help need with cloudy water.

[electropleb]

I was told to change over the rocks slowly, because if I did it all in one go I would kill my tank. so today I changed over one rock, how long should I wait before and change over anther rock? a month?

[electropleb]

one guy said

"If those rocks are what you say they are. they are likely dissolving in your tank.. I would SLOWLY replace with some good quality live rock"

[electropleb]

I said sand stone, but I believe they are limestone

[JimD]

You need to be testing your water while replacing the rock. Chances are you'll notice an Ammonia spike during the process, when all your test results zero'd out, you can add more live rock.

[Kristy]

I was told to change over the rocks slowly, because if I did it all in one go I would kill my tank. so today I changed over one rock, how long should I wait before and change over anther rock? a month?

Pulling the sandstone / limestone rocks out does not need to happen slowly. You will continue to have these problems until you do get that rock out. And the floss only helps to clean up the debris that is clouding up your water AFTER you pull the rocks out. It can't prevent all that new debris that is going to keep happening until those rocks are gone.

Putting in new rock is the part that you have to be slow and cautious about to make sure you don't cause an ammonia spike to your tank and cause the whole tank to crash. If it were my tank, I'd pull those rocks out yesterday and go in search of new live rock ASAP. If you can buy some cured live rock from another MAAST members tank (and it has always been in an aquarium or in aerated salt water) then it can go immediately in your tank. If I bought live rock from a store, I would set up a holding tank (buckets of salt water from a water change are fine) and put power heads on them to keep them aerated, then add them to the tank in a month.

Good luck. HTH

[MKCindy]

Yep, I agree with Kristy, sandstone/limestone has to go asap and don't worry about the cyano, your tank is only a few months old, so it is still cycling anyway. Don't rush it. The purpose of LR is more than just for looks. Deep in the rock, live very small animals that will help cycle your tank and create a unique natural filter system of their own. Shot, finding out what is hiding in there is half the fun.

[Gseclipse02]

Put some filter floss in the HoB.

i don't recommend this part... after a while they will clog up and over flow ... trust me

[electropleb]

I'm back, sorry my family were hungry so I had to take them out and feed them.

so update, I've taken all the limestone/sandstone out of the tank. all thats left are 3 live rock. one new one and 2 old live rocks.

as for the floss, I've put it into my filter, in the top shelf above the balls.

my tanks looking a little bare now :( but I'll test the water tomorrow and get some more live rock soon,

how long do you think I should wait before I get some more live rock?

[Daniel]

i don't recommend this part... after a while they will clog up and over flow ... trust me

I've never had a problem, and have done it every time I've had a bloom on the 3 tanks I'm running. But then again I clean out my lines and sump on a quarterly basis so that might be why.

Daniel

[brewercm]

If you can get some rock that is already cured you can put quite a bit in at a time. I'd probably go around 20 to 25lbs at a time, otherwise you need to find some way to cure it before putting in then you can put as much as you want. You can possibly even put more than the 20 to 25 but you will have a little die off regardless and with all those fish already there that would be my comfort zone.