shrimp for cycle

[mcf6188]

i heard if you throw a couple of shrimp in to a new tank ,let them die and what ever they do it will speed up the cycling ... very UN sure . so you ask the right people to get the correct answer . thank you

 

[dannyp02908]

you don't throw in live shrimp and let them die. you toss in raw shrimp, the kind you eat, and let them rot. during that time, test your ammonia til it spikes and drops.

 

[JohnK]

Yup, a medium raw shrimp from the grocery store. The decomposing shrimp will provide ammonia to cycle the tank.

Have fun with it, go into the grocery store and ask for "one medium shrimp", then mumble about how hungry you are as the seafood guy looks at you like you're crazy.

It also helps a lot if you can get a bit of rubble or sand from an exiting, healthy tank. This will import the needed bacteria and that will speed things up a lot. It can take quite a while to cycle if you don't seed with bacteria.

 

[mcf6188]

thanks for the help

 

[mcf6188]

how much sand are we talking is a couple of cups good . so between the live sand the shrimp and live rock all should be god. lets hope all goes well

 

[dannyp02908]

a cup of seeded sand is perfect. between the shrimp and the sand, should be all set after the shrimp rotts down. Just check your ammonia for a spike and decline.