quick cycling question

[vcam]

Hello all,

today marks day 11 in my cycling process. I placed a raw shrimp in the tank on day 1 and was dosing Seed by aquavitro daily.

My ammonia spiked and has no fallen back to zero (was 1.5).
Nitrite is currently coming down at 2 (was ~4).
Nitrate has been steadily increasing and was at around 100 today (Little darker than the 80ppm indicator).

I was just curious if a Nitrate reading so high as 100 was normal for this stage in the process, and if i should be removing the shrimp soon!

Thanks

 

[nvladik]

Hi Vcam. I think you can remove the shrimp, you won't remove 100% of it and there will still be parts decomposing and further introducing waste that will turn into Ammonia > Nitrite.

My 2 cents.

 

[nuttyd]

Forget that you have a tank for the next month. Dont even look at it. just let it take care of itself. If you can wait two, better. Patience is the hardest part of this hobby.

 

[vcam]

I'm fine being patient, I just don't want to wait a month or longer to find out I could have done something different weeks ago!

I'm just curious if the shrimp rotting completely is a good idea and if anyone else has had such high readings for nitrate.... If it continues to elevate at the same rate, I wont be able to test it within 2 days.

 

[nuttyd]

Exactly my point. There is nothing to do right now but wait. All the testing at the beginning is only pointing out that you are in the cycle. Let the tank mature a bit more than just the cycle, your future fish will thank you.

 

[CStrickland]

You won't get a legit nitrate test until all the nitrites are gone. The nitrate test reads a little bit of trite as a whole lot of trate.
I agree that you can take out the shrimp, once the ammo spiked the ball is rolling. Some like to feed the tank a little every couple days, but most say it's not necessary.
I think you're pretty close to being ready for fish. I can't think of a reason to wait months.

 

[nuttyd]

Agree, there is no need to wait months. But, there are a lot more potential problems with fish in younger tanks.

 

[vcam]

Wouldn't removing the shrimp mean removing the food source for the bacteria which is continuing the cycle?

 

[jstack]

yes and do wc the whole point of raw shrimp is just to get it going leaving it in there and decomposing is going to do bad things with that high of nitrates

 

[SLOreefer805]

I personally used a raw shrimp, and once it started to get furry, and began to stink so bad I had to pull it. But continued to put fish food everyday in the tank. About six days after I pulled that stinky shrimp the tank was cycled. I also recommend using seachem stability while getting the tank cycled. That stuff works wonders. I put the shrimp in a pair of panty hose so I could pull it out easier.

 

[scuzy]

But a bottle of ammonium by Dr Tim one drop per gallon.

 

[nvladik]

But a bottle of ammonium by Dr Tim one drop per gallon.

There's no need to pay extra for an "aquatic" label. Any household ammonia in a local hardware store will do the trick. And it's like $3 for a huge bottle, vs. paying premium for 1/3 of that size with a prettier label.

 

[gone fishin]

You won't get a legit nitrate test until all the nitrites are gone. The nitrate test reads a little bit of trite as a whole lot of trate.
I agree that you can take out the shrimp, once the ammo spiked the ball is rolling. Some like to feed the tank a little every couple days, but most say it's not necessary.
I think you're pretty close to being ready for fish. I can't think of a reason to wait months.

I agree with C., You can remove the shrimp and it will not cause your bacteria to starve. Bacteria can survive for quite along time without any food. On the other hand you can leave it in there and it will happily decompose. Either way your going to end up in the same place. For future reference if you do the shrimp method again, put the shrimp in piece panty hose. Makes it easy to remove when your ready.

Soon you will start seeing various algae showing up, potentially for the next few months but this to shall pass. Good luck just my 2 cents.

 

[vcam]

Thanks everyone! I'll be removing the shrimp today.