Outside Rocks in Aquarium while setting up

[Timor_Leng]

Hello everyone, I'm rather new to this so I'm trying my best.
I'm currently setting up my aquarium for some crayfish, and I've decided to supply them hiding spaces by placing rocks that I've found outside in the aquarium. After placing them I started reading about outside rocks in the aquarium and have realized that it was rather a mistake.
I've removed the rocks (this is all prior to placing the crayfish in the aquarium, since I've let it cycle for about a week now) but I'm worried that now it might've made the aquarium inhospitable. The water got murkier, will it return to its cycled color any time soon?

 

[Aiken Drum]

First off, how did you cycle the tank? You cant cycle a tank in a week.

What do you mean by murky? Like a milky white colour? Or a tea like colour? Or green water? Or particles suspended in the water? All of these would indicate different things.

 

[Timor_Leng]

I added a chlorine detoxifier, bacteria and waste & algae control (all from store bought bottles) and waited a week. Water was murky milky-white at first but then became clearer as time moved on.

The water isn't green, I'd say milky, it might be tea color but it's hard to tell since there's a piece of wood inside that causes the light-brownish color (The wood is store bought and is safe to use). The color didn't seem to change from the stones. There are some particles suspended in the water.
Just to be clear, those rocks were in there for about five minutes or so.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Timor_Leng]

Just to be clear, they are a bit murkier, you can still see from one side to the other of the aquarium, it's just not as clear as it was before.

 

[Aiken Drum]

There is more to cycling than adding some stuff and letting the tank run for a week or so. Cycling a tank typically takes 6 to 8 weeks. You need ammonia in the tank to feed the bacteria, so it can grow into a colony large enough to process out all the waste your tank produces. If you are planning to cycle the tank before adding your fish (or in your case crayfish) this involves dosing ammonia directly into the water for a number of weeks. If you are planning to cycle a tank with fish (or crayfish) in the tank, the ammonia comes from fish waste and involves regular water changes to prevent this waste building up to a harmful level until your cycle establishes.

In either case this is normally a 6 to 8 week process.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Milky coloured water is a bacterial bloom. Its bacteria taking advantage of nutrient imbalances in the water and growing to such a degree that you can see it. Its common in newly established tanks, and normally goes away on its own as the tank establishes and the nutrients get used up.

 

[Timor_Leng]

Thank you very much for the clarification, I really do appreciate the thorough explanation. I'm glad to see that the color change isn't a harmful issue.

As for the cycling, I'll get my source of ammonia ASAP.

Thank you.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Do you know how to do a fishless cycle?

 

[ADsnail]

Hi Timor,

Welcome. I keep crayfish too. What kind will you be getting? How Many? When will they arrive?

I've found that the blue and orange varieties are very aggressive and it worked out better to keep those separate. I have one now that's a Cherax Thunderbolt (fancy talk for a Rainbow from Indonesia) and he's so placid, he allows shrimp to ride on him as a cleaning crew.

I originally thought of rocks, as you tried. But I ended up finding so many cool decorations made for aquariums (including very realistic fake rocks) that I went a different route, decor-wise.

Turns out the crayfish doesn't give a darn - he upends every single thing in there nightly. Every morning I go in to see him and he's completely redecorated the place, building sand mountains where there were none before and digging crannies under every little thing, in which to hide. So whatever you get, I'm sure your new guy(s) will enjoy it all.

 

[Timor_Leng]

Aiken Drum: So I've checked it now and what I'm supposed to do is create ammonia using rotten food (ghost feeding) for about 6-8 weeks until the tank is cycled. I've also understood that you can put bacteria cultures that can be store bought in which case the tank is cycled much faster (which was my plan)

ADSnail: So I'm planning on buying two and either this week or Sunday next week. That's really cool to hear about your crayfish and good to know that they can withstand basically any environment. I'm currently trying a more natural look, so I've got some wood and rocks (store bought now, just to be safe). I'd love to hear any tips and tricks you might offer so they'll live a long and healthy life.
I was hoping to get two red ones, but I'm more or less at the mercy of what the pet stores offer at the given moment I'm there (there was a blue one once). I was also wondering whether to buy two small ones and watch them grow as time progresses, might be a cool experience.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I dont like using fish food, but its a valid method.

Its difficult to determine how much food you need to add to bring up ammonia to the required level and decaying food tends to go mouldy. You will be cycling the tank for a couple of months, adding food daily. Thats a lot of food going into the tank and decaying. I would recommend an aquarium specific ammonium chloride product as an ammonia source.

Also, dont expect the bottled bacteria products to be the magic bullet they claim to be. These products are hit and miss, mostly miss. They "might" speed up the time it takes to cycle a tank from several months to several weeks. They might do nothing to help. I wouldnt invest a lot of hope and money in them, but worth a try at the outset.

