Hi, I was talking with a pretty knowledgable fellow that works here at the Honolulu Aquarium and he stated that I should cycle with the cleanup crew in. I thought I would see what you guys (and gals) think about this. Are they not sensitive to the cycle?
Cleanup crew and the 'cycle'
- Thread starter thoap
- Start date
I pretty new at this myself. However I've been doing a lot of reading and asking around. I'm currently awaiting the downfall of nitrites in my tank. According to what I've read and exp. so far... clean up crew won't survive the cycle. Shrimps, snails, and crabs are pretty sensitive to amm and nitrite. There are a few creatures on LR however that will survive the cycle... at least so far. All the snails that came in on the lr I put in there are dead, but there are little shrimp like creatures running around still. Also I would rather be safe then sorry. Anything you put in there at the start of the cycle will be very stressed.
considering you cant use Live rock for your cycle, starting off with snails, hermits, stars, etc would be fine.
When you start stocking with fish, remember to also add them slowly.
When you start stocking with fish, remember to also add them slowly.
I suppose it really depends on how you're gonna do the cycle. I did mine fishless with two dead shrimp. The ammonia rose to over 10 and the nitrites are over 8. If you're going fishy cycle then you probably should have them in. I would think however if you're only using them to cycle you probably wouldn't get much of a cycle. At least I wouldn't think that the clean up crew would stress your bio load that much. Once you throw in a couple of fish it's going to cycle again cuz it will only 'cycle' to the point of what your tank needs/is able to supply the bac with.