think i may have figured out my RCS tank issues

A

AquaPonixRox

Wet Behind the ears
Dec 18, 2008
61
0
6
La La Land
my RCS tank has been setup for a long time, had fish in it for year or so, then i removed them and about 4-6 months later got some rcs and put in the tank, then started to have constant ammonia, nitrite,and nitrate issues.

so the question is if a tank has no bioload for say 4-6 months will it need to be cycled again ?

if i need to cycle the tank again what is the suggestion?

i might have another tank i can put them in that currently has fish in it(i know this tank is good and cycled),that i will move if need since the shrimp are so delicate EDIt: tested water no good, so might just need to WC every couple days till things look good then let it go for week unless test kit tells me to other wise
 
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Yeah you will need to recycle the tank :(

I would move the shrimp until the new tank is cycled. Shrimp are very sensitive to ammonia and nitrite. It shouldn't take too long, you can use the media from your other tank to jump start the shrimp tank.
 
:iagree: If you can take some of the established filter media out of one or a few of your tanks (the more the better) and stuff it in the filter on the empty tank, you shouldn't see any cycling spike at all. The RCS aren't going to have such a low, low bioload that you should be fine immediately. What you're doing when you cycle a tank is growing nitifying bacteria on the filter media so that the ammonia can get converted. You'll actuallly lose some of the nitrifying bacteria on the established media you stuff in there because there's won't be enough ammonia load (like you had in the fish tank where it came from) to keep it all alive. And that is a non-issue. What you do when you cycle the tank is not get the water ready for the fish...but the filter populated to be able to perform biological filtration.
 
as i recently found out if your tank has been empty of fish for say 3 weeks or so the nitrifying bacteria will need cycling again so keep this in mind new shrimp keepers
 
AquaPonixRox said:
as i recently found out if your tank has been empty of fish for say 3 weeks or so the nitrifying bacteria will need cycling again so keep this in mind new shrimp keepers
Click to expand...

I had asked a question about how long these bacteria would last without food, and many members had replied that the bacteria actually survive for weeks or even months without having ammonia and nitrite and that you shouldn't worry about them dying off and having to recycle again.. I can't confirm that however..
 
oops mistake above meant to say 3+ months lol. well i have gotten mixed answers asking around to, some say they die and need to go through cycle again and others say it should be fine and others say ya should be good to go
 
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