Cycling w/raw shrimp?

[marine qa]

Has anyone had any experience cycling using raw shrimp? I have posted a couple of cycling questions already and have received allot of good advice, and I am still pursuing other ways to cycle w/out fish/LR/LS.
The Marine Aquariest Preservation Society has an artice on About.com that suggests placing a couple cocktail shrimp in a tank to provide an ammonia source. The article also recomends leaving filters w/bioelements, i.e. my biowheels, off for the first few days.
I have bought the shrimp and I'm either cooking them for dinner or putting them in the tank.
Thanks.
[ April 16, 2001: Message edited by: Marine QA ]

 

[saltwater marauder]

yes you can use shrimp. The dacaying process will start the ammo spike. I used a couple of silversides, LS, and LR to cycle my 37 gal. and it cycled in a little under two weeks. I chose this route for the same reason, no need to sacrifice fish just so you can have fish.

 

[marine qa]

Thanks Saltwater Marauder. I think I'm going to try it. I do have a question: Do I remove the decaying shrimp after awile or just leave them in there?
I agree with your views about keeping fish from pain and/or death during cycling.

 

[jacrmill]

cant tell you from experience, but what i read told said to leave it in there until it got really rank. after that i would expect you would need to put a fresh one in there. this would keep a good supply of ammonia in the tank. good luck with your cycle. and man someones cycled in under 2 weeks? wish i knew of this method along time ago.

 

[marine qa]

Thanks Jacrmill. I put two raw shrimp on some coral and my dinner is that much smaller. It's pathetic to say but the shrimp are the most exciting things in the tank.

 

[bluto]

I started cycling my 90g (4" sand bed w/approx 25% LS, 15lbs LR and biowheel filter) with 4 small raw shrimp about 9 days ago. My ammonia has spiked and is now back to 0 but my nitrites are still pretty high. It seems to all be going according to plan (this is my first saltwater tank), but now I'm kind of wondering if I should throw some more raw shrimp in or just leave the original carcasses (for lack of a better description) in there to rot (see disclaimer above) away?
Bluto

 

[fixitdude2001]

Hay everyone, let us know how this works for you. I am making plans allready for my fish only tank 150 or better just depends on were bluberry wants to put it, if it goes in the dinning room I can go big, but the living room I would only have room for the 150. ...CYA,,,fixit

 

[marine qa]

Just yesterday I put two raw shrimp in my tank. The ammonia level before I put them in was 00.00. Tonight it is 0.5!! According to a chart that Kappadoku sent me earlier the ammonia should peak around 10ppm.
As a reminder my 46 bowfront tank has been running since Saturday the 7th. I have no fish/LR/LS and I am keeping the biowheels/Emperor 400 off for three days as suggested by the article I cited in the first message of this post. I am also using a bacteria product called "TLC" which replaced "Cycle" at a local LFS. A negative may be a slight, certain to grow, rank smell. Oh well I guess I'll be a bachelor a little longer.
I will update when nitrites show.

 

[slk3599]

I've cycled all my tanks with raw shrimp. It works amazingly well and saves the hassle of trying to get those little devil damsels out of a large tank.

 

[bluto]

For anyone interested...my tank just finished cycling in about 12days with raw shrimp and the setup I mentioned above.
4 Days ago my ammonia was at 0 and my nitrite was off the charts. 3 days ago the nitrite started dropping. Last night I got a 0 nitrite reading.
Bluto

 

[b_ball12_99]

Can someone e-mail me some info on this? I'm going to start a 75 gallon this summer. My e-mail is b_ball12_99@hotmail.com thanks for any info.

 

[jjspati]

Im so glad i ran upon this board. I read all of your replys and took the advice using the raw shrimp. i placed 2 shrimp in my new fo setup of a 45gal 2 days ago with no LR or LS and the ammonia is at 0.25ppm. should i put in another 2? When should i expect the ammonia to start spiking? When do you take out the coctails?
[ April 21, 2001: Message edited by: JJSPATI ]

 

[bluto]

Pati (is that the correct spelling??),
I left my shrimp in until they got really disgusting (come to think of it...they're still in there). My question is...do I need to throw more in there even though my tank has cycled. In other words...do I need to "feed" the bacteria until I get fish?
Bluto

 

[jjspati]

hey Bluto, if your asking me on this, i wouldnt take my advice as to professional. Im still working on my first setup. This is my cherry. Your questions are as good as mine. I would say that you would not need to feed the bacteria with more shrimp after the cycle because the fish, waste, and food will suppliment for that. Good luck
JJ

 

[marine qa]

I'm glad to see everyone responding to this post. As you can read above I am cyclying my first SW tank using raw shrimp. Here is an update:
The shrimp have been in about a week. I turned on the Emperor 400 after three days as instructed in my above cited article. The smell went away soon after the filter went back on. My ammonia level peaked at ~2.5. However, I missed two days of testing so it may have peaked higher. This morning my nitrite level was above 1.0. I am concerned that the ammonia level did not reach 10ppm as I have found to be the correct peak, but I am siked(sp?)to see the nitrite level so high. My cycle has clearly begun.
I am no expert but I think I am going to add more shrimp today. Since damsels, LR, or LS would have created a consistant supply of ammonia througout the cycle, I am going to try to immitate this with a constant supply of shrimp.
I would be grateful for any experienced person to let the beginers on this post know what more we should do, if anything. Thanks.
[ April 22, 2001: Message edited by: Marine QA ]

 

[ryddo]

b_ball12_99,
Did anyone email you with information on the cycling proceedure? If you did get information, can you send it my way, thanks.
donnelr2000@yahoo.com

 

[krustytheclownfish]

Another newbie here, so take my advice with a grain of salt. I cycled my 30g tank with shrimp in a little under two weeks. I now have two perculas in there that seem to be doing great. I read the same article that Marine QA read at about.com. For anyone that is interested in the procedures go to that sight and read the article there. I left my two cocktail shrimp in the tank until I added the fish. Never changed them. I also read somewhere, which makes sense, that you need to leave the shrimp in there until you add another source of ammonia(i.e. fish) or the bacteria will eventually starve to death. Just my two cents.
[ April 23, 2001: Message edited by: KrustytheClownFish ]