cycling question

widdlebiddy

widdlebiddy

Member
Okay, I pretty well know about cycling now and I understand the spikes of ammonia and nitrite and all but what I have a question about is....I know you can cycle your tank with a piece of raw shrimp but my lfs is telling me I am crazy to want to do it that way! He says that I need to add a damsel to my tank as soon as I fill it with ls, lr and sw. I don't think this is a good idea, one for it being prolly painful and cruel to the fish, another cuz I DON"T want a damsel! I can just cycle it with only lr and ls right? Do you all know of other ways beside those 3 ways. AM i right or is my lfs?
 
shogun323

shogun323

Active Member
Your LFS wants you to spend money. You shouldn't cycle with fish as ammonia is toxic. Also, at the end of the cycle you are left with evil aggressive damsels that you will have a tough time removing from your tank.
You will cycle just fine with your LR and LS. You can through a shrimp in there if you want.
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
IMO cycleing with live fish is cruel .... the raw shrimp method works, or you can cycle with uncured LR also. It's up to the individual.
 
widdlebiddy

widdlebiddy

Member
that's what i thought too! I would like to cycle with uncured lr but I heard it really makes the house stank. Is it that bad, if it is I can cycle with cured and just throw in shrimp. The lr at lfs is 7 for cured and 5 for uncured.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Cycling with just the live rock is ideal in my opinion. I'm not a fan of the dead shrimp method but the Fish method is far worse.
If the rock is uncured then there will be plenty of die-off to provide food for nitrifying bacteria. Try to keep ammonia low with water changes once it starts to climb. Keeping it below 0.5ppm is ideal but it's fine as long as you can keep it below 1.0ppm.
If you have cured live rock then you may have to provide food for the bacteria because there might not be any die-off if you're lucky. A small amount of fish food is all that's required. The same amount of food that you would be feeding the Damsel if you listened to your LFS (bad advice IMO). Try to maintain a low level of ammonia but try not to let it get above 0.5ppm. The more you feed the higher the ammonia level. Don't be in a hurry, it's not a race. A Damsel only eats a tiny amount of food per day so that's all you need to add to feed the bacteria.
Good luck!
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by widdlebiddy
that's what i thought too! I would like to cycle with uncured lr but I heard it really makes the house stank. Is it that bad, if it is I can cycle with cured and just throw in shrimp. The lr at lfs is 7 for cured and 5 for uncured.
If you keep the Ammonia level low but still detectable then the tank won't stink. The stories you hear of smelly curing tanks are from people that allowed the ammonia level to climb uncontrolled and kill the animals in their live rock.
 
widdlebiddy

widdlebiddy

Member
hmmm...which way to go :notsure: they both sound okay. I'm not in a rush or anything. I just don't want my house to really smell like rotten eggs or anything of that sort
With the raw shrimp, can i use cured lr? thanks so much for ya'lls honest opinion! :happyfish
 
chuckcac

chuckcac

Member
i agree with Bangguy... I have not set up my tank yet... but after all that ive read on cycling...the uncured rock is the way to go!
AND, Its less expensive than cured LR
 
widdlebiddy

widdlebiddy

Member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
If you keep the Ammonia level low but still detectable then the tank won't stink. The stories you hear of smelly curing tanks are from people that allowed the ammonia level to climb uncontrolled and kill the animals in their live rock.
Bang u r a genious!!!! Do you have pics of your tank i can see?
 
widdlebiddy

widdlebiddy

Member
Very gorgeous and nicely layed out! What is the purple coral or sponge in the first pic kinda towards the middle left? And the bright bluish things in your nano? Very pretty
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
A purple Montipora capricornus and either a Blue Mushroom or Candycane Coral, I'm not sue what you're looking at, the Candycane is more green and brighter. Both are very common.
 
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