Cycling with shrimp

jokerj

jokerj

Member
what i did was go to the grocery store back to the seafood department and asked the guy if he had any that they were going to throw out because they were starting to go bad and he gave me about 3 or 4 large shrimp for free.
 
0verfl0w

0verfl0w

Member
I really don't have time to stop by the supermarket today. I've been thawing out some skirt steak to BBQ later though and I think I'm just gonna throw in a half pound of that. Has anyone noticed any ill effects from using raw meat instead of shrimp?
 
ezee

ezee

Member
0verfl0w,
I would think that would not be a good idea. Composition and additives from beef will be significantly different from anything in the ocean. Not sure what the side effects would be but I would research VERY carefully before I do that.
Forgive me if that was a joke. I can be so gullible!
E
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by 0verfl0w
I really don't have time to stop by the supermarket today. I've been thawing out some skirt steak to BBQ later though and I think I'm just gonna throw in a half pound of that. Has anyone noticed any ill effects from using raw meat instead of shrimp?
Good heavens... 1/2 a pound??!!! That might be a bit of an overkill....
Not sure what the harm in using beef would be... I'd stick with shrimp.
 
0verfl0w

0verfl0w

Member
Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Good heavens... 1/2 a pound??!!! That might be a bit of an overkill....
Not sure what the harm in using beef would be... I'd stick with shrimp.
Yeah, you're probably right...I'm gonna use a 1/4 lb
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Hehe... still sounds like quite a bit... you don't want your ammonia to spike so high it burns your eyes and nose when you catch a wiff of your tank.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Don't use shrimp at all. Get a piece or two of LR and use that to cycle. Even if you are not going to have a live rock tank, a few pieces of rubble will really kick start a new system.
Remember to feed the rock, though.
 
danedodger

danedodger

Member
What's wrong with using a shrimp? You can certainly use liverock to cycle a tank but you run the risk of killing off more of the live parts of the rock as the ammonia goes up. Cycling with a shrimp means no killing off anything at all.
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Beth's point is that a few pieces of live rock already have all 3 types of bacteria growing so it's quicker than waiting for the colonies to start up on their own.
I feel like a cocktail shrimp is easier though as you can just let it sit in the tank and wither away...
 
0verfl0w

0verfl0w

Member
I dropped one in last night. Later on I noticed something that kinda freaked me out. I have these tiny little bugs running around everywhere. They are all over the dead shrimp too so I'm guessing they're scavengers of some sort.
 
0verfl0w

0verfl0w

Member

Originally Posted by Beth
Don't use shrimp at all. Get a piece or two of LR and use that to cycle. Even if you are not going to have a live rock tank, a few pieces of rubble will really kick start a new system.
Remember to feed the rock, though.

Huh?
 
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