Fishless Cycle.. Is this normal? (Pictures Inside)

[TheChad]

Hey All,

About 2 days ago I put 4 small raw salid shrimp in our 55g tank.

The tank has 40 lbs of dry stand on the bottom, and 40 lbs of Live sand on the top.

Today I noticed that the shrimp are all coverd in a bubble, The bubble kinda looks fuzzy. (See Picture Below).

Is this normal? The tank has been set up for about a week and 1/2, but I just put the LS in about 4 days ago.

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[Florida8]

LOL... ewww right?

I haven't cycled with shrimp, but it appears to be rotting and getting the funk all over it just as it should to cycle your tank

Is it stinky?

 

[hackteck]

yes its rotting mine did the same its perfectly normal

 

[TheChad]

umm, the tank smells normal

Does it normally rott that fast? or is the LS helping?


-TheChad

 

[hackteck]

the rotting was noticeable after maybe a 6-7 days for me

 

[tecwzrd]

4 shrimp is probably too many for a 55 gal tank IMO. The usual recommended amount is about 1 small shrimp per 30 gal. Having the extra shrimp will not speed up your cycle at all but will create higher no3 from all the nh3/no2 introduced to the tank.

I would recommend removing 2 of them and letting the other 2 rot till your nh3/no2 spike and eventually read 0 quantities. If you have any shrimp left after 5 weeks I would remove it so it doesn’t cause your no3 to go any higher. Once your tank has cycled perform a pwc of 50% and check your no3. If your no3 is still higher then 10 ppm I would perform another 20% every other day until it’s <10 ppm before adding any fish/cleanup crew.

I’d also keep your lights off during the cycle to keep algae down and add 1 large or two small fish once your cycle is complete to keep the bacteria colony you just created. I would also get a 10+ gal tank (Wal-Mart has 10gal tanks for $10) to use as a qt tank so newly acquired fish can be observed for sickness for 3+ weeks before adding to the main tank so you never have to medicate your main tank.

You could set that up now and get your first fish while the tank cycles. Keep an eye on nh3/no2 in the qt tank and do 20% pwc as needed with aerated SW mixed for 24+ hours and brought up to temp/sg/ph for the qt tank.

 

[TheChad]

The size of the shrimp doesn't matter? I read alot of people using cocktail shrimp, the ones I used are small salad shrimp, that is why I used 4.

Yeah, I already have my 29g that will be my QT tank. All my Inverts that are in the tank now will be placed into the 55g once it is ready. My Copper Banded Butterfly will also be placed into the 55g once it is ready.

As you said we will then get 1-2 fish at a time and QT for 1 month.

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[tecwzrd]

Sorry, I keep forgetting that you are moving from the 29 to the 55
You are right size does matter and using raw shrimp usually gets more favored results then cooked shrimp. The 4 small salad shrimp should equivalent to 1 large or 2 regular sized cocktail shrimp so you should be fine. The photo just gave me the impression that it was a larger shrimp.

 

[TheChad]

Day 4 of shrimp being in the tank, day 6 since adding 40lbs of LS.

I tested the water today: PH: 7.8, NO2: .25ppm, NO3: 10ppm, NH3/NH4: .50ppm


Does that look right?

Everything I have read always shows NH3/NH4 go up, while everything else is 0, then when NH3/NH4 peeks the NO2 starts to climb, and as it starts to ppek the NO3 starts to climb, while all others fall rapidly to 0....

Obviously my results are much different. Everything is sort of climbing together, and my NO3 seams to be climbing faster than my NO2...

So I just wanted to check in and see if we are moving along correctly, or not..

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[tecwzrd]

You are right on track. Your ph will be off during the cycle so I wouldn’t worry about that too much. If it drops below 7.5 then I would add a little ph buffer to get it closer to 8.

The fact that you are showing no3 is proof that bacteria is forming to convert the nh3/no2 and also since your are still getting nh3/no2 readings I wouldn’t worry so much about “how” the bacteria is forming. I noticed the same results personally but did have a slightly higher nh3 spike of around 3 while still getting slight readings of no2/no3 even during the first week.

