shrimp in the tank, Always?

M

Mrbowdeadly

New member
I am setting up my first tank here....

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1938421



My questions are these. I have done some things different than others, and I am wondering if the process of cycling is the same. It seems the more I read, the more confused I get.

In a 90 gallon I used 15 gallons of original tank water from an established tank.

The water and the rock had been outside in the extreme cold for a week.

I used both the water and "some" of the original rock.

I used 2 bags of Carib sea live aragonite sand.

I made 75 gallons of fresh ro/di saltwater with salt from the LFS.

The sand was added yesterday.

My current parameters are

1.020 sg
8.2 ph

nitrates, nitrites and ammonia all zero.


SO...am I to the point that I need to put the raw shrimp in?

Thank you VERY much,
Jason
 
Well your tank definitely hasn't cycled yet. So I would say that right now would be a good time to start it. Despite the fact that you added the water from an established system, your tank will still have to go through its own cycle.
 
Great. Thanks for the tip. I wasn't sure if the addition of the old water and the live sand started the process or not. I will put the sacrificial shrimp in the tank.

Thanks,
Jason
 
Does it always have to be a shrimp? Is the point to introduce some kind of protein for the bacteria to feed on and break down? Would raw fish serve the same purpose????

Thanks,
Jason
 
I would use a bit of fish food each day instead of the raw shrimp. That reduce the smell and the amount of nutrients dumped into the tank. I'd let the system run a few days, to see whether any ammonia shows up on its own. I'm not sure how long your system has been running.
 
Thanks again Bertoni. I have had the tank running for about four days now, with just water, slowly adding salt to get the SG up. Now I added live sand yesterday. I will start to add a little fish food every day. I have a protein skimmer too, leave it on?

Thanks,
Jason
 
You can leave it running, but you don't have to. Some people use skimmate from another skimmer to cycle their tank. The fish food works great as well.
 
I used a piece of raw fish. If I had it to do over again, I'd just use the fish food. We had nitrates from hades for several weeks (I mean off the chart literally) and couldn't get them down. I'd rather have a much gentler cycle next time!
 
Sushi girl used raw fish, haha, that is funny!

Ok, I am just going to use the fish food. Just a pinch a day?

Big thank you to all who are following and answering my posts.

Jason
 
I'd start with a pinch a day. If you're planning on adding a large fish at first, you might increase the amount to about half what you'd feed the fish shortly before going shopping, to make sure the filter can handle the increased input
 
I see you stated that your sg is 1.020. Not sure if that is the final point you thaught you should be at but it needs to be closer to 1.025. I did see that you said you'd been adding salt throughout the process but wasnt sure if you knew is all. ;)
 
Thanks SGR, yes, I was trying to bring the gravity up without going past and having to add fresh. Thanks for the tip though!

I have the tank at about 1.024 now. I have added more rock, per instructions. I am adding a pinch of flakes a day.

So far so good!

Jay
 
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