starting cycle

slt wtr stupid

slt wtr stupid

Member
Ok all you old timers i finaly have my tank ready to cycle just need to know how many shrimp to put in a 55 gal tank did a baseline water test every thing is at 0 except ph and its a little low about 8.0 cant wait to get it started so reply reply reply
 
aquatica-tech

aquatica-tech

Member
Put one raw cocktail shrimp in the tank, but if you see your ammonia reaching more than 1.0ppm then you have to do a water change cause if it goes over that, it might kill all your beneficial hitchhikers your rocks came with it. But when it gets above 1.0 do a water change ASAP and keep your best to try to keep it on that or below it.
 
aquatica-tech

aquatica-tech

Member
Dude you need live rock to start off a foundation for the beneficial bacteria that transfer ammonia into good gases so itll be good to just get like 3 pounds. 1 rock will be good for a certain time but remember the cycle will take longer with less rock
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Fish only is fairly easy. Do you have any sand or substrate in the tank? What type of filter are you using? Rock and sand will eventually populate with the bacteria needed to convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. First you must give it ammonia to start the cycle with. You chose to do this with a cocktail (raw) shrimp which is okay but not necessary if you add some live rock to the tank.
 
slt wtr stupid

slt wtr stupid

Member
Have live sand but nothing else bought my shrimp last night to start my cycle with was waiting to hear from someone to make sure i was doing the right thing is it ok to put the shrimp in now my water and sand have been in since saturday?
 
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