No hitchhikers?

[jdiver]

I placed my liverock in my nano last night at about 9:00. At 2:00 in the morning, I ventured into my office where the nano is, flashlight in hand, expecting to see various hitchikers. Unfortunately, I didn't see a single on. No worms, no isopods, no crabs, not even a lone tentacle poking out of a hole. Am I just being too impatient, and does it take longer than that for the hitchikers to appear? Or is it possible that in 6 lbs of Tonga and 6 lbs of Fiji lr, there are no hitchikers? All of the rock looks really good, with coraline growth, lots of little tubes, holes, etc.

 

Here are my params:

 

pH: 7.8 (was 8.2 before putting lr in)

Nitrite: .25 ppm (was 0 ppm before lr)

Nitrate: 0 ppm (same before lr)

Amonia: 4.0 (was 0 before lr)

 

I'm assuming the amonia spike is the start of the cycle? Is it normal for lr to lower the pH? Once again, thanks for the help.

[Sahin]

Give it some time.

The little tubes are little sessile snails.

 

You wont neccessarily get hitchikers, it depends on the rock.  Most of the lifeform dies during transit and then during curing.  I bough my live rock already cured. PLUS knowing the LFS guy helps.  He gave me a few large peices from their display tank which has been up for a long time.

 

I saw lots of critters coem out from this rock, but overall all my rocks had lots of life.

 

Give it a few days, you will see stuff comeout.

 

Also, try not to buy all your live rock from one place.

I bought most from one place, and bought a few pieces from elsewhere.  

 

You should see various critters come out during day; I saw loads of little snails as soon as I put my live rock in.  Then there were like 4 inch bristle worms, various mushrooms, cabbage corals, crabs etc.

 

Just today I bought a small pieces of rock with a really nice coral.  Later on, I saw a tiny little anenome only about 5mm big stuck on the side of the rock.

 

I am wondering what this anenome will look like when its bigger.

 

Keep an eye out, you should see a few things.

Good luck with your new setup.

[Sahin]

Sorry, I didnt read the last bit about your parameters...

Ammonia will reduce your pH.

Just make sure it doesnt get too low or it will kill off a lot of the organisms.

 

This is the start of the cycle, you already have the ammonia spike, nitrite spike will follow.  It looks like nitrite will spike soon.  You got proabably two weeks at most for the whole cycle to finish.

 

Good luck.

[Gehrisch]

Quote: from Sahin on 11:51 am on June 2, 2002[br]Sorry, I didnt read the last bit about your parameters...

Ammonia will reduce your pH.

 

Could someone please explain the chemistry behind this to me?  Why does ammonia, which is basic, cause the water to get more acidic?  What is reacting with what here?  Does anyone know?

[jdiver]

Thanks for the replies Sahin. I only intended to get 10 lbs of lr, but with the pieces I picked, I ended up with 12. Based on your suggestions, I think what I might do is take 2 or 3 lbs out, go to another lfs and get a pound or so of lr from their coral/display tank. It's ridiculously expensive ($12/lb) but I believe will likely have more critters.

 

If I put the lr that I take out in a bucket of saltwater with an airpump, will that keep it ok? I am likely going to be helping someone get a nano started within the next few weeks and could give them the lr to start their tank.

 

Thanks again.

[Kapelakin]

Quote: from Gehrisch on 10:21 am on June 2, 2002[br]

Quote: from Sahin on 11:51 am on June 2, 2002[br]Sorry, I didnt read the last bit about your parameters...

Ammonia will reduce your pH.

 

It's not really the ammonia that's reducing the pH.  I think it would be more correct to say that ammonia is correlated with low pH.  The low pH would be an effect of organic matter and CO2 in the water column due to the cycling and rock curing process.

 

Could someone please explain the chemistry behind this to me?  Why does ammonia, which is basic, cause the water to get more acidic?  What is reacting with what here?  Does anyone know?