Fishless cycle using raw shrimp?

[HopefulHobbiest]

can someone explain how a fishless cycle using a raw shrimp works? or is there an article i can read that explains what to do??

 

[Laser]

It's recommended to put the shrimp in a nylon and tie it up so it doesn't foul up the tank water too much. There's no way to control the levels of ammonia that come from the thing and it's going to smell. There's really no trick to it, just drop it and wait. I'd probably do a water change once a week if I were using this method.

 

[tamtam]

As mentioned there is no real method. Put it in something like a nylon to try and contain some grossness and basically just wait. As it breaks down ammonia will rise. Just keep testing and hoping it will get up to the level you need it to get to.

It's very messy and smells horrible as you can imagine and allows you little control over things.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

ok so maybe i shouldn't use this method... would it be better just to dose with pure ammonia?

 

[Laser]

Yeah, that's preferred method for fishless cycling these days. You just have to make sure that you get ammonia without surfactants. If you shake a bottle of ammonia and it suds up at the top it has surfactants. If you can find an ace hardware they sell it.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

closest thing i have is a home depot but i'm sure they sell the same thing...

aside from shaking the bottle are there any markings/writing on the labels i should look for or avoid?

 

[Laser]

They don't have to say that there are surfactants on the bottle. I could not find any at home depot when I was looking. I was very surprised. The only store that had it was Ace hardware.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

nevermind, there is an ACE Hardware about 16 mins away...

i moved in july and i'm still getting used to locations for all these places.
thank god for mapquest.