10 gallon advice

[Evansimp]

Originally Posted by zhuber

So during the cycle you put in the raw shrimp it builds up ammonia then the nitrates and nitrites go up which you want then they go down to hopefully zeros and that's what you want and the cycles done

Basically! then you can slowly add clean up crew, then fish! I know it's really hard to wait! But this is the time you can aqua scape! Which is my favorite part of setting up a new tank

[zhuber]

Originally Posted by Evansimp

Basically! then you can slowly add clean up crew, then fish! I know it's really hard to wait! But this is the time you can aqua scape! Which is my favorite part of setting up a new tank

I'm fine with waiting if that's what I have to do to have a healthy aquarium ill do it I rather wait an have a 20 dollars fish full of life then spend my money on a 20 dollar fish and it die

[zhuber]

Buying the rest of my supplies tomorrow ! Is that shrimp in a panty hose thing gonna make my room smell? If so is there an alternative

[Evansimp]

Originally Posted by zhuber

Buying the rest of my supplies tomorrow ! Is that shrimp in a panty hose thing gonna make my room smell? If so is there an alternative

It will make it smell unfortunately! I used an air freshener in my room and opened windows haha

[zhuber]

Any other solutions?

[ktomminello]

I just figured I could chime in on something- I'm finding that pinning my table shrimp to my live rock helped me to gain some clean up crew members- and every once in a while bust a piece of "dead" live rock and see what comes out...

I also found a good way to trip off a mini cycle and lower nites is to add pieces of live rock with macro algae that has been crushed up to your sand bed it helps with the sifting of sand and blocking trates.


Oh, and I didn't remove my shrimp- my mini hitchhiking clean up crew liked it. My husband hated it and slept on the couch for 3 days... Here's the kicker- I have an activated carbon air filter mounted underneath the table the tank is on. I just liked having those first few days of waking up in the middle of the night with a red flashlight looking for different types of creepy crawlies... I saw one of those really cool caterpillar looking bristle worms and I have been hooked I know I have no life. Good luck for reading

[Chris J]

There's an alternative by using straight ammonia (sold as a cleaner) but you have to make sure it doesn't have surfactants in it, basically you shake the bottle and if it foams up then you don't want to put it in the aquarium. You have to add SMALL/TINY amounts to the tank and check your levels. Once you've added enough that your water tests to 4ppm of ammonia your good and you don't need to add anymore. Continue testing every couple days and the ammonia will start to lower and nitrites will rise once that happens next is the nitrites lower and the nitrates rise. Once this happens you dose the tank to 4ppm ammonia once again and check it in 24 hours and if the ammonia is gone you have yourself a well cycled tank, do a large water change and add you CUC and a fish or two. It should be shorter than the shrimp method because you don't have to wait for your tank to get to 4ppm ammonia. Oh and the best part about this method is no rotting shrimp=no gross stink.

[ktomminello]

You mean you don't like your room smelling like a port o potty?? lol

[Evansimp]

Haha it wasn't that bad for me! you get used to the smell and don't even notice it after a while!

[Psychocircus91]

Originally Posted by Evansimp

Haha it wasn't that bad for me! you get used to the smell and don't even notice it after a while!

agreed. really not that bad. the smell in mine went away after 3-4 days.

[ktomminello]

I didn't think it was that bad either, but my husband swears it almost made him puke. The only time it smelled bad *wink wink nudge nudge* is when he'd come in the bedroom after a shower and I just so happened to be moving a disintegrating piece of shrimp to another corner so the worms could populate........ Lol, at least it gave me time to myself with my favorite touchy feely tanks.

[zhuber]

Originally Posted by Evansimp

Haha it wasn't that bad for me! you get used to the smell and don't even notice it after a while!

My mom would kill me if she had to smell that

[zhuber]

Originally Posted by Evansimp

Haha it wasn't that bad for me! you get used to the smell and don't even notice it after a while!

If my mom smelled it she would kill me and awful news my car window won't go back up so I gotta spend money to fix that now I have to wait yet again

[zhuber]

I need mechanical chemical and the biological filter right?

[zhuber]

Finally did it!

[CorallineAlgae]

Originally Posted by zhuber

I need mechanical chemical and the biological filter right?

You only need biological media until you get enough live rock to be the bio media. After you have more rock you'll want to take the ceramic media out.

Glad to see a tank shot!!

[zhuber]

Originally Posted by CorallineAlgae

You only need biological media until you get enough live rock to be the bio media. After you have more rock you'll want to take the ceramic media out.

Glad to see a tank shot!!

I put it all in already the guy at my fish store who had a nano running suggested it and also said I could put the ammonia in but he suggested do the cycle with peppermint shrimp or a crab to cycle it and they should be hardy enough to survive

[CorallineAlgae]

I would never do peppermint shrimp but hermits should be fine. They're way hardier and cheaper than peppermint shrimp plus they'll take care of some algae. I cycled my old 10 with hermits.

[zhuber]

Originally Posted by CorallineAlgae

I would never do peppermint shrimp but hermits should be fine. They're way hardier and cheaper than peppermint shrimp plus they'll take care of some algae. I cycled my old 10 with hermits.

Great advice thank you there probably cheaper to

[zhuber]

I kinda feel it looks bare and need more rock whats everyone else's opinion and I think I'll buy more rock an maybe hermits tomorrow to start the cycle