High levels of Nitrite and Nitrate, when curing live rocks, how to reduce them?

Question

I've been trying to clycle my 24 gallon nano tank, Its been 11 days now, I've noticed that the Nitrite and Nitrate are very high, but amonia is low, and I've been seeing my rocks turning black, where there were red and green stuff before. I've been doing 20% water changes like every 3 -4 days. I don't know what else to do from keeping it from dying? should I do a 75% water change? Please Help. I have live sand 30pounds, and 30 pounds of live rock. My PH and Alk is good, and water temp is at 82 and salinity is at 1.024

I am using a pump, its 300 gallons per hour. Amonia is at .25, Nitrite and Nitrate is at 1, (the highest, (purple in color)). I have to mention that I did add Bio Sipra, this was three days into curing the live rocks. Even before add bio sipra, the Nitrate and Nitrite were very high. I did test the water before and it was 0, when I added the rocks. Another thing is that, I am using distilled water, I did also use filtered tap water (pur filter). I did by a tap water filter by aqaurium parhm, but I haven't recieved it yet.

I am not quite sure what the black things are, it seem like if something was decaying. When I first got the rocks, they had lots of things growing on it. Now, it seems like the rock has lost 50% of its color and where there were color now is black.

Answer 1

Are you running a filter or something to supply oxygen in the water? Turning black sounds like an anerobic reaction.

ADDITION: If you're using a filter, then the problem shouldn't be anaerobic conditions. I wouldn't add any more biospira as the live rock should already contain living bacteria, and if there isn't enough ammonia to support additional bacteria at the time you add the supplement, the "extra" bacteria will die off and contribute to the biological waste in the tank.

I would try a larger water change just to lower the nitrite levels. I wouldn't recommend using distilled water, as it lacks minerals that the organisms in the tank can use, and also has little buffering capacity, although your salt mix should supply some of this. If you have access to a larger grocery store/Super WalMart/Target, see if you can get reverse osmosis water (the stuff sold at the Culligan water dispensers it should run about $0.33 per gallon once you buy the refillable container). You also don't mention your pH level in this question - it should be above 8.0 at the least.

Is the black on the rock something hard, or something you can scrape off easily?


ADDITION 2: Are you using any type of lighting on the tank the live rock is in? Any of the pink, red, and purple encrusting the rock is coralline algae and needs some light for photosynthesis. Also, what is the pH? Check the rock to be sure if it's something on the rock decaying, or if it might be something growing over the rock, like this bubble algae: http://www.biol.tsukuba.ac.jp/~inouye/ino/g/ulv/valonia2.jpg which is a dark green or this coralline algae: http://saltcorner.com/sections/guest/algaepage/Red/calcareous/Peyssonnelia.htm , or a dark colored cyanobacteria/diatom overgrowth: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/marine/coraldis/cd/I/rbd_II_steph.jpg , http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/guest/algaepage/Brown/diatoms/Diatoms2.jpg

Answer 2

good thought copper, i would also run a powerhead as well sas the filter, a maxijet 400 or so