Newbie with Red Cherry Shrimps, need help asap!

[fl4ian]

if i had been fighting it this long, and didn't want to seed with media from the 2.5, i would do the following:

1) empty the tank (no plants, no gravel, no nothing)
2) fill with dechlorinated tap water
3) keep pH in the 6.5-7.5 range
4) keep temp around 80*
5) add ammonia to 4ppm at the same time of day, every day.
6) do a partial water change if the nitrates get above 60-80, and bring them back down to 20-ish or lower.
7) after cycle is complete (ammonia and nitrite both to zero every day after adding up to 4ppm ammonia the day before), add gravel back in and test daily for a week and see if there are changes.
8) if no changes, add plants back.
9) if no changes after a week, stock the tank.
10) remember, this WHOLE time continue to add PURE ammonia back up to 4ppm every day, until you add the livestock (in #9).

this whole process should take no longer than 30 days, the cycle should not stall, etc.

 

[boobiebutt]

I have no place to put all the plants I purchased and it would be a pain to tear down the entire set up to do what you mentioned. Thanks for the suggestion though.

As of 7/27:
A-2ppm
NO2-N/A
NO3-N/A

Added 2 mL of ammonia. I'm also pretty sure nitrates are rid high so I'll do a large water change tomorrow to lower them.

 

[boobiebutt]

Did a small 20% water change. Added 2 mL of ammonia.

I will do another water change tomorrow as I know the nitrates are high.

 

[boobiebutt]

Today's water parameters shows signs of improvement.
7/29:
A-1ppm
NO2-between 0-.25 ppm
NO3-N/A

NO3 is probably still high as heck above 40-60 ppm probably. Last time I tested the nitrates, it was at 40 ppm 6 days ago. I did a small 20% water change today and added 3 mL of ammonia.

I'll be doing water parameter tests daily before adding ammonia and maybe a 20% water change every 1-2 days to lower the nitrates in the water column.



Update on the 2.5 gallon:
The baby snails are growing larger and more baby snails are hatching and roaming around. I noticed 3-4 more honeycomb looking sacks of eggs laid on the tank walls. The berried shrimp is turning darker (red'ish brown) and the eggs which were originally black/dark brown have now turned semi-translucent. I see small black specs on the eggs and I think the baby shrimps are starting to develop eyes.

 

[boobiebutt]

7/30
A-1 ppm
NO2-0 ppm
NO3-N/A

I didn't do any water changes today. Added 3 mL of ammonia to the tank.



Update on the 2.5 gallon:
I saw a baby shrimp swimming around today. The rest are still eggs at the moment. I noticed more snail eggs today as well. All is good in this tank.

 

[boobiebutt]

Update on the 2.5:
I had a second berried shrimp and all the babies has been hatched. The tank seems to be doing well. The snails are still breeding as well.

Update on the 10 gallon:
I seem to have given up on cycling this tank. I was gone for about 2 weeks cramming for my final and then went away for a week so this tank has been left alone. I still do a 50% water change weekly. I suppose that is to keep the plants in the tank alive.

I guess my plans for now is to possibly move the baby shrimps that recently hatched in my 2.5 over to the 10 gallon and let them grow out in there to make it a cherry shrimp tank only. As they grow out, I'll buy more or trade somewhere to introduce some new genes to the population.

My gf is also moving into a dorm so I'll be getting another 10 gallon tank to have no idea what to do with. Maybe I be focused enough to cycle that tank to finally get some dwarf puffers.


I probably won't be updating this thread anymore. Maybe once in a while with some shrimp news from the 2.5 or if I post pictures of the new shrimps in the 10 gallon.

 

[E's_Crab_Shack]

Wow sorry youve had such problems with the tank. Hopefully you can get those babies into the 10. Good luck!

 

[FasterShrimpo]

Usually people don't do water changes during fishless cycling. I never did for a full month and I got cycled by just adding a bit of pure ammonia. Good Luck though.

 

[boobiebutt]

Well good news I suppose. I actually got off my lazy bum and did a water test on the 2.5 gallon. The results are: ammonia - 0 nitrite - 0 nitrate - 5 ppm = totally cycled!

I am going to keep doing a 50% water change on the uncycled 10 gallon for now just to house the plants for the time being. When the baby shrimps grow slightly larger, I will swap some media over and start a 10 gallon shrimp only tank. Since it will be a shrimp only tank, I'm sure a very small amount of seeded media will be required as the bio-load will probably be insignificant. That won't be happening anytime soon so don't expect updates until later.