Shrimp Almost Decayed - 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 0 Nitrate

[Crystalyst]

Hello all, been lurking for months as i've tried to do as much research as I can. My father has owned saltwater tanks all his life. They've always been a great source of peace and calm for me and so i've decided to finally get one myself.

A bit about my tank:
30 Gallon Biocube (Bioballs removed but filter still in)
Converted back into refugium with 2 chunks of dry rock and some live sand
DT is 2" live carribean sand with about 35 or so lbs of dry rock
Biocube protein skimmer
API Saltwater test kit
RO/DI Water only
Instant Ocean nitrifying bacteria
Powerhead


Firstly, i have been searching like mad to find someone with similar issue, but I just haven't been able to, so here I am writing the 1018419875891785th cycling post.


So here's a bit of background:
I let my dry rock soak in saltwater for about 2 weeks. (Was having severe RODI output issues and had to wait for replacement membrane) Now, this rock is INSANELY porous. Looks awesome.

Finally got tank all set up and let it start cycling. I thought I had live rock but after a lot more research I realized i'm an idiot and it's dry rock. (Phosphate kit coming in soon, fingers crossed for no epic leach of doom) So about a week and a half ago I tossed in a 3/4 piece of shrimp.

The shrimp got the whole white film thing and I just left it in the fish net so it wouldn't try to get into somewhere fishy. During this time my ammonia was .25-.5 with Nitrates staying a steady .25 and 0 nitrates. Along with the shrimp I added instant ocean nitrifying bacteria (during one of my weekly 20% or so Water changes)

For about 2 weeks my ammonia and nitrites have remained at .25 as the shrimp continued to decay and disperse. Finally this AM, i tested again and saw my ammonia go to 0. My nitrite and nitrate were also at 0. (My nitrite hit 0 2 days ago while ammonia .25)

So now here I sit after about 3 weeks of cycling at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate.

My shrimp is almost completely disintegrated (Used about 3/4 inch) thanks to the power heads smashing it all day long.

It's as if my tank didn't even start cycling. I have no diatom bloom, nothing. I can't imagine the cycle has completed with 0 nitrates. I have no plants to absorb although it seems the live rock could be absorbing all my nitrates based on what i've read?

Hoping people can give me some advice from their experience or others. Can't seem to find anyone who has had 0 readings of everything after having a shrimp completely decay in their tank (With ZERO smell whatsoever which is also boggling. Maybe the nitrifying bacteria really worked?)

Anyways, looking forward to peoples responses.

My next steps are:
1. Wait for different test kits to come in and retest
2. Add chaeto and copods to refugium
3. Hope that a reputable RCer tells me "Thats actually good, stop crying, everything will be okay"

 

[Crystalyst]

Posted early am and was already 2nd page when I came back a couple hours later. Sorry if I Bump too soon. Really curious!

 

[Saltine]

Could always add an additional shrimp to see if you get an ammonia spike to be sure. Better safe than sorry, it's not a waste of time either as the bacteria is will still be building on the rocks.

Ssalt

 

[Crystalyst]

Could always add an additional shrimp to see if you get an ammonia spike to be sure. Better safe than sorry, it's not a waste of time either as the bacteria is will still be building on the rocks.

Ssalt

Thanks, I was considering that. So if I add another 3/4 in of shrimp and all readings stay 0, would you suggest next steps to be to add a cleanup crew?

 

[hkgar]

The bacteria will increase, or decrease, based on the amount of "food" they get. That is why we ALWAYS go slow when starting out. Right now your bacteria can only handle a small amount of food. Add a fish or two to keep the bacteria functioning and able to handle an increasing bio-load.

 

[Saltine]

Thanks, I was considering that. So if I add another 3/4 in of shrimp and all readings stay 0, would you suggest next steps to be to add a cleanup crew?

I'd look for ammonia, then nitrite, then nitrate. Then add your clean up crew. Normally I'd say from what I've seen/read you didn't full cycle but from the use of the bio spira I could be wrong. But you should see some ammonia after the shrimp. Once it goes to 0 and nitrites 0 I'd say your safe.

Salt

 

[Crystalyst]

Thanks guys. Sounds like I will stress system with another shrimp and then once ammonia reads 0 ill get cleanup crew and start ramping up the bioload. I just don't want to add a fish and have it die because I didn't cross all my T's and dot by i's.

