Shrimp Cycle

CodeBlueMedic

New member
Howdy All, had the whole shrimp in the tank for going on the second day and haven't seen any increase in ammonia. What is the typical time frame for this process to start?

Parameters:

Salinity: 1.022
Temp: 76.7F
Ammonia: 0

Thanks,
CBM
 
The amount of nitrogen in all animal protein is about 16% on dry basis. The ammonia generated can be estimated.

10 g of moist shrimp meat (one whole small shrimp) has 2 g of protein and about 0.3 grams of nitrogen.

0.3 grams in 100 liters of water will give about 3 ppm ammonia.

Don't take whole shrimp in and out.

Finely chop or blend into milk 10 g (a third of an ounce) moist shrimp into 25 gals of water; this will give about 3 ppm N-ammonia.

Whole shrimp decays slowly. Shrimp turned into milk will all become ammonia in 48-72 hours. finely chopped about a day or two longer. Finely chopped is good enough usually.
 
Last edited:
The amount of nitrogen in all animal protein is about 16% on dry basis. The ammonia generated can be estimated.

10 g of moist shrimp meat (one whole small shrimp) has 2 g of protein and about 0.3 grams of nitrogen.

0.3 grams in 100 liters of water will give about 3 ppm ammonia.

Don't take whole shrimp in and out.

Finely chop or blend into milk 10 g (a third of an ounce) moist shrimp into 25 gals of water; this will give about 3 ppm N-ammonia.

Whole shrimp decays slowly. Shrimp turned into milk will all become ammonia in 48-72 hours. finely chopped about a day or two longer. Finely chopped is good enough usually.

Finely chopped and don't worry about the left overs? Just let is all decay into nothingness?
 
"Finely chopped and don't worry about the left overs? Just let is all decay into nothingness?"

Yes.

One small shrimp is close to 10 g. Shrimps are sold by counts per pound. Very small shrimp is about 48 to a pound.

3ppm ammonia is generally a good number. Do not take partially decaying shrimp in and out. Hence, one small shrimp decomposing completely for every 25 gals of water will give about 3ppm N-Ammonia.

At the start, low ammonia is enough. Finely chopped shrimp is hence good enough unless when you are trying to augment the number of bacteria in cycled medium ASAP, then blend it to milk.
 
Back
Top