If you are planning on buy crayfish next week, that won't be long enough time to have the tank cycled. Either do a fishless cycle and let it take as long as it takes, or get your crayfish and do a fish in cycle.

 

[Timor_Leng]

It seems that fish in cycle is usually a terrible idea, at least from what I read.
I'll see if I can get my hands on some ammonium chloride like you suggested, since it might take a while until I get some, would you suggest performing ghost feeding so the bacteria that might've build up in the tank won't die?

I happen to use PROFISH Instant Life bottled bacteria, do you know or is there a way to know if this might be an actual hit or a miss?

I presume you don't use a kit for your aquariums since you mentioned it's hard to tell how much food to put while ghost feeding. How do you make sure everything is in proper chemical/biological state without a kit?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Fish in cycle is safe if done properly. Its only a terrible idea if you have no idea what you are doing. Causes way less frustration than trying to do fishless cycles.

As said, i really dont like ghost feeding. There are numerous "whats this stuff growing in my tank" and its mouldy food.

Never heard of the profish stuff. Its not really a case of this brand is good, that brand bad. You will find people having successes and failures with all of them. It can be down to transportation and storage thing. If kept at the wrong temperature everything can have died before you even bought it.

I do use a test kit. The thing is, how much food do you need to add to put 2ppm of ammonia in a tank? It also takes a while to decay and show as ammonia. You test and see 0.5ppm ammonia and think, thats not enough food, add more the following day, but the first lot is still there decaying and now you have too much. With ammonia its so many drops per volume of water to bring it up to what you need, you can confirm the level shortly after with a test, and then monitor how quickly it drops and when you need to add more ammonia.

 

[ADsnail]

Sand is their substrate, they live to dig. I've found that more sand - say, 3" deep - keeps them busier and happier. Even though they jump around to spots all over the tank they're still a bottom dweller. A tall tank would be wasted unless you're going to try to have fish in there.

Fish--we bought a dozen small goldfish for our blue as company/hunting practice/meal-on-the-hoof, in that order. It worked out exactly as planned. Every few weeks when he needed an extra protein boost he'd hunt down a fish. This despite his usual diet of Crab Cuisine, peas, carrots, blanched zucchini, an occasional chunk of defrosted shrimp, and algae tabs (his "cookie"--they spin it around, nibbling the edges).

No matter how adorable, they are killers. And that goes for the human fingers dipping in to add or remove things.

It's important to have lid on the tank. None of mine have been jumpers but there are others on this site who've had them. The last thing you want to hear is a sickening crunch in the middle of the night when you get up and inadvertently find that he took an exploratory flying leap.

You haven't mentioned what size your tank is but 10g is about the smallest for one...actually, 20g is much better considering you'll have stuff in there. And they do need the stuff, for hiding, exploring, staying interested in life. More than one, a bigger tank would be better and reduce the chances of them fighting and wounding or killing each other. Consider that they molt (moult?-sp) every 6-8 weeks until adulthood at 1-1/2 years old. They'll be fully 6" big as adults. How well will one fit in your space adulthood? Two?

When they molt they dig down and hide for anywhere from half a day to a day. They back out of their old body like a car out of the garage and lay low for a few days, weak and recovering. Then they're ravenous.They eat the old exoskeleton so don't remove it - they need the calcium, protein, minerals to grow that bigger body you'll see in a few days. If you get a chance to spot the exoskeleton before they polish it off, it's quite amazing. Absolutely perfect replica, down to their tiny legs. There are some videos on YouTube that people took of their cray in the process.

If you decide to add a snail or two (nerite for cleaning, mystery for fun) your blue or orange will kill and eat them. A less aggressive type (like Cherax Thunderbolt) will live compatibly with snails. I once watched my blue headlock, repeatedly punch, and finally suck a mystery snail out of its shell. I am not kidding. It was pretty horrifying to watch. Okay, no more snails for you, buddy.

The big-box stores have crays in a hit-or-miss fashion. They might go months without any. Local fish stores, if you have them where you are, may be easier as well as needing your business. They could at least ask their suppliers and maybe put in a order for you.

If you're not having any luck, Aquatic Arts (aquaticarts.com) sells wonderful crays of many varieties and ages. And prices. They are a small local business, just in someone else's locale. That's where we got our Thunderbolt. They really care about their crustaceans; great people and they answer all questions cheerfully. Their little guys arrive ASAP and are healthy, waving hello with those big claws as soon as you open the box.

Lastly, crawfish (as we call them in Louisiana) will eat every live plant in an aquarium. So plastic and silk are the way to go.