Previous live rock in new tank

[Radicalrob1982]

Hi all.

I recently had my tank leak and bought a new 25 Gallon rimless. My live rock sat out of the tank for 24 hours. Will it still contain some bacteria?

I've had the tank set up with the previous rock for 6 days and of course have some die off. My ammonia is 0.5 but I do have 5 ppm nitrate. Can anyone guess how long it will be before my tank is safe with 0 ammonia?

I've got some fish food in there to keep up the ammonia source while the tank does its thing.

 

[fish farmer]

Did you cover the rock with anything to keep it moist? I would expect if it was still moist inside, there would still be some bacteria alive.

What type of live rock was it? You mentioned die off. I would just continue to monitor ammonia, you might see more die off if it was already experiencing die off.

 

[Radicalrob1982]

I must have had some because I have a readable 5ppm nitrate. It likely won't take 6 weeks to cycle. Hopefully quicker. I will test every few days until I see the ammonia disappear. I will make sure to keep adding bits of fish food to keep up the ammonia source while the tank does its thing.

 

[Radicalrob1982]

I must have had some because I have a readable 5ppm nitrate. It likely won't take 6 weeks to cycle. Hopefully quicker. I will test every few days until I see the ammonia disappear. I will make sure to keep adding bits of fish food to keep up the ammonia source while the tank does its thing.

I would imagine now the tank has ammonia, the nitrate can begin to multiply