia level will drop. This will usually take 6-8 weeks. I have never heard of this Bacter Vital product, but it is obvious that it didn't work because there is ammonia in your tank. Your cycle isn't over until the ammonia is at zero for many days. The cloudiness in the tank is from the really high level of ammonia, and those fish will die if they aren't returned. Please call the store you got them from and ask if they will take the fish back until your tank has finished cycling in several weeks. It will take at least another 3-5 weeks for the tank to cycle with the ammonia level so high. Don't let the LFS tell you that it is ok to leave the fish in water that contains 1.2 ppm ammonia. If they DO tell you it is ok, please start shopping somewhere else!
It was a bit of a mistake to add the rock from the existing tank to this tank before the tank cycles. The ammonia from the new rock will kill a bunch of the life on the old cured rock you already had. The pod population and many worms and small critters like that will likely perish. In the future, the new rock should be cured (cycled) before adding the old cured rock.