Question about Cycling a Tank with Frozen Shrimp?

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mandy2936

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Hello!
Okay, well, I understand the whole process of how cycling a tank works. I've read the "Cycling for Dummies" sticky plenty of times as well as other articles on the web.
Recently I purchased a 5 gallon tank. (I also have a 20 gallon, but it's been established for a while. I cycled it a long time ago.) I plan to do a fishless cycle and decided to refresh my memory to make sure I got it right.
Now, I know that I need to add a source of Ammonia that will start the cycle. I cannot go out and purchase pure Ammonia right now, so I decided to use a frozen shrimp rather than flakes, because fish food gets messy. Anyway, I heard that you can put it in pantyhose and place it in your tank and the pantyhose will keep the decomposing shrimp mess to a minimal.

My question is, should I leave the shrimp hanging in the tank, or should I put it in my filter?

Also, to help the process a bit I squeezed an old filter sponge from my 20g onto the filter media in the 5g. (The actual spong did not fit in the little 5-10 filter.) Also, I have a small silk plant that was from the 20g to help, too.

Thank you so much for your time!
Right now I have that shrimp in the tank inside some pantyhose, so I'm wondering if I should move it or not.
Thanks again :)
 
Either way will work. As the shrimp decomposes, the ammonia it releases will spread through the tank whether it's in the filter or just somewhere in the tank. Having it in a high flow area will help spread that ammonia through the tank, so put it under or near the filter outlet to let the water pass over the shrimp.

The more often you squeeze your cycled media from the 20g into the new tank, the faster your cycle will go.
 
I would leave it in the aquarium. Im not sure how the shrimp in the pantyhoses would do in the filter .
 
Thank you both for the quick response! :)
I will just leave it in the tank. My filter barely produces a flow at all, (quite opposite compared to the 20g) but I'll still put the shrimp near the filter flow anyway.
Also, the squeezed filter media from the 20g was an old one that I saved. If I were to take out the sponge and squeeze it over the media in the 5g, would I experience a mini-cycle in the 20? I don't want to take away too much bacteria, or should there be enough already?

Thank you again!! :)
 
Thanks for the help! ~A few more questions.

Thanks Neilan!
Good to hear. I was just worried because I know a lot of the beneficial bacteria lies in filter media.
Also, I don't have to use the pantyhose. Just something I heard helps keep things cleaner. But if not having the pantyhose is better or faster, I'll remove it.. Just wasn't sure. Lastly, how long until I should expect Ammonia to start rising? Or is that not easily predicted?
 
The pantyhose won't really affect things enough to matter.

It'll take a few days for the shrimp to decay enough to start producing the nasty stuff you want. Just be patient.
 
Okay, thank you! I'm going to test for Ammonia now. I'll edit my post and update.

Edit: My API Test Strips said the level of Ammonia was .50. The API Liquid test kit told me it was 1.0. I understand liquid is more accurate, so I'm assuming it's 1.0. I'm guessing I should still leave the shrimp in there.

Would it rise faster if I put two frozen shrimp in, instead of one?
Thank you for the help!
 
I had a few frozen shrimp in there when I did the fishless cycle and like neil said...just be patient and believe me the smell will let you know that things are getting underway.
 
Okay, thank you.
Now... I remember that somewhere down the road I'm going to need to be dosing with Ammonia again? When do I do this and could someone provide a little info on that?
Thank you SO much! :)
 
Another Question and an Update

What I meant was lots of cycling sites say something about adding more Ammonia towards the end of the cycle... but I didn't really understand that clearly. So, I was hoping someone on here could explain that to me in better terms. Here is a bit of writing from this website Tips and tricks for your fastest fishless cycle! that shows what I am talking about:

"When you see your ammonia level drop to below 1ppm, increase it back up to 3-5ppm. You will most likely build up a LARGE amount of nitrIte because the bacteria that convert nitrIte to nitrAte were at a disadvantage waiting for their food (nitrIte)"
and
"Once you can convert 1-2ppm ammonia completely to nitrAte in 24hours or less you can do a large (or several) large PWC's to get the nitrAtes below 40ppm (<20ppm preferably)."

Also, my dad wasn't fond of the smell the rotting shrimp was creating so he made me take it out. Luckily it was in there just long enough to bring my Ammonia to a good reading. After testing today with the liquid kit, Ammonia is at 4.0ppm! I haven't tested for Nitrites yet as I didn't think they'd build up that fast. Thanks for the help so far! I really appreciate it :)
 
Confused with Test Results

Okay, so I apologize for the large amount of questions I have asked on this one thread. But, here goes another one...

The results so far for my cycle are:
Mon 1/21 Ammonia- 1.0
Tues 1/22 Ammonia- 4.0, Nitrite 5.0
Wed 1/23 Ammonia- 6.0, Nitrite 5.0, Nitrate 5.0


The Question: As you can see, the Nitrites rose rather quickly. I am confused because there is already a Nitrate reading, but the Ammonia has not gone down. In fact, it's gone up! I doubt it's due to test inaccuracy, I am using the liquid API Master Test Kit. So, what's going on?
 
The ammonia for sure is going up, but Im not sure where the source of the nitrite is coming. Usually when nitrite shows up, the nitrate will also, but Its not really there.
 
Oooohhhh! I didnt see that you took the shrimp out. Hmm, well darn, Im stumped then. Wait for more input
 
Floyd Turbo says the nitrites are also read as nitrates by the liquid test kits during cycling. He's a real sciency type dude and knows a lot. I really tend to trust what he says (but thats just my opinion.)

He says it is a waste to test for nitrates until you are no longer testing positive for ammonia. When you show no ammonia but do show nitrite, you can start testing for nitrate.

If I remember correctly, when the nitrate reads higher than nitrite, you know your BB is starting to actually convert the nitrite down.
 
Thank you for the info, Mudraker!
Does anyone know why my Ammonia is rising?
 
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