silverado61
Well-Known Member
Just put the shrimp in a piece of nylon to make it easy to remove when the spike hits. I wouldn't use ammonia unless your experienced.
I've always just used fish food. It's more precise than a large piece of shrimp. For me, the idea is to create a small steady supply of ammonia. As long as there is a measurable amount of ammonia the bacteria are not food limited.After you out the shrimp in there, do you take it out? And is there somethig else you can use, instead of shrimp? I know some people cycle with pure ammonia.
I'm not following the connection between a large water change and adding bottled bacteria. Can you elaborate a bit on that?Yeah, like Snake said you just need the presence of ammonia to get everything started... there are multiple ways of doing this but the raw shrimp method is cheap, easy and used by a lot of people. I also like to add bottled bacteria to me new systems to speed things along. In my newest tank I'm using Microbacter7. I also use it in my established tanks if I'm doing a very large water change.
Good article snake-in-the-tank
Gobies are the best. Careful with sea stars. They're voracious eaters and could clean the sandbed so good they start to starve. I've heard they do best with a 150g and a 6 inch sandbed at least.I know that there's probably not much bacteria in the water column however I do believe there are some floating around. But I don't really consider it to be "adding chemicals" I do it to help aid in keeping the bacteria stable. I may be adding it unnecessarily... but if it's not doing me much good I also don't think it's causing any harm either. And I do not often mess with the sand beds in my tanks, just a couple of times a year or when the surface starts to get ugly I like to give it a stirring. I have heard/read that you can release gases into your tank so that's also why I do a large water change anytime I do that as well as trying to remove extra detritus and algae from my tank all in one shot. I do plan on getting sand sifters to do this work regularly like sand sifting stars and gobies but currently my hermit crabs, emerald crabs and snails don't do enough of the work for me not to want to touch it every once in a great while. And I totally agree with the endorsement stuff you touched on... Life is sales right? I don't believe everything that I read or watch or hear... mostly I like to experience things for myself. I liked a couple of the things I saw and heard in the video that I thought made sense which is why I'll be trying it out and seeing for myself. I also thought that him doing an actual experiment with the results was a nice touch... (endorsement or not). I'd like to thank you guys for talking about it though. And I'm glad I became a member here, I have gotten so much help over the years on forums like these. It's nice to talk to other people in the hobby and share with one another.
Nitrifying (beneficial) bacteria lives in the substrate (rock and sand). Free floating bacteria gets removed by the skimmer (if used), so if there is any floating in the water column, it's miniscule. Unless the rocks and/or sand have been exposed to air or harsh chemicals, the bacteria is always present. Agitating the sand bed will release some into the water column, but the majority will be clinging to the grains of sand. Deep stirring of the sand bed is a different story if you have a deep sand bed. The anaerobic bacteria that consumes nitrate will be exposed to oxygen laden water, which will kill it. This can cause a problem in the tank, and then yes, a large water change would be needed. A light stirring in the upper layer of sand will release some detritus, and a small portion of the aerobic bacteria, but not enough to make an impact on the biofilter system. Adding a bacteria booster to a mature system will basically result in a lot of bacterial die-off, as the new bacteria won't have enough to eat to survive. Just my 2c...I know that there's probably not much bacteria in the water column however I do believe there are some floating around. But I don't really consider it to be "adding chemicals" I do it to help aid in keeping the bacteria stable. I may be adding it unnecessarily... but if it's not doing me much good I also don't think it's causing any harm either. And I do not often mess with the sand beds in my tanks, just a couple of times a year or when the surface starts to get ugly I like to give it a stirring. I have heard/read that you can release gases into your tank so that's also why I do a large water change anytime I do that as well as trying to remove extra detritus and algae from my tank all in one shot. I do plan on getting sand sifters to do this work regularly like sand sifting stars and gobies but currently my hermit crabs, emerald crabs and snails don't do enough of the work for me not to want to touch it every once in a great while. And I totally agree with the endorsement stuff you touched on... Life is sales right? I don't believe everything that I read or watch or hear... mostly I like to experience things for myself. I liked a couple of the things I saw and heard in the video that I thought made sense which is why I'll be trying it out and seeing for myself. I also thought that him doing an actual experiment with the results was a nice touch... (endorsement or not). I'd like to thank you guys for talking about it though. And I'm glad I became a member here, I have gotten so much help over the years on forums like these. It's nice to talk to other people in the hobby and share with one another.
I have a 5" sand sifting sea star in my 125 with a 3" sand bed. It's been in the tank for well over 2 years, and it's fat as a horse. A very healthy horse. I also have one in my fairly young 40B. I monitor the sand in the 40B to make sure there are plenty of worms in the bed, and it's growing like a weed. This is in conjunction with a diamond goby and a pair of 9" engineer gobies. The sand is constantly turned over, but I still find lots of "tunnels" along the edges of the glass.Gobies are the best. Careful with sea stars. They're voracious eaters and could clean the sandbed so good they start to starve. I've heard they do best with a 150g and a 6 inch sandbed at least.