cycling tank, need advice

[nichols]

ok so do i leave the shrimp in, or take it out? so i can just put fish food in there every 2 days? also should i get like a emerald green crab, or like a cleaner shrimp to eat the food?

The whole nitrogen cycle can be a little tough to understand. First of all cycling a tank with a live fish is not nessary and is stressful to the fish.
As long as you have any detectable ammonia, your cycle has started. What your LR/LS is actually doing is growing bacteria which consumes ammonia. The waste product of this bacteria is nitrite. Bactria develops which consumes this nitrite and converts it into nitrate.
What you use to start the cycle is not really that important. It could be a small table shrimp, a small amount of fish food, could be just die off from the live rock. It's important that you don't rush this process. These bacteria need time to develop. This can take anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks, with 4 to 6 being the "norm".
After your "cycle", you'll have a limited amount of these bacteria available. You need to stock slowly. This gives the bacteria time to grow to large enough numbers to be able to process this new bio load. Then you can add a little more and so on till you reach the capacity of your system.

 

[SteveDola]

ive been told the best and quickest way to cycle a tank is to use a cup of urine to spike the ammonia. I heard it cycles quick and without any LR, makes sense to me although Ive never tried it. I also havent cycled a tank in 3 yrs.

 

[dcforester1]

I used pure ammonia, and that worked for me. I have only been at this for acouple of months. Everyone says it, and its the least bit of advice everyone takes. I didnt, and they didnt, very few of us can, but be patient, be patient, be patient. Like I said Im just starting out. I was lucky, a friend gave me acopy of the The Conscientious Aquarist. I believe if you havent read this twice, and have a FULL understanding, not just be able to say it, but fully understand how the "cycle" works. Then you shouldnt be even be putting water in a tank, never mind fish. This is an exciting, and fasinating hobby. You need to remember that these are living, breathing, animals. It doesnt matter what the fish costs, there is no reason to use them to cycle the tank. If you do a Google search you will find a wealth of information on the cycle, and there are plenty of people on this forum that enjoy the hobby, and will be willing to help you. Remember its not the destination, its the journey, enjoy the process, dont rush it.
Derek

 

[mpsteve]

why does everone keep saying dont rush. ok got it, im not gunna and this post had no thoughts about rushing, im a very patient person, i just wanted to know if the white stuff on the shrimp was all right. and then i askd when i should start adding clean up crew, its not like i wanna add them now, im just curious, i dont wanna mess anything up. also just so you guys and gals know i have patience took me 2 years to build a drag car, that i take up to new england dragway

 

[afboundguy]

From there, still TAKE IT SLOW. The initial cycle happens over a month or so in a sterile tank. It happens faster with LR, but there is no specific time table. THEN, the tank will continue to mature and stabalize for up to a year before a lot of reefkeepers would consider it "stable".

Just sit back and wait for a while

Best advice around...

The whole nitrogen cycle can be a little tough to understand. First of all cycling a tank with a live fish is not nessary and is stressful to the fish.

Def not a good thing to add livestock to a cycling tank... Plenty of other things can start the cycle...

why does everone keep saying dont rush. ok got it, im not gunna and this post had no thoughts about rushing, im a very patient person, i just wanted to know if the white stuff on the shrimp was all right. and then i askd when i should start adding clean up crew, its not like i wanna add them now, im just curious, i dont wanna mess anything up. also just so you guys and gals know i have patience took me 2 years to build a drag car, that i take up to new england dragway

Everyone is saying it because we see it all the time on the boards. Someone goes too much too fast and in a few months are like "why is my tank a mess?"

It took me 6 months to add fish to my tank thanks to great advice from a LFS and while I didn't like it at the time it helped in the long run...