Shrimp to start cycle

[islefan39]

I had a question about using an uncooked shrimp to start the cycle, this may be an odd question, but was wondering. Does it have to be a shrimp or would any sort of seafood/fish that would break down work? Again maybe an odd question, but i always see people referencing using a shrimp and was wondering if anything else would work?

 

[Squatch XXL]

It is my understand that any fresh seafood will do. I also read that flake food would work as well.

 

[DaveK]

You can use just about any seafood, but it should be fresh and uncooked.

I'm not a fan of flake food because once you add it, you can never remove it. You can remove a shrimp if there is some sort of problem.

 

[Oxylebius]

Any ammonia source can be used to kick off the cycling process. That said, anything that decays can be used. Personally, I'd stay away from any processed foods. A piece of shrimp, fish, clam, oyster, etc. will all work to kick off the process.

 

[cracker]

Iv'e used fish and shrimp in the past. Don't use too much, it can smell up the place !

 

[Leandre]

from my understanding, or lack of it...using a shrimp isnt always the best idea, as you have no idea how much ammonia is actually in your tank. dosing pure ammonia would give you better idea whats actually in your tank.

 

[Squatch XXL]

dosing pure ammonia would give you better idea whats actually in your tank.

I prefer the raw seafood method of a random amount (one small shrimp). Couldn't a ammonia/nitrate/nitrite test kit tell you what is in your tank? The only reason I ask is because I only recently got a test kit for calcium. I've never tested anything before.

 

[Leandre]

It can, but you have no idea on the rate of decomposition. I've read that if your ammonia is too high during cycling it slows the process. At the end of the day. I guess you do want you feel is right. It's just my 2 cents. Also ammonia in a bottle doesn't smell or make your water cloudy. Each to their own I guess.

 

[Squatch XXL]

Each to their own I guess.

Doing ammonia is a great idea, and I never knew about it. What kind of ammonia is suggested?

 

[Leandre]

anything thats pure ammonia will do. read that after 9/11 it was harder to get pure ammonia due to it being an ingredient for bomb making. Dr Tims, which is what im using sell it. large bottle is like $4. in the grand scheme of things its pretty much nothing.

ive been following the instructions from this during my cycle.
http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/fishless-cycling
except im not using Dr Tims one and only. for the size of my tank it would of cost me like $130 for bacteria. when i first saw the price, i laughed at the screen lol
at the mo im using Brightwell macrobact7 for seeding and Dr tims for feeding.

 

[mr_tap_water]

In my opinion and based on my own experience cooked prawns have always worked for me to cycle all my tanks over the years ,what I found is that they do disintegrate over a length of time of the cycling period some times there is a little bit left but you just siphon that out or simply put them in A filter sock to save any mess,
going by some of the posts above some say you don't know how much ammonia you are putting the tank and that may be right but from my own experiences I found putting in prawns and going by my test kits I had the full cycle some tanks took longer than others that can depend on the size and filter system you have at that time but and never had any real occurrence with ammonia after the cycle so I strongly believe this method works perfectly fine, at the end of the day there are many ways some believe work better than others so good luck which ever you choose.[emoji846]
One more thing just to prove cooked prawns do work. This tank was cycled with them.

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