my mistake is still haunting me

A week ago, i removed my rocks and rinsed them in hot water (like an idiot) to get rid of this crab i had... anyways, my ammonia spiked to 1.0 and now its down to 0.25, so I am hoping it will keep dropping over the course of next couple of days..

Now I am afraid, as this looks like a new cycle my tank is starting, if my nitrates goes up, should I turn on my skimmer, bacause all this time I had it off so it creates all the bacteria it needs...

What do you guys think, wait another week with skimmer off, or should i turn it on?


Thanx

 

skimmer ON

 

I would continue to run it. It shouldn't hurt the bacteria population. How is the tank doing?

 

Do you have fish in the tank? I think there has been and prob will be for quite some time a debate over using a skimmer during a cycle. I myself used my skimmer during and had what appeared to be a normal cycle. I would keep it on.

 

Skimmer on or off doesn't matter IMO. You are going to go threw another cycle, it may be shorter than the first because you still have some bacteria in the tank. But if you have livestock in there you may want to get them out.

 

Oh, I was assuming you had livestock... leaving the skimmer on during cycling seems like the fastest way to return the tank back to near NSW conditions, and the chance that more beneficial life from the LR will be present in the end.

 

All anyone who insists on using L/R can do is simply put all the rocks out on a tarp and allow the crabs and worms all to crawl out then you don't kill the bacteria in and on the rocks
This is why good quality L/R seldom ships wet in water only wrapped in damp newspaper and in a plastic sack.. And why its always cured up on shelves and misted to keep it all wet . this will force all the pest to get out also .

I would suggest that it never be used in the first place all that money per pound for wet rocks and killer pest Not me

 

thanx guys i will turn on my skimmer, and thanx for the tip Tangster

 

Now you tell me... yeah, if i had to do anything over again, I'd have bought dead rock. woulda saved me a couple hundred. Oh well...

 

Me too. I now have about a billion vermitid worms in my tank throwing their nets onto all of my corals and making them close up.