if you go to the barrier reef and get the live bacteria, frytzme, I think its called, it will help speed up the process. some people say it skipps the process all together, but I added it while I had the shrimp in there and within a week the shrimp was gone and everything evened right out. IME, it worked really well....just an idea! I still let mine cycle 2 more weeks with just a chromis in it though....