One more stupid newbie question

[jerseysaltwater]

ok, i just set up a q tank (my display is cycling well with LR/LS; one week old and my diatoms are showing up all over the rock and sand now). My q tank is running a small whisper powerfilter , with a 50w heater and thermometer. I put in a barnacle cluster and fake coral for shelter for when my fish is purchased. I dropped in a rather large raw (tiger) shrimp from the supermarket. Should I have shelled the shrimp first? I tossed it in "as-is".

 

[jlem]

What do you plan to keep in the quarantine tank to keep the nitrgen cycle going after your fish go into the main display tank. I would take down the quarantine tank and then when you buy your fish you can set the quarantine tank up and just move part of your biological filter from your main display into your quarantine tank. I takes very little initial bacteria to rapidly create a functioning bio filter. One scoop of sand or a couple pounds of live rock should work fine for your quarantine tank depending on the size.

 

[beaslbob]

You will have a big mess real soon in the q tank. Then after the shrimp decomposes there will be no bio load at all.
I recommend you put a small fish in there to cycle and maintain that cycle. Dare i say a molly? they are cheap and hardy and it is not you display tank. They also clean the tank

 

[jerseysaltwater]

well, my livestock wish list is a red scooter blenny, a banggai cardinal, a perc clown, and a purple firefish goby, plus a cleaner crew of a few hermits, snails, and peppermint shrimp. in 2 weeks if the levels are good, i'd like to stock my first fish in the q tank, then, after 3 weeks, move it into the display, and get my 2nd fish for the q tank. i have heard it's good to do a 100% water change in the q tank after each fish - is this true? also, do i need to quarantine my cleaner crew? or just acclaimate and put in my display tank? after all my fish are in my final 26gal display tank, i would then take down the quarantine tank, and only put it up if one of my fish gets sick. So, should i peel the shrimp? or leave it as is?

 

[jerseysaltwater]

hey beaslbob - i respectfully disagree with cycling with a live fish. i just wanted my q tank to cycle as nicely as my display currently is with the LR & LS. I believe those who are advocates of shrimp cycling said to remove it after trites are zeroed. After that, I will just add a small amount of fish food every other day to give the bacteria something to live off of (Hikari marine S mini-pellets)

 

[michaeltx]

I just throw them in as is no biggie.
as far as a 100% water change I havent heard that and have never done that. most qt's will have copper in them if you have had any outbreaks that will kill off any parsite ick. the only thing is just remeber that a clean up crew is not possible.
Mike

 

[reefnut]

Originally posted by beaslbob
You will have a big mess real soon in the q tank. Then after the shrimp decomposes there will be no bio load at all.
Here I go being overly critical again but this is a LIE and VERY misleading.
One: Many have used the shrimp method with NO MESS, much less a big mess.
Two. If the shrimp completely decomposes yes the main bio-load will be gone. BUT, the shrimp is used to kick start the cycle. After the bacteria is built up and ammonia/ nitrites reach 0 then fish are introduced to continue the bio-load.
Using a live fish to cycle exposes them to ammonia and nitrites so if they live your lucky or the fish is very hardy.
I wonder how you would like living in a cloud of carbon dioxide for about 2- weeks?

 

[dacia]

they are cheap and hardy and it is not you display tank.
POOR FISH!
I never thought I would hear a "fish lover" refer to ANY fish in such a manner as to reduce them to the status of, shall we say garbage???
Whether they are hardy, cheap, both, or neither gives you or any other the right to throw them into a deadly situation just so you can save a buck or two...my tanks are completely cycled with NO MESS and the shrimp wasn't taken from friends at the pet store to be sacrificed during high ammonia and nitrite levels.
They may survive, but that's not the point. Many Jewish people survived the holocost...........................................

