curing LR and skimming...

[jph]

so, my liverock has been curing for about one and a half weeks right now.
nitrites and nitrates still read pretty high. ammonia just barely a hint.

i guess it's moving along

but i noticed that the skimmer stopped producing foam like it did in the beginning. for about two days now, the foam is only about 2" high, not even reaching close to the collection cup. it just sits there, happily bubbling away, but not really going anywhere.

i've scrubbed the rocks twice now, and did about a 20% waterchange after one week. most of the smaller rocks smell "ok" but one particulat BIG rock still smells pretty nasty

is this normal at this stage ?

oh, before i forget, the skimmer is an AquaC-EV180


J.

[Wiskey]

Well putting your hands in the tank, or feeding, will kill the skimmer head, it is also possible that your air injector is plugged, or you need to turn up your water level a bit now as the really major organics have come off.

You will have to do some messing with your skimmer during the curing stage, some days it will work great, others it barly works at all, but as the rock finishes curing the skimmer should settle out to fairly regular production.

HTH,
Whiskey