Is it necessary to bleach cure used rock?

[EchoPear]

"Anymore", lol! Well I'm glad to hear that

If that's true, I'd personally just let it ride. As long as the smell isn't blowing you or your significant others out the house, in time your tank will balance.

You mentioned nitrite. That's not as important in saltwater aquaria as traditionally thought. Are you still getting measurable ammonia? If you are, you have a ways to go in your cycle.


If you're not digging your sand, and you're tank's not going well, maybe this is in fact a good time for a reboot??

Again, don't do anything drastic based on my advice. Wait a while and see what others say.

And just a thought, but if you started with old rocks and sand, I think you'll be dealing with these nutrient issues way longer than you want, especially if this is your first or only tank. It takes a pretty seasoned aquarist to stare at a festering, dark, empty tank for three or four months and think, "yeah, this is going EXACTLY as planned". And it takes an almost unheard of spouse that OK's that tank ;-)

Are you still measuring ammonia in your tank?

Yesterday I had 0.25ppm Ammonia on the API kit. Although I guess that could mean zero according to others on here.

When I first put water in the tank, it did stink a little. I’m thinking I’ll see how it goes this week. All I have in there is some macroalgae I can pull and toss in my other tank if I need to restart this one.

The nitrites and nitrates have risen over the last week, so hard to tell if it’s all the cycle or if it’s leaching from the rock. Ammonia is down from about 1ppm last week.

 

[Fish Fan]

Because ammonia is down, and nitrates are up, I'd say you're cycling for sure. As others have said, those API tests will sometimes report a false positive for ammonia. If you have a good local fish store near you maybe bring a sample of water in for testing? If the smell isn't too bad, I'd probably keep going. It shouldn't be much longer for old organics to be consumed, then do a big water change to lower nitrates, and then start slowly adding your livestock, in my opinion.

 

[OrionN]

Consider acid wash the rock. This will dissolves the surface launder of the rock and remove anything that deposit on the rock.
Put them in a container and circulate. Keep the pH down to about <6.5 for a few hrs or a day. Then remove rinse well and use. The rock should be clean sterile and white then.

 

[jabberwock]

Tank does not stink anymore, no. At least to me! Lol

Thanks for your input on this rollercoaster

You are now smell blind...