The shrimp thing

[cprdnick]

OK, I finally broke down and went and got a raw shrimp and threw it in my tank this morning after taking my damsels back to the LFS. My ammonia was back down to 0.25 this morning, I just tested it (it's 11:48 p.m. CST) and it's at 0.50. At what point am I supposed to pull the decomposing body out of the water? I'd like to know so my hermits don't get used to eating shrimp, I have a cleaner that I'd like to put in later, lol.

 

[calvindo]

about 2-3 days. also use a net to get him out. otherwise he will break apart in your tank

 

[elan]

i would leave the shrimp in till you want and CAN put in your fish. You need a constant supply of ammonia in order to supply food for your nitrifying bacteria.

 

[bdhough]

I agree with you Elan but there does come a point if nothing is actually eating the shrimp it will just continue to rot and prolong things. Once you get the ammonia up and running if you have live rock in the tank it will take care of the ammonia it creates. I would get rid of the shrimp if you can or have something eat it i.e. your hermits. If you want to be really sure it starts let it sit for a week then take it out. As soon as you get past the Nitrite phase then you can add fish.... I've set up 2 tanks now and never encountered a cycle at all. I think that had to do with the quality of live rock i initially placed in the tank... You can also buy beneficial bacteria, called biozyme, might be others, that will help speed things along.
And like Elan said if you let it sit for to long without a source of waste the beneficial bacteria will die out and you have to start over. I think the odds of that happening are in the months though.... Not weeks.

 

[jlem]

Do you have any live rock inside the tank. If you do then the live rock will supply it's own supply of ammonia from little critters that die off continually. If you have live rock then the shrimp method is overkill.

 

[elan]

liverock only produces good amounts of ammonia during the initial period of adding it to a new tank. there is lots of dieoff at that time. or, if you get uncured live rock. then there is ample amounts of dieoff.
Also, overkill on nitrifying bacteria? not sure that can happen. Yes, it would take longer to cycle the tank. This is because a greater number of bactera need to become established. But I would rather have my bacteria die off due to not enough ammonia after i take out the shrimp and add my fish, rather than add a fish to a tank and have to wait for the bacteria to grow to get the tank back to a good balance.
With the shrimp, its easy to tell if your tank is ready. If you have a shrimp in the tank, and your ammonia levels are 0, that means that you have the bacteria and its cycling the amonia. If you take the shrimp out, how do you know you have enough bactera? A 0 reading may just mean that the small amount of bacteria consumed the amonia over time, but are still not established enough to handle the bioload of fish.
note : when referecing ammonia, this means nitrite and the bacteria for the nitrite as well.

 

[jlem]

Live rock has beneficial bacteria from day one and after the initial die off, the live rock will still produce ammonia to keep the beneficial bacteria alive. The only reason why rotting shrimp produces an ammonia spike is because it overloads the existing population of beneficial bacteria quicker than the existing bacteria can multiply, and rotting shrimp produces horrible water conditions. Even a small amount of beneficial bacteria will quickly multiply to prevent any significant ammonia spikes as long as enough live rock is present and if livestock is added slowly. 1 or two fish at a time produces a much slower ammonia rise then a bunch of rotting shrimp.

 

[booba]

Go get the fish back .... use them if not you will have to wait longer for the cycle .. trust me you will ////////////////////

 

[buzz]

Originally posted by Booba
Go get the fish back .... use them if not you will have to wait longer for the cycle .. trust me you will ////////////////////
What are you basing that statement on? Just curious, because I have tried 3 different methods - LR, fish and shrimp, and if anything, my experiences with the shrimp and then LR gave much higher ammonia readings, which I believe made for a better cycle, with more bacteria growth, and no stress/cruelty to any fish. No major difference in time for cycle either.
What is it, IYO, that makes using a live fish better?

 

[whiterose]

Sounds like you are beginning th cycling process. When I started, I put in about 20-25 black mollies in my tank. Be sure to acclimate them to saltwater by adding saltwater every ten minutes to the water they came in until you have doubled the water volume. You will eventaully loose the mollies, but they will have done their job at cycling the water. As you loose them take them out so they don't pollute the water and mess up your water conditions. This worked for me. I even had babies born and still have 4 adults left after 3 months. This method is cheaper and cleaner than adding a shrimp too. Keep checking your water conditions weekly!

 

[bang guy]

I'm standing behind Elan with my opinions. I agree with everything said.

 

[stumpdog]

Just my opinion. I used the shrimp. I left it in there for nearly 3 weeks. It was almost like a cotton ball when I took it out. My ammonia was 0 and my trates were almost there, of course my SO had to help me figure out the color to group stuff in. Take the shrimp throw it in and let er go.
HTH-
Jeremy

 

[cprdnick]

OK, I'm glad that you said four weeks, I was starting to get impatient. I threw the shrimp in on Sunday, but my fish back in, and my Ammonia went up a little, to 1.0 I think, and now it's dropping, but my trites are still 0.

 

[cprdnick]

Ok, I just tested my water tonight and I'm a little confused. Isn't the Ammonia supposed to go up and then go down then the nitrites go up? What is happening with me is, my ammonia went down from .50 to .25 since last night, my nitrites are still a 0 and my nitrates are at 10. The shrimps been in for 6 days and I was expecting to see my ammonia rise. What's going on here?

 

[bang guy]

Your tank is building a suppy of bacteria. You said your ammonia went up to 1.0... that's actually pretty high.

 

[cprdnick]

I thought it was supposed to spike to 4.0, either way, why aren't my nitrites going up?