Starter Livestock

[qhrisnd]

We are getting ready to start the cycling process in our tank now that everything is setup. What is a good "crew" to help cycle the tank?

TIA!

Chris

 

[clownface]

i have read people have used a raw piece of shrimp, iuseda produt called cycle, it worked and make sure u have a good testing kit for saltwater,anothe thing is to cycle the tank with damsels but i would'nt it will cause to much stress on the fish

 

[Jermz79]

A raw shrimp from your local grocery store!!!!

If you have a larger tank, maybe 1 shrimp per 20 gallons or so!!! Spare the poor little fishies from torture and read up on the "Fishless cycle".

 

[Jermz79]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

 

[qhrisnd]

Thanks for the great tips! One more question:

Should we add our LR before or after the cycle?

 

[Ricky@3rdshift]

before

 

[Brenden]

If you are adding LR you can use it for the cycle instead of the shrimp. You will lose a lot of your hitch hikers though. If you are patient enough then do a cycle with the shrimp then add the LR. I did mine this way and lost very few hitch hikers.

 

[qhrisnd]

We added the shrimp, and are going to await the LR for now.

When I read that sticky about the "fishless" method cycle, I didn't see a definate time frame to get things up and running. Is it basically dependant on the levels in the tank as to when I'd add the LR?

TIA!

 

[Jermz79]

There really isn't a definite time frame you just have to watch the levels. When you see Ammonia and Nitrites down to 0 ... at that point your Nitrates should bounce up and then you can do a water change to bring those down! At that point you should be good to add your LR and just keep watching those levels.

You will most likely see an explosion of a fine brown algea also known as Diatoms, at this point you can go ahead and add some snails and hermits to help contain that.

What size is your tank? How much LR do you plan on adding?



Jermz

 

[mykpoz]

get ready for the wonderful smells!

Deffinitly the way to go though.

Congrats on getting underway on a long LONG journey.

 

[qhrisnd]

What size is your tank? How much LR do you plan on adding?

We have a 29 Gallon Acrylic. We're thinking about adding between 30 and 40 lbs of LR to our tank.