 

[jlem]

I think that a fish or two depending on the size of the tank is an acceptable way to cycle the tank if the bioload is small enough to produce a slow cycle that will not harm the fish with high levels of ammonia. I would much rather have one decent looking small fish rather than a stinky shrimp that will though may produce a faster cycle, will just be a dead shrimp in a tank. I think that using a lot of fish to produce a huge ammonia spike that very well will kill the fish is cruel and plain old mean, but 1 or two fish will help cool impatience and will have very little negative effects on the fish.
I think that lots of people think that a cycle has to be quick with high levels of ammonia and nitrites. Once a tank is colonized with even a small amount a bacteria any ammonia spikes will be only minor ones since the existing colony will quickly multiply. Now of course there are extremes so please refrain from pointing out that 20 yellow tangs thrown into a tank will produce an ammonia spike if the cycle was done slow with a mild ammonis spike.
Dacia. freedom of speech is one thing but using a horrible tragedy with no equal to defend a view as trivial and minor as a few fish is discusting at it's best.

 

[lesleybird]

Hi, I started out two years ago with a little 25 gallon tank that I intended to keep pygme seahorses in. It ended up in me replacing the seahorses with fish as the pygmes are too difficult to feed. I did not know anything about this fast cycle with an amonia spike that kills some of the life in the tank. What I did was put the substrate in (agronite or whatever you like) and some large rocks and a bacteria culture of benificial bacteria to help to seed the substrate with a fairly large benificial bacteria culture. Set up the filter and then added a small bioload of my clean up crew which was about a dozen micro hermits and 6 medium size snails. I fed them a couple of sinking algae waffers or some small amount of sinking fish pellets every day. I kept this amount of life in the tank for a full six weeks....maybe did one 30 percent water change after about a month and then added the pygme seahorses which were also a very small bioload due to their size. I never tested the water quality except the specific gravity.....I do check the water quality now since I have gotten a bigger tank. What I am trying to say is that I think one can do a slow cycle in which the inhabitants all live......I did not loose any of my clean up crew with this slow cycle as I only added small amounts of food and let the bacteria have a long time to grow before increasing the bioload.
I suggest that when you add the fish you do it one or two at most at a time so that the benificial bacteria is large enough to handle the additional ammonia load.
I guess if one is really impatient they can do a fast cycle by throwing a nasty dead shrimp in, or throwing in a few fish to die, but i enjoyed watching my little hermits and snails for the first six weeks......Patience is a virtue here. Lesley

 

[fishyface]

I just set up my tank... am completely new to "salt water" fish. I only did what the guy at the petstore told me to do. He started me out with 7 "starter fish" . They've been in the tank for three days now, and yesterday 3 of them died. Now, I am reading on here that this was the wrong thing to do. Is there anything I can do to help them live through this process? I know it's cruel... but I had no idea. Help!!!

 

[oceanic110]

Fishyface,
Return the fish if possible. If not, prepare to do some water changes. Buy a saltwater test kit and test your water. If your Ammonia is high, do a water change.

 

[fishyface]

Ocean, Can you just explain to me WHY so I can try to understand what is happening right now in my tank? I am so naive to this. Why would I need a water change? My water was just tested, and everything was fine. I just set the tank up less than a week ago, and just tested it yesterday. The fish have only been in there for a few days. What would be causing them to die? I still have yet to understand why everyone is saying it's "cruel" to put fish in at this point. I don't understand. When is it "Ok" to put fish in, and how do I know when that time comes??? Please explain... Please???

 

[oceanic110]

High levels of ammonia is deadly to fish. By doing water changes it reduces the level of ammonia in the tank. You can add fish once your tank has cycled. Do you have a test kit?

 

[gatorsfan]

I put in 3 yellow tail damsels the day after i set up the tank with lr and they did just fine. But sadly 2 months ago 2 4 striped damsels attacked and killed 2 of them. But they just left the other alone. R.I.P. Lil fisheys

 

[oceanic110]

Damsels are a hardy fish. Alot of people use them to cycle a tank. I like the shrimp method better.