[artoledo]

I just set up my 75 Gallon Aquarium, proclear 125 wet dry filter, i have 3 damsels about 20 lbs of live rock and 40 lbs of live sand. I just put in the rock on saturday and my Nitrate is at 20ppm and the Nitrite is at 20ppm. Any suggestions on how to bring this down or if this is normal? The tank has been running for almost 2 weeks.

[musho3210]

is the rock cured? (better yet did you yourself cure the rock)

[artoledo]

yes the rock is cured, i bought it from a local pet store. its fiji rock.

[usmc121581]

How long ago has the tank been setup. THis is normal in a newly established tank. They will level out in a few weeks.

[musho3210]

did you cure it yourself to be safe, even if it is sold cured you should always cure it yourself since there will be die off.

[artoledo]

i just dropped the rock into the tank. im new to saltwater aquariums so bare with me.

[musho3210]

its ok, everyone makes mistakes, if i were you i would buy a heavy duty, maybe 20 gallon plastic container and fill it up with saltwater, add the rock that you just plopped in, then cure the rock yourself in that container with no fish.

heres a more informative link

http://www.livestockusa.org/CURING.html

[artoledo]

well the rock is already in there so there is no use in taking out now.

[musho3210]

i dont see how it is no use, taking it out is probably one of the best things you can do to lower the nitrate and nitrite since it is contributing to your bio-load, let your damsels cycle, dont use both damsels and rock. Are you running a protien skimmer? The skimmer will help get rid of a lot of the gunk that the live rock may be producing, do lots of water changes to keep the nitrite down.

[artoledo]

I have 2 skimmers, i just havent set one up yet. i need some tubing. yeah im doing water changes every couple of days. im changing about 10 gallons.