No Fish Cycling

[geno7]

Hello All.
My original plans were to add 6 Damsels and two hermit crabs to my 55 Gal aquarium. After reading all the information available on this website I decided to do the fishless cycle by adding 4 medium sized raw shrimp to my tank. You guys have convinced me that it is better to be patient than to loose a few damsels that I will probably want to remove later. Also I purchased from my local fish store today a used filter from a very healthy reef tank. I added the filter and the shrimp at the same time. How long should it take to cycle this tank with the old filter addition and are 4 medium shrimp to many?
I will keep you updated when my test indicate ammonia and the other chemicals later. If anyone has the answer to the question about if I added to many shrimp to my 55 gal it would be greatly appreciated if you would answer.

Thanks,

Gene

[OrionGirl]

4 should be fine. With the starter colony from the filter media, your cycle time shoul dbe reduced--but it's hard to say by how much. Sorry. I would expect the ammonia to start declining fairly quickly, though--probably within a week.

GL--glad to welcome another 'convert' to the fishless cycle!