newbie CYCLING questions ...

owl

owl

\m/ \m/
Jul 8, 2008
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hi all ...
i m goin to start my 20g (full reef i think) for the first time , and i have a few questions
my tank is already in my sleeping room and i want to start fishless cycling with a raw shrimp , i read it ll smell bad ,
1- can i use a 2g tank to put the shrimp in it and wait till bout 1 month ( or wait till it fully cycled ) then use that water in my 20g to cycle it ?
2- if yes can i put the 2g tank in open air ?
3- should i use heater or any filtering during the cycling ?
4- when should i take out the shrimp ? or i should leave it in there ?
thnx guys :)
 
Why go through all that trouble? I would simply let the tank sit for a few days so the salt mix stabilizes. Then verify your water parameters. If all is okay, add a couple of pieces of live rock (the higher quality the better) and let the tank cycle from that. About a week after adding the rock add a few piecec of flake food to help the cycle along. You ahould then start to see life forms on the live rock. Once the water tests out properly again (no nitrates or ammonia) you are good to go. The sand bed should be very fine grain and it will populate from the live rock. It, with the rock, will be your primary water purification.

As an added thought, watch that you replace evaporated water regularly with fresh water. No replacement will increase salinity. Replacing with salt water is not a good idea. As water evaporates the salts and minerals stay behind. This too will cause an increase in salinity.
 
mmmm , not a bad idea , thnx ,, letsee if i can find some live rocks , it s a bad season and most of LFS are empty cuz of the cold weather
 
where did you get the shrimp idea?
what is your current setup? it all depends on your filtration, if you have a weak hang-on filter then it will crash as soon as you add more fish to it.
be warn, it will be expensive.
 
shrimp idea is one of the cycling methods in " Cycling Methods & Procedures "
i don have any current setup , the tank is empty , if u mean my equipment , i have a 20g tank with a 10g sump and a cheap chinese skimmer in it ...
 
Everyone always recommends the shrimp method... :huh:

Why not just use pure ammonia from the grocery store. That's what I always do , and it works great because you can always control exactly how much ammonia you have in the water, and you get it immediately instead of waiting for decomposition.

Just make sure you buy pure ammonia with no additives like lemon scent, etc.
 
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