raw shrimp - in the tank or in the filter?

[royta]

I'll be away from the tank for about five days and will not be able to keep ammonia dosed up for it's fishless cycle. I picked up some raw shrimp and have a mesh bag to hold one in. Should I put the shrimp in the tank or in the filter?

Thanks.

 

[fort384]

either way will work just fine.

 

[royta]

I can't find the mesh bag so I'll wrap with cloth and a piece of string.

 

[rich311k]

A new stocking will work as well.

 

[royta]

How big of a raw shrimp do I need? I bought a bag of the 31 - 40 shrimp per pound size. Should I use more than one? I normally dose the ammonia to 4.0 ppm. My tank isn't fully cycled yet, so I'd like to keep the ammonia above the 1.0 ppm bacteria maintenance level. Of course, the 1.0 ppm level would still be much better than 0 ppm for five days.

 

[rich311k]

A couple is all you need.

 

[twoodrough]

I used one shrimp in a 10 gallon and at first it shot the ammonia off the chart so had to do a water change to get it down. Now nitrites are showing and my ammo is about 4.