Everyone I talked to locally that keeps these rays said 2-3 weeks was enough time to cycle before bringing her home, which is why I went that route. I checked my water parameters every day during that period and saw literally no change from beginning to end. Considering that I've had her for a few months now with regular water changes and no problems, it was very apparent that her recent issues didn't arise until I changed out the sand that I had started with and put in that black crap that irritated and stressed her. It's been downhill from there and only now is she starting to bounce back. She continued to eat 2 more whole jumbo shrimp today, shell-on. She likes to swim around with it in her mouth and work on it for 20 minutes or so, like a puzzle she has to figure out.
I have AmQuel, have been using it since the beginning as a water stabilizer. It doesn't seem to do anything, I test right before beginning a water change and then a couple hours later after it's done and AmQuel has been added, and it's generally the same results. Even when I had the original aragonite sand and it had been seeded and probiotics had been living for about 2 months, plus water changes 1-2 times per week, I still couldn't get the nitrites down, even with 3 filters on the tank and plenty of bio-media to grow on. So I don't really know what's going on. I will say that in the experience of those I talk to that have kept these rays for a couple years in both fresh and brackish water, including Dr. Piermarini in his e-mail, the general consensus is that they are pretty tough, hardy fish that can tolerate quite a bit, far more than the sensitive South American rays. So I'm guessing that's how she's been able to get through everything so well. I don't have to worry about rinsing the filters as much anymore because this living sand I bought doesn't cloud the water, float, or get sucked into the filter intakes, so there's nothing clogging them anymore. Since my 2 back filters are strictly bio now, what would you recommend I layer inside the canister filter? As previously mentioned, it currently has a straining spongy/wirey stuff on the bottom layer, then a layer of carbon, then a layer of ammo-chips, then a later of ceramic tubes. Is it OK the way it is? I've been looking at buying a bigger canister and then just transferring the media from this one into the new one so that it doesn't have to start over. I'm going to need a bigger one because I found a 210 gallon tank + stand + glass tops + light hood on Craigslist for $550, which I'm going to pick up on Thursday and start cycling so she can move.
As an afterthought, would it be possible that the probiotics aren't growing due to my water being extremely hard? Even with the addition of salt to the tank, it doesn't seem to soften it very much and the calcium deposits on my filters, the glass tops, etc.
