Started my fishless cycle, now what??

[critter905]

Well I wound up trying the fishless cycle with shrimp last night, just wondering what to do next?

I have a 75 gal. tank with a magnum 350 and an Eheim 2026. I'm leaving the lights out for now as I don't have plants yet.

How much salt do I need to add to the Aquarium?

I put in three shrimp is that too much? Should I reduce to just two shrimp?

What levels should I be looking for?

Anything else I should know or be doing?

Sorry for all the questions, just want to do this right though.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Ginafish]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=40171&start=10
Check out the links in this thread. (Scroll down to find them) THey helped me and I'm cycling successfully right now. Hopefully I'll be done soon.

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

Your basically waiting for the shrimp to rot and create ammonia. I only use the regular ammonia method for cycling and havent tried throwing in shrimp. I think the same could be done with just plain fish food BTW.

I know that the food type method will take longer because you have to wait for the rotting and them an ammonia spike. I might have gone for the throw away feeder fish cycle as that would have gotten things rolling along quicker.

Anyhow I am sure there is some info out there about cycling with shrimp.

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[TankGirl]

If I were you I'd ignore this tank for several weeks at least. The worst thing is to hover and test it every day because it takes time, and there is nothing you can do in the meantime to speed things along, other than raise the temp to 84 or so just to speed the cycle. There is no need for salt. As long as the tank water was dechlorinated and you have filters and heaters running, it is out of your hands. Ignore it for a while and then test for ammonia and nitrite. The tank will cycle in time anyway, so might as well relax and wait.