cycling with bio-spira

[bapski]

i have a cycling question.. tank will be 2 weeks old on SATURDAY. im using 3 raw shrimps right now.. i also as you know have live rock already... yesterday, decided to put in BIO-SPIRA... checked water values today.

pH: 7.8 ( added pH 8.3 also yesterday)
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 5.0
nitrate: 80

questions:
1. do i get rid of the shrimps now? as my ammonia is 0.
2. i plan to do pwc on FRIDAY. i suppose 25% will be fine. WOULD THIS BE OK?
3. after doing pwc on FRIDAY and values are ok (ammonia 0, nitrite 0) can i add YELLOW TANGS ( how many? was looking at getting 2) and a bit of a CLEANER CREW?

 

[fareforce]

leave shrimp in, and keep waiting. Wait for the cycle to finish.. Don't worry.. You are getting close..

 

[jay24k]

I'd get rid of the shrimp personally. You see nitrite which means any ammonia, it will consume. I always cycle my tanks with shrimp till I see ammonia or nitrite/nitrate. I then pull it out. If you have a good amount of live rock, then you can almost begin your clean up crew. Nitrite is not toxic unless the levels are very high. I would try to wait till Nitrite is done however and then do a decent water change. Wait another 2 weeks and see if any changes and then add slowly.

 

[bertoni]

[welcome]

I don't add shrimp at all with live rock. The ammonia can stress or kill organisms that I'd like to keep alive. I'd start doing some water changes, in order to remove any toxic leftovers of the cycling process.

 

[jay24k]

I missed the live rock part. If you just added liverock, like Bertoni stated, no need for the shrimp imo. The cycle will start by itself by die off or the current bacteria on the live rock will sustain the tank fine and build up as your bioload does.