At a crossroads...need some advice!

[Shroomers]

Hello everyone,

This is my very first post here but let me give you the run down....

I started a 30 gallon long reef tank on may 11, I added 55 lbs of old dried live rock (made sure to clean it first) and a 1 1/2 " layer of aragonite sand. On may the 15, I added 5 lbs of quality cured live rock. I started testing for my cycle on may 18 and got these results:

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0.50 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm

Believing this is a "mini-cycle" due to the short time and small numbers to back it up I decided to add 2 shrimp to the tank in a panty hose bag (the raw grocery store kind) to start the cycle while the numbers are up. May 19 (the next day) I did a water test at the same time for comparibility and got these results:

Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 1.0
Nitrate 10.0 (actually between 5-10 due to api have the same colour for two values X.X)

I didn't believe from only 5 lbs of cured rock would that be enough die off to start my cycle. So I added the shrimp now that the numbers are going up should I leave the shrimp in there or take them out? Is this a cycle or a mini cycle...I need an idea of what to do now at this stage. Thanks a million and happy fishing

 

[thincat]

I would take one shrimp out. Just leave the rest (rock and shrimp) in and watch your readings. You are not having a mini cycle. When ammonia and nitrite drop back to 0 do a 50% water change then take another reading. If nitrates drop then you can add a cleanup crew (CUC) and a week later if readings are still stable you can start to add fish one at a time.

 

[Shroomers]

Okay sounds good...the tank looks excellent and I am starting to get a film on the glass so it is maturing nice, I have never cycled with raw shrimp before only die off from a large source of rock. Took one shrimp out, god awful smell for being in there over night X.X...so its working.

 

[thincat]

Yes, shrimp decomposes really fast. I like shrimp because it has no fat and is host to a multitude of good bacteria. Main thing is to take your time.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

... I like shrimp because it has no fat and is host to a multitude of good bacteria....

I'm thinking I'm misunderstanding this, but will ask anyway...

What bacteria do the shrimp host? Are you saying the shrimp brings bacteria with it?

 

[thincat]

I think it brings more then straight ammonia would.