Cycling - Shrimp?

[disdominican]

What kind of shrimp do i buy to start the cycle of the tank? frozen?

 

[nightraven]

just plain old cocktail shrimp from your grocer's deli or freezer will doo just fine. just make sure it isn't breaded.

 

[disdominican]

Oh that's it, cool. Thanks a lot by the way.

 

[disdominican]

Also, If i dont have live sand or live rock yet would the shrimp still start the cycle of my tank? Or would anything start growing (bacteria)?

 

[birdy]

What type of filter are you using. I would really wait until you get your sand and LR then start cycling your tank.

 

[disdominican]

So there isnt any point in putting shrimp in now.

 

[birdy]

Well if you have a filter that has biological filtration it would seed it but, I would just wait, most of the time when you add LR it starts a cycle anyway.

 

[disdominican]

I have a wet/dry under my tank.

 

[birdy]

I have never used a wet/dry but from what I know about them you can start the cycle because your bacteria will start growing on the bioballs, just be prepared for another minicycle when you add LR and LS. Maybe someone who knows more about wetdrys will answer.

 

[disdominican]

Does anyone else have an opinion on this?

 

[pufferuk]

in my FOWLR tank i plan on putting sand in but if i put live rock in them evntually will bacteria move into the sand and that will become live sand
p.s this is going to be my first cycle

 

[entice59]

well before you put your shrimp in, put in your livesand/deadsand first and if you have any uncured liverock you can put that in also
What i would do for the shrimp is to put it the shrimp in a media bag, those fine mesh bags for media, and put the shrimp in there, and put it in an area with circulation, becaues its VERY hard to clean shrimp chuncks that are floating around and obviously, no one wants to clean up dead shrimp pieces that have decayed all over you tank, 3-7 dollar bag will save you plenty of time and future backpains, trust me i had to clean this crap off my friends tank
it will take awhile before your sand turns live, if your using dead sand, seed it with live sand, id atleast use 30-50% livesand, i wouldnt run any wet/dry filters during the cycle, learn how to properly clean the bioballs, they can cause your nitrates to raise because of fishwaste trapped in the bioballs
good luck