need quick advice- TANK HEALTH AT RISK

by **blueshoes2208** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:53 am

k so the normal people arent on/ responding so i need to know i was told to put like a shrimp in my tank to cycle it so i went to wally world and bought one raw uncooked shrimp and tossed it in my tank, is this what they meant? if not i guess i need to know so i can take it out

by **schigara** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:35 am

Yes that is what they meant.

Wait a few days and check with an ammonia test kit. When it decomposes, it will give off ammonia and that will start the cycle.

I have always just added pure ammonia with zero surfactants to bypass the whole decomposition phase.

Either way works.

by **blueshoes2208** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:37 am

so now i just wait or what

by **schigara** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:42 am

If you have no live rock or live sand at all, you're looking at 6-8 weeks to complete a full cycle before you can add any fish or inverts.

by **blueshoes2208** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:46 am

well heres my situation, i put in 30 lbs of "live" bagged sand and 40 lbs of dry sand, added 14 lbs of live rock, two pieces COMPLETELY covered in coraline, and im going to pick up maybe 20 more lbs tomorrow and i jus ordered 3 lbs of live sand from a mature refugium off ebay.... i dont have a skimmer yet or my actual light

by **schigara** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:03 am

I noticed you put quotes around the word live when you mentioned the bagged 30lbs of sand. You must already have read that, wether or not there really is anything alive in there is questionable, at best.

The shrimp will work to get an ammonia spike but with the live rock, it may not spike as much because the bacterial populations in the rock will be there to start consuming the ammonia put off from the shrimp

by **blueshoes2208** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:06 am

yeah i have tried to do my best on the research, my lfs store told me to put flake food in there? would that help? and if so how much do i put in?

by **schigara** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:09 am

Nope. Flake food will do the exact same thing as the shrimp.

Either one, you have to wait a week or so for them to break down and convert to ammonia.

This is why I have always just used pure liquid ammonia.

by **schigara** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:10 am

Have you read about the nitrogen cycle in aquariums?

All you want is to get the ammonia level up to 2.5 - 5 ppm and then wait for nitrites to show up and then the ammonia and nitrites will drop to zero and may see some nitrates.

To get ammonia in the tank you can---

1.add a shrimp and wait for it to decompose
2. add flake or pellet food or any food and wait for it to break down
3. add pure liquid ammonia
4. piss in the tank or have your cat do it (this is not a joke)...it is a perfectly viable option

by **blueshoes2208** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:10 am

yeah he also told me to do that... i was just a little worried because i dont know what that would do to my rock, i already see things moving around

need quick advice- TANK HEALTH AT RISK

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