Should it be removed?

[spence0416]

I started the cycle on my 10 gal nano with a raw shrimp. How long should I leave it in the tank for. I also have about 5 pounds of live rock in with it.

Ammonia readings from the 4th were already at 1 ppm. I also started to see some reddish algae growth on the live rock...good sign or bad?

 

[spence0416]

Did the readings today and got :

Ammonia 2 ppm

Nitrite 1 ppm

Nitrate .75 ppm

PH dropped from 8.6 to 8.0

 

[Biggen]

You can take it out now. As soon as you get the ammonia going, you can typically remove the shrimp anytime after that.

I also started to see some reddish algae growth on the live rock...good sign or bad?

Its probably a mix of diatoms and cyano. For the moment, don't worry about it. Wait till after the cycle to tackle that problem.

 

[steve-s]

You can take it out now. As soon as you get the ammonia going, you can typically remove the shrimp anytime after that.

Yes it can be taken out now but I disagree on removing after only the NH3 has formed. Until all three forms of nitrogen (like above) have formed, it would not be a good idea to remove the shrimp. There will not be enough of a fuel source to feed the bacteria throughout the whole process and still have a strong bio-filter depending on wether a "seeding source" was also used.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Biggen]

I disagree on removing after only the NH3 has formed. Until all three forms of nitrogen (like above) have formed, it would not be a good idea to remove the shrimp. There will not be enough of a fuel source to feed the bacteria throughout the whole process and still have a strong bio-filter depending on wether a " seeding source " was also used.

Good call, Steve. As I was writing that, I was thinking the same thing to myself. But I also assumed that a small portion of the NH3 would stay in the water all the way through till near the end of the cycle even with the bacteria that convert it to nitrite are there. Although this would be dependent on the amount of NH3 introduced in the first place.

 

[spence0416]

But once I take the shrimp out won't this cut the "food" for the other bacteria, or will the live rock or something else keep it going?

Check out the right side of the rock...How does this look? Cyano? Something else? It has actually spread a little more since the picture was taken.

 

[Biggen]

But once I take the shrimp out won't this cut the "food" for the other bacteria, or will the live rock or something else keep it going?

Something else will be the fish you are going to buy! Start stocking once your ammonia and nitrite hit zero. After you do your last large water change of course.

Check out the right side of the rock...How does this look? Cyano? Something else? It has actually spread a little more since the picture was taken.

I can't make out anything in the picture.

 

[spence0416]

On the rock if you look on the right side you can see the rock has become a brown color (it almost looks like a shadow in this picture.) This has since moved over more of the rock. I think it must be some kind of algae. Maybe diatoms as was mentioned before? Should anything already be growing on day 3? Seems like it all happened pretty quick.

 

[spence0416]

this might show it better