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There are so many differing opinions on this topic! So, I'll just lay out what I have been doing and see if you all think this is correct, or if I am way off on my thinking!
I'm in the beginning processes of setting up a 75g tank. I purchased 50lbs of Pukani dry rock from BRS knowing that this rock is very dirty and takes awhile to clean up before putting into a tank to cycle...and I didn't want to do an acid wash on the new rock. So, knowing that I was going to be doing tons of water changes during this cure, I chose to do it in Freshwater (with dechlorinator added)...since I'm not really trying to cycle the rock for the tank, but rather just "eat off" the organic junk in all those Pukani nooks and crannies! I have the rock in a large RubberMaid tub with 20gal of water, 2 powerheads, heater (81-82 deg), and small bag of Phosguard (that I change weekly in an attempt to control the phosphates)...also keeping the lid on and in the dark. I'm 22 days into this process...been testing the parameters occasionally as well to watch for ammonia spikes to give me an idea if any more organic stuff is breaking down. Today, ammonia was testing as zero (API test kit, no trusting it totally since older kit a friend gave me)...but nitrites were rising and nitrates were thru the roof. I only did a 10gal water change tonight...only had 10gal prepared at room temperature and the hose I use from outside at this part of the house was frozen solid). I guess I could carry water up and down stairs...uggh.
Should I continue with the freshwater or convert over to saltwater? I still haven't worked on my aquascape ideas yet...so I figured after the cure I was going to have the rocks out of the water for a few days or so while I worked on my aquascape layout...chiseling, drilling, gluing, etc... So, figured starting the cycle in SW while curing wasn't going to make a lot of sense since the SW bacteria that grows may die during the days out of water laying out my aquascape? Am I way off on this thinking?
PS: Tried to add an image, but system giving me errors uploading...so sorry, no pics this time!
I'm in the beginning processes of setting up a 75g tank. I purchased 50lbs of Pukani dry rock from BRS knowing that this rock is very dirty and takes awhile to clean up before putting into a tank to cycle...and I didn't want to do an acid wash on the new rock. So, knowing that I was going to be doing tons of water changes during this cure, I chose to do it in Freshwater (with dechlorinator added)...since I'm not really trying to cycle the rock for the tank, but rather just "eat off" the organic junk in all those Pukani nooks and crannies! I have the rock in a large RubberMaid tub with 20gal of water, 2 powerheads, heater (81-82 deg), and small bag of Phosguard (that I change weekly in an attempt to control the phosphates)...also keeping the lid on and in the dark. I'm 22 days into this process...been testing the parameters occasionally as well to watch for ammonia spikes to give me an idea if any more organic stuff is breaking down. Today, ammonia was testing as zero (API test kit, no trusting it totally since older kit a friend gave me)...but nitrites were rising and nitrates were thru the roof. I only did a 10gal water change tonight...only had 10gal prepared at room temperature and the hose I use from outside at this part of the house was frozen solid). I guess I could carry water up and down stairs...uggh.
Should I continue with the freshwater or convert over to saltwater? I still haven't worked on my aquascape ideas yet...so I figured after the cure I was going to have the rocks out of the water for a few days or so while I worked on my aquascape layout...chiseling, drilling, gluing, etc... So, figured starting the cycle in SW while curing wasn't going to make a lot of sense since the SW bacteria that grows may die during the days out of water laying out my aquascape? Am I way off on this thinking?
PS: Tried to add an image, but system giving me errors uploading...so sorry, no pics this time!