Tank Cycle With Table Shrimp?

[marshrunner]

when you use a table shrimp to cycle, how long do you leave it in? I put one in for a few days, ammonia started rising so I thought I could remove it. Had lots of brown stuff buid up in the tank, nitrites came up. Now, very little ammonia/ nitrite and nitrate. Was I supposed to leave it in? 55gal, 3" SB, 5# Garf Grunge?? Please help a dumb newbie!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Sounds like you kept it in long enough. There's no magic number... as long as you get some ammonia going to get things started. Once your ammonia and nitrites are at zero, you can consider yourself cycled! Woohoo!

Just make sure that you start slow and only add one fish per month for the first few months. That will let the bacteria catchup with the new bioloads.

 

[marshrunner]

So basically once the ammonia starts, you don't need anything producing ammonia?

 

[Speakerman]

once you see ammonia show up, you have ammonia, thus no longer needing more ammonia.
However I imagine the more ammonia you have (within reason) to start with, the more beneficial bacteria you'll have at the completion of your cycle, thus giving you the ability to handle more bio-load.

 

[marshrunner]

Thanks for all the feedback. This is a really nerve racking time. I guess being new to this I don't really know what to expect.

 

[HN1]

Hang on.... the bacteria need a constant supply of ammonia to survive. They consume it and create biproducts (i.e. NO2). They are normally provided this through fish wastes. If there are no fish or other sources, you will need to add an ammonia source to keep the tank biologically cycled.

 

[marshrunner]

So if I just remove the shrimp, my bacteria will die and I'm back to square one? What should I do? Should I continue adding shrimp or could I use fish food once I have the ammonia built up? Seems I've seen something about feeding the tank. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

 

[Speakerman]

Your right HN1, however your time line is a bit compact. Once the bacteria are there, they can live for a long time without having ammonia. So once the ammonia is gone and converted into nitrite then nitrate the "cycle" is complete. The bacteria will live long enough and even continue to multiply slightly while you start adding fish.

 

[HN1]

Your right HN1, however your time line is a bit compact. Once the bacteria are there, they can live for a long time without having ammonia. So once the ammonia is gone and converted into nitrite then nitrate the "cycle" is complete. The bacteria will live long enough and even continue to multiply slightly while you start adding fish.

There are multiple types of baterium involved in the basic aquarium "nitrogen cycle". One converts NH3 into NO2, one cosumes NO2 and creates NO3. If you deprive the tank of ammonia, you will get die off that results in ammonia, but will never equalize and you will eventually have to start from scratch. No living creature can reproduce for any significant amount of time without a food source. There must be a constant supply of ammonia to support the colony.

 

[marshrunner]

So I should keep a source there. Would a daily feeding of fish food work? I think that exact thing happened to me. I put a shrimp in, saw ammonia starting, then nitrite. I removed the shrimp and ammonia, nitrite dropped but never zeroed and I had just a little nitrate.

 

[HN1]

A bit of fish food should work. I think you witnessed exactly what I would worry about.

 

[marshrunner]

Thanks for all the info. I will keep you posted on the progress. I do have one other question. How high should I try to push my ammonia? I've had the shrimp in for 3 days now and my reading is only about 0.5. I thought it would go higher than that.

 

[HN1]

It will go higher than that most likely. Most that dose pure ammonia in FW and monitor the levels closely go to 4-6 ppm. But I wouldn't try it in SW. Be patient and let it go naturally and you will be better longterm IMO.

 

[thincat]

Good information. When I cycle my tank with shrimp I leave the shrimp until all readings except NO3 goes to 0 then I wait a few days to be sure then I add my CUC and a fish. At that time if there is any shrimp left I just push it into the sand. I run a DSB....If you don't use sand, remove remaining shrimp then. That way you will have an ammonia source till then. The ammonia does not disappear it is just being consumed as fast as it is being made. That is when you have enough bacteria for each source of the cycle. Ammonia, nitrite,nitrate. My DSB takes the nitrate and reduces it to Nitrogen which bubbles off into the air.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

From what I've read, and what I've experienced with my own tanks, the bacteria will be fine for a week without an ammonia source. Daily feeding is not needed, in my opinion. Maybe once a week, put a pinch of fish food in there. Even though our test kits show no ammonia, it doesn't mean it's not present.

0.5ppm for ammonia isn't bad and if that's all the ammonia you're showing, I'd probably leave the shrimp in too. I stalled a cycle one time in my QT with too much ammonia - levels were up around 6ppm. Nothing budged until I did a water change to bring the ammonia levels down.

 

[marshrunner]

Thanks for all the help. This is the kind of information I was looking for. Hopefully, it will help others who are attempting this also.

 

[marshrunner]

Update

Just tested. Ammonia 0.5, Nitrite 0.2 and Nitrate 5.0