 

[Crystalyst]

Wanted to provide an update: I left the nearly fully decayed shrimp in there and added an entire shrimp to try to spike it to around 4 ppm ammonia like others were saying. There is no white film forming around the shrimp, it's just slow disintegrating. Ammonia went up to .25 last night and looks to be holding around .25-.5 now. Nitrites are .5 and Nitrates are still 0.

I'll continue to test every other day, but at this point if an entire shrimp (That i've read has caused others ammonia to spike to 8ppm in same tank) is just pushing ammonia to .5, I think I am going to add the cleanup crew once Ammonia and Nitrite are back at 0 regardless of Nitrates.

Basically the entire shrimp is causing the same reading as my initial 3/4 of the shrimp to kickoff the cycle did. I assume this means the bacteria population is building up properly and I don't need to make major adjustments to what I am doing.

 

[domb54]

From my experience starting up several tanks if you don't let nitrates to get back to 0 its extremely hard to ever get it back down especially with a smaller tank

 

[Scottshopinc]

You used the instant ocean bio spera stuff? It will make everything read zero, but I still let my tank cycle the full month.

 

[Crystalyst]

Yes, I used the bio spera instant ocean. Sounds good guys, thanks for the notes.

Sounds as if Nitrates staying at 0 are due to the bio-spera and that allowing a much larger load than the sytem probably needs to handle and letting ammonia and nitrites fall back to 0 is ultimately the best I can do given my situation.

Tank has been cycling for about 3 weeks now. As you mentioned Scott, I will let a full month pass just to play it safe in case anything else randomly spikes. If ammonia and nitrites stay as 0 for about a week I will add the CUC.

 

[Happyschneider]

I would only add the cuc once you have some algae growth. In any case now is the time to qt your first planned fish

The 0 nitrate could be due to a very porous rock that allows the anaerobic metabolising of nitrate to nitrogen gas. Doubtful though as this usually takes a long time to establish as far as I read (my experience is limited to one tank).

 

[Crystalyst]

I'll definitely look into getting a QT tank setup. Having a small NYC apartment, this hobby is really testing the limits of my storage. (Expensive hobby is an understatement as well!! Damn you chillers!!)

 

[SeattleReefer]

just buy a single damsel, plop him in the tank and feed sparingly for a month. Then add more fish/coral slowly.

 

[Scottshopinc]

just buy a single damsel, plop him in the tank and feed sparingly for a month. Then add more fish/coral slowly.

I am still a newbie to saltwater, but I would advise against this. Damsels are very much deserving of their mean reputation. And are very hard to catch once in the tank. I made this mistake, only upside after removing all my rock work I liked it better second time around.

 

[SeattleReefer]

I am still a newbie to saltwater, but I would advise against this. Damsels are very much deserving of their mean reputation. And are very hard to catch once in the tank. I made this mistake, only upside after removing all my rock work I liked it better second time around.

catching a damsel in a 29gal biocube is pretty easy, and maybe I got lucky but my 7 damsels are all quite timid compared to their tankmates.

But I only said damsel because they are cheap and hardy. OP can use a clownfish- doesn't much matter. Point is- watching a fish is much more fun than watching a decaying shrimp. The tank is ready for some inhabitants, just don't overdo it.

 

[Crystalyst]

I didn't think too much about a QT but decided I need to do this hobby right, especially if I am going to introduce Coral. QT tank coming in soon and will just use when I get a new friend. Will do water change in main tank and just do that.

Our of curiosity, anyone know the bioload equivelant of shrimp to fish? Like an inch of frozen shrimp equals 3" of live fish bioload?

 

[Crystalyst]

Hey all, wanted to share an update. Had an entire medium size shrimp decay in about a week with all readings showing 0 ppm now. (Still no nitrate, and yes, i'm beating that API Nitrate test kit like it owes me money) QT is being set up today and will get my first inhabitant. CUC is on its way. While algae growth hasn't hit yet, the rocks are covered in tiny hairs from the shrimp decay I assume and will continue to ghost/real feed the acquarium and what's barely left of the shrimp finishes decaying to keep the bacteria populations up. I am leaving the lights on for 12 hours a day, so I suspect that the diatom bloom will hit any day now. Perhaps I rushed the CUC a bit, but having them clean up all the crap floating around in the tank/stuck on the rocks, plus feedings, I don't see them starving to death before the inevitable diatom bloom. I added Copods and chaoto to the refugium and the thing has grown about 50% already. Worried it's because of phosphate leech due to my dry rock, but that test kit should be in any day now and I will take appropriate measures to get it under control.