What will live?

[neap]

Hey there,
I have finally set up my 125 with DSB and live rock from the Arafura Sea. The sand is "uninhabited" and i am hoping things will crawl off the rock into the sand (corals sand lightly washed) or i might seed it. I can't get live sand over here.

The live rock contains several corals and i am wondering what is going to survive the establishment stage. I was surprised to see the squashed finger leathers fully inflated this morning and pipe-organ "emerge". There is also pink starlet and moon coral. The open brain doesn't look too flash.
This new tank has collected sea water and i have the skimmer running with the lighting on and powerheads for circulation. After 24 hours:
Ammonia O.25 ppm
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
Calcium 500ppm
pH 8.0
SG 1.025
This is my first reef tank and i'm bound to make some mistakes, but hopefully not at the expense of the livestock. I was so excited unpacking the live rock finding worms and crabs and shrimps. My wife was only concerned with the worms."Are they supposed to be there?"
Anyway my big question is what can be expected to live thru my anticipated rise in Ammonia? (Tank smells good......for now...)

thanks
TC

 

[fishfarmer]

It's difficult to say what will live on fresh uncured live rock. It sounds like you have access to some good rock though.

I personally like to take a hands on approach to rock curing, like inspecting each piece of rock every day or so and looking for dead things which I scrub off. I also like to do partial water changes where I siphon off dead or dying material. If you can adjust your skimmer to run wetter, that should help getting the toxins out. Some corals are amazingly tough and will survive the curing stage.