uncured liverock process

Hey everyone, I have set up a 55 gallon aquarium. I have 40lbs of aragonite sand (non-live) with a cup of livesand from my 29 gallon aquarium. I put in 32 lbs on uncured liverock monday night (two nights ago). I have koralia 1, 3, and 4, and a return pump for a total of 2700 GPH flow rate. Its been cycling for two days now and these are my readings:
SG: 1.025
ammonia: 0.5 ppm
pH: 8.1
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: 15 ppm

This is my first time cycling and Im wondering if my parameters are normal, how often i should test the water, and when i know that my cycle is done?
Please help me; add any tips or hints also. All information is good information, im still fairly new to all this.

Sterling, Thanks in advance

 

looks good to me. Your ammonia will continue to rise, then start to fall, then Nitrite will spike, followed by Nitrate. I'd expect the process to take 3-4 weeks total. Test maybe once a week for the next few weeks. Best advice I can give you is take your time. Let it cycle fully and do not rush to put in live stock. Patience now will pay off big time down the road.

 

Alright, thanks alot for the input. Now I have a 29gallon biocube with about 35lbs of cured liverock with coraline algae and such. Will i be allowed to put that rock in the 55 gallon even though the uncured rock is cycling?

 

I wouldn't test for at least 3 weeks. If you test during then you'll find that you will always be comparing colors that correspond to low numbers and will probably think you're done early. I've seen it happen a lot.

On an aside - do you have 3 tanks or 2? If you have 2 then your first and second posts do not coincide.

On another aside - yes you can add the rock from your other tank to this one, but I'd add it now so that you don't trigger a mini-cycle after you're done cycling the 55 completely.

 

Sry, froc; i meant 29 oops. I have two aquariums. Now a problem i have is that two of my rocks that are in the 29gallon have corals on them (one rock has a mushrooms growing naturally from it - about 1.5 inch diamerer) and another rock is completely covered is green star polyps). Will i be able to put these rocks in? Im thinking not but I never know with this SW thing.

On a side not, does the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels affect fish and/or corals?

 

Both, toxic in small amounts for ammonia and nitrite, but not so much for nitrate - but good to keep at low levels.

You could probably add the rocks after as long as they are not that large. If you're not adding a very large amount of LR then you'll be fine. If they are large pieces then I would add one at a time.

The GSP (Green Star Polyps) would likely survive going in now, but why risk it... Hope this helped.

 

Hey froc,
I have a large bioload in the my biocube, and in order to get the LR to place in the 55 gallon i will need to take out everything. Will this disturb the corals and fish and such; i dont know what to do honestly.

Heres a link to my thread so you understand the biocube bioload.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/sterlings-55g-thread-58897.html

 

Hey froc, you posted on my thread lol...
The hippo tang i gave to my cousin - he has my lights and a larger tank. But my naso is full of personality so im keeping him until he outgrows the 55g.