As long as you add your fish from your 29 in increments once your cycle is complete ie: 1 or 2 a week then the tank should be able to keep up with the increased nh3.

 

[TheChad]

I just bought 50lbs of LR & 50 lbs of base rock for this tank.

When i get the LR in a couple of days, should I take the shrimp out? or leave them in with the LR?

Also how should I place the rocks? Should the LR be on the Top, Bottom, or Mixed with the base rock?

P.S. How long does it usually take for base rock seeded with LR to become Live?

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[tecwzrd]

You should have sufficient die-off from the lr in order for the bacterial cycle to continue. I would take the shrimp out once you get your lr. I put all my base rock on the bottom and lr on top mostly for aesthetic purposes but also not to bury any “live” stuff on the lr

The base rock is basically lr without the bacteria/pods/algae/coral on it but will still become biologically active within about 2 months serving the same purpose as your lr does in providing biological filtration. As far as color and other life it could take as little as 6 months or as long as a year or two to “look” similar to the lr. It mostly depends on how much life your lr has and the quality of lighting.

 

[TheChad]

Day 4: PH: 7.8, NO2: 0.25ppm, NO3: 10ppm, NH3/NH4: .50ppm

Day 9: PH: 8.0, NO2: 0.25ppm, NO3: 5.0ppm, NH3/NH4: 0.25-0.50ppm


I still havent gotten the ammonia "Spike" that everyone talks about... My ammonia hasn't cleared 1.0ppm yet!

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[TheChad]

Day 4: PH: 7.8, NO2: 0.25ppm, NO3: 10ppm, NH3/NH4: .50ppm

Day 9: PH: 8.0, NO2: 0.25ppm, NO3: 5.0ppm, NH3/NH4: 0.25-0.50ppm

Day 12: PH:8.0, NO2: 0.25ppm, NO2: 10.0ppm, NH3/NH4: 0.50ppm


Is this normal progress for almost 2 weeks into the cycle?

It doesn't look like much is happening...

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[tecwzrd]

As long as you keep detecting nh3/no2 I wouldn’t worry about a spike. Your lr will still build up enough bacteria over the course of the cycle even if you never see a nh3 spike. If nothing was happening then you wouldn’t still be detecting nh3/no2.

 

[TheChad]

Hey guys,

On Feb. 28th I put the LR in the tank, and took out the shrimp. The LR was shipped on Thursday, Feb 23rd, and didn't arrive at my home untill the 28th, (5 days). Thanks to the stupid people at International Marine Fish .com.

Anyway, So I assume 90% of that rock is dead anyway.

When I took the rock out of the box/bag, it smelled really bad, which by then was to be expected, I rinsed most of the LR off with fresh water, and put it into the tank.

Alot of the alge and stuff on the rock has fallen off and is either in the sand or stuck to the filter intake.

When you open the glass top of the tank, it smells like a faded version of what it smelled like when I first opened the box/bag.

I tested the water today, and the Ammonia was over 8.0ppm, the Test only goes up to 8.0ppm, and the color of the test was darker than the 8.0ppm color.

There is also alot of those furry bubbles (Like in the picture above) all over the LR.

Is there anything I should do? or do I Just let the tank be?

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[Macrosill]

The die off on the lr is waht is causing the ammonia to go that high. You had ammonia in there and now the die off is adding to it. I have not heard of ammonia levels that high. I would do a 60 - 70 % pwc to get the ammonia down around 3 and let the cycle to continue to take its course. It may have added some time to it since you had the lr die off but it should be fine. The fuzzy stuff is the lr die off decomposing. You may want to contact your supplier, if you paid for lr and recieved that much die off due to their mishandleing of the sale then I would want a partial refund.

Good Luck,
Brian

 

[TheChad]

Thanks Brian,

I did contact International Marine they are going to send me 15lb of LR for free. Hopefully it comes in better shape and will help my other LR recover.

I will do the water change tonight.

Is there anything I can or should do about the Fuzzy stuff? or will it go away with time?

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[Macrosill]

I would leave the fuzzy stuff until the cycle is complete. After that I would remove it, using a suction tube or turkey baster.

Good Luck,
Brian