Dead shrinp for cycling - no amonia!

[mab]

Per sugggestions on this board; I have had a dead shrimp (grocery store variety) in my new 55 tank now for 4 days and no a trace of amonia has shown up. I do not wat to use fish for cycling. I only have about 10 lbs of cured live rock in the tank (more coming from Gulf-coast) with the shrimp and 4 inches of substrate. How long should I wait to see the amonia/nitrite spike? should I add another dead shipm or should the one do it eventually? I have not yet added any bacteria supplements yet as I want to wait for the amonia to sky rocket first. Am I on the right track?
Thanks for the terrific help.

 

[chadillac]

why would you not want to use fish? Damsels are great for this plus it gives you something to look at while you have to wait for your tank to cycle. you can even use something like a spotted grouper. most lfs will give you a credit if you bring them i after you cycle your tank, if you dont like damsels. as far as the dead shrimp it would seem to me that you would have to wait until the thing was almost totally decayed before you saw any ammonia ata l and even then I'm not real sure. I have never heard of anything quite like that before. I say go with damsels. But hey to each their own. Thats why this is a great place you get all differnt kinds of info right?

 

[tyrfing]

It's considered pretty cruel to make a fish live through the cycling of a tank. The near toxic levels of ammonia and the nitrates and 'trites spike certainly cause alot of stress to the fish. Imagine living in your apartment and using the toilet for a month without ever flushing it; things would get pretty bad.
Making fish live through a cyle induces stress and can lead to disease and death. Have a major die off in your tank and you'll not only have to get through the cycle, but you'll have to let it sit for a time to make sure that diseases that can (sometimes) be caused by stress (like ich) are gone from your tank.
Stick with the shrimp method. Do a search on this board if you want more specifics. The only thing I can tell you is to be patient. Depending on your tank set up, water chemistry, condition of your live rock and bacteria count in your live sand, your cycle could last anywhere from a week to a couple months.
I have heard some people on this board cycle a 125 in 2 weeks. It took me nearly four months to cycle my 75 gallon. Buy a test kit that test for ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites, that's the only way you can tell of the cycle's progression. Alot of people will tell you to test daily, but if you're anything like me (impatient) the daily reading of little or no change can dishearten you. This hobby will teach you nothing if not patience. Good luck and be patient!

 

[ofalegend]

I cycled my 55 with a shrimp from the grocery store. Actually, I used 2, and within 4 days the ammonia was up to about .25 mg/l, and it finally spiked at about 1 mg/l. I would imagine you might want to add another, or even take the old one out and add two. This is not, of course, expert opinion, its just what worked for me. The ammonia did finally fall back to 0, and the nitrites had just started to spike, but I decided to add 30# of live rock, which has, of course, started the process all over again. Ah, well, I can be patient HTH!
Michael

 

[deuce biggalow]

2 questions, how much flake food and what if you just threw in more shrimp?????? And even a few damsels???

 

[kris]

I agree that with all the ways to cycle your tank-fish are actually no the best. Especially when most people don't want them later. The shrimp thing is new to me too--but hey whatever gets the job done--I think I would just finish with the LR- and like someone else mentioned PATIENCE is the most important thing in this hobby I think.
Good Luck

 

[mab]

Thanks Tyrfing, Kris, Anthem and Deuce.
I am following Tyrfing's suggested approach. Thanks for putting such clear persppective on this issue. I am happy to report that as of this AM ammonia is almost 1 and the shrimp came out in small pieces (stinking up a storm!), I left some of the sraps in the tank (about 1/4) and took the rest of it out. I am hoping ammonia will go higher before it converts to nitrites. I want to make sure this cycle is done before I add any live fish or inverts. The additional 20 lbs of pre-cured LR form Gulf-Coast should be here today. I plan on re-curing for a few days before introducing to the tank (is this the right approach?) I also have a Sand Activator Package coming in tomorrow from Indo-Pacific Sea Farms to inject the 5 inch DSB, this dual approach should get things going in the right direction. I have 3 fish in the QT doing well and patiently waiting for their new home, if they have to wait, they have to wait.- agree? your commnets are nuch appreciated.
Thanks again,
Mab

 

[sandy]

I am cycling a 20 gal QT. I took out the old bio bag filter from my 50 gal and put it in the whisper in the 20. I also chucked in some fish food. The ammonia was up to 1.0 within a day. My guess is it is higher now, but I don't want to waste test tabs.
Thanks for not cycling with damsels. Poor things. Just because they are "hardy" they get used and then "disposed-of". I *did* cycle my first time with two damsels because my lfs suggested it and I didn't know any better. Fortunately they are alive and well... and won't be "gotten rid of".
Take Care
Sandy

 

[mab]

Thanks Sandy, my thoughts exactly.
Mab

 

[ksujason]

How much fish food do you put in? Seems like you could go overboard real easily. I would like to try this.

 

[k.lee]

The dead shrimp should make ammonia go off the charts. ADD SOME WATER FROM a lfs, or a pinch of garden soil.

 

[jakob4001]

noticed in stats it was listed you were using eheim pro..you may want to remove any filter media far as carbon goes if you have that in yours...that may be filtering out some of the agents needed to cycle the tank...

 

[marine qa]

Mab,
I cycled my tank with raw shrimp and it worked very well. If you want some more info I frequently updated a post titled "cyclying w/raw shrimp" as I cycled my tank. If you search under my #, 2057, the post started on 4/16/2001 and continued for a couple of weeks I think.
Also, un-cured LR is one of the best ways to cycle a tank, so I would not re-cure your LR when it arrives. Just put it into the tank and let it produce whatever ammonia it does.

 

[ohscc]

I cycled my 55 gal. tank with a large shrimp(don't know what you call them). But it equaled about 3 to 4 regular shrimp. I would never use fish to cycle a tank again ( no one told me not to the first time). However does cycle with fish and knows or gets advise on not to do so, IMO should not take up this hobby. My cycle took about 2 weeks I believe and has the same result with fish except the fish don't suffer. I waited till week for to add fish just to be sure. This hobby is very time consuming(to say the least) so if you can't wait to add fish then I advise whoever to think twice. Just my .02 and in hope to inform everyone and make them more aware and successful in this hobby!!