Kerrinne
Aquarium Advice Freak
Well, since Sati's suggestion and links to the articles on cycling a tank with raw unseasoned shrimp, I decided to give this a whirl. No one near me sells Bio-Spira, and I really don't want to take the chance of the product being ordered from the internet getting to me without having turned hot and lost its important properties.
I put the shrimp (which the grocery store gave me for free when I told them how little I needed and what it was for) into the 75 gal on Saturday morning. By Saturday night (around midnight) I was already registering .25 of ammonia. Yesterday it was up to .50. I haven't tested it yet today though. I will post updates on here as to the progress and how long it takes.
The water turned cloudy within 24 hours, and dear god don't open the lid and stick your nose down in there. Yuck. I hold my breath before dipping the test tube in for water samples for testing. LOL Thankfully, the smell seems to stay confined in the tank rather than my living room thus far. I read a few different articles on this process - and the temp ranged anywhere from 80-88 degrees. I have both my heaters set at 88.
Let's keep fingers crossed!
I put the shrimp (which the grocery store gave me for free when I told them how little I needed and what it was for) into the 75 gal on Saturday morning. By Saturday night (around midnight) I was already registering .25 of ammonia. Yesterday it was up to .50. I haven't tested it yet today though. I will post updates on here as to the progress and how long it takes.
The water turned cloudy within 24 hours, and dear god don't open the lid and stick your nose down in there. Yuck. I hold my breath before dipping the test tube in for water samples for testing. LOL Thankfully, the smell seems to stay confined in the tank rather than my living room thus far. I read a few different articles on this process - and the temp ranged anywhere from 80-88 degrees. I have both my heaters set at 88.
Let's keep fingers crossed!