Live rock

I just got 3 Lbs. of live rock and 7 Lbs. of base rock , and i was wondering how long it will take for my base rock to look like my live rock. and if there is anything i can do to speed it up . And I also have a question about my tank cycling , I took a water sample to LFS and they said my cycle was already done and my tank is ready for new fish if i wanted to put some in , but my tank has only be up and running for 18 days. I always thought it took atleast 5 or 6 weeks for it to cycle. but i saw the tests and my ammonia was 0.0 ppm , Nitrites 0.0 ppm, and pH 8.2 .

 

Did you see any levels of ammonia or nitrites or nitrates at any time??? 18 days seems a little quick. The LR will color up and liven up with time

Mike

 

This was the first time I had my water tested so I dont know if anything spiked.

 

Would be a good thing to get your own test kits.
What LS did you use? We have had some people post here that use a sand that was saying it cycles the tank faster. I think it was GaMmA and someone else that used it. Do a search on LS as it was just last month they posted about it.

Did you add a raw shrimp to the tank?

 

3 # may have cycled fast. I would invest in More LR. As 10# in a 30 may not provide the amount of filtration you require.
And ya, did you feed your tank during the cycle?
(The Shrimp thing Naut is talking about)

J

 

to speed up the base rock becoming live you can put the live rock by a power head blowing water onto the base rock that will speed up the process a bit

 

yeah I fed em flake and raw Brine shrimp , did the shrimp help it cycle faster? I used CaribSea Argonite.

 

what kind of test kit do i need? Just Ammonia, Nitrites and pH ?

 

a master test kit will have ammonia nitrate nitrite and pH, there are also test kits for alkalinity,phosphate, calcium. but for cycling you only need the master test kit

 

It would depend on what master kit you are talking about.
Most are not accurate. Salifert has one but it is alto of $.
Get what you can afford but you get what ya pay for. ammonia , Nitrite, and Nitrate are 3 you need to cycle with. Calcium, alk, pH are 3 needed for reef tanks and alto more if and when you really get into this hobby.