Does cycling with shrimp smell?

T

Terpmjn

AC Members
Feb 21, 2005
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Hello everybody,

I think I'd like to cycle my tank using the raw shrimp cycling method. My worry is that I live in a small apartment and I'm worried about the smell from the rotting shrimp. Can anybody attest to whether or not their tank had an overwhelming stench coming from it while cycling using raw shrimp?

Any experiences would be helpful. Also, i was considering using only 1/2 a shrimp to cycle, maybe to keep the smell to a minimum. I'm planning FOWLR and it's only a 29g tank.

Thanks in advance,

Mike
 
Start with a smaller piece of shrimp and work up. It will reduce the chance of a smelly cycle.So throw in 1/4 piece of shrimp for first 3 days then move up to 1/2 so on and so on.
 
don't use a shrimp, just put your live rock and base rock in and leave it. You don't need the shrimp and it is just another hassle to come to. But if you have alot of live rock be care full your tank dosn't get new tank syndrome. When this happens the water turns green and smells like ****, and amonia spikes to like 4. This kills everything except the bacteria on the live rock. A word of advice however, get a skimmer, they are wonder machines. It is definatly worth the money, and is there is a difference of like 20 bucks between a good one and a tunze for example, spend the extra money, it is worth it, check out the stuff it pulls out, yuck!
 
Some more info......

Here's my situation:

I've got 2 damsels in the tank an they've been in for 14 days now. I used a live bacteria in a bottle product called "TLC for Saltwater" and have about 7 pounds of LR in the tank (cured). In 14 days I have never seen a hint of ammonia and I test almost everyday. My Nitrites got as high as 0.50, and have now been at zero for over 7 days. My Nitrates are steady at 20.

I was thinking about taking the damsels back to the store and doing a fishless cycle with shrimp so as to get the ammonia spike now. I'm afraid that my tank will continue on fine with the damsels and when I add more fish in a month or two I'll then see the ammonia spike and it kills everything. Any thoughts on this? The "TLC" product is supposed to keep Ammonia and Nitrates down to very minimal levels, as well as cycle the tank in a matter of days. I don't have much algae growing yet, but there is some traces of brown hair algae forming, as well as some brown diatom algae.

Please help if you can, I'm not sure what to do. I know the tank is healthy now and is progressing, but is it really healthy?

Thanks again,

Mike
 
Seems to me like you have cycled.
The lack of Ammonia spike is odd but the follow through seems right. Could be the cured live rock had enough bacteria to handle the load.

On a side note
Ive never heard of "TLC for Saltwater" But if it want stored in a cooler and have an expiration date, It probably didnt do anything.
 
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