I started the cycling process today. I bought a 5.5 gal glass tank, added Instant Ocean Sea Salt at 1/4Cup per gallon (directions for salt water was 1/2Cup per gallon) to RO water. It took just over 4 gallons of water to fill the tank. The substrate is Aragonite CaribSea, Florida Crushed Coral at about 1/2 inch. The decorations are 7 pounds of lava rock (4 nice size rocks that I piled into the back and corner). It looks great, to me, and I can't wait to add the shrimp. I'm thinking the tank should be ready around the first of the year.
A couple pictures of the tank:
Close up of the lava rocks
The whole tank
I have a tank of Red Cherry Shrimp and found this site about a month ago. Started reading about the Supershrimp and got hooked. Great forum and look forward to a lot more good reading.
I was under the impression that you just had to set up the tank correctly and then given time it will go through its cycle.
From this site: Set up a Supershrimp tank! Step by step instructions
7. Let the tank run for 2-4 weeks with the light/dark cycle running During this time, algae and other microorganisms in the tank will establish and form a stable ecosystem that will allow your shrimp to thrive. You can further help your tank establish a healthy microbial ecosystem by adding snails and Supershrimp Macroalgae, ...
I'm in no hurry for it to cycle because it is going into winter now and I probably won't be able to get any shrimp until Jan or Feb 2018 (if we get a week or so of warmer weather then).
Am I wrong that it will cycle without adding anything live to it over the next couple of months?
It will cycle without adding anything live. You may remove the tank lid so that some airborne spores are introduced into the tank. Or order some macro algae from this site. Keep the light on a 12 hour on/off cycle. Once you see algae growth, the tank should be cycled and ready for shrimp.
With my personal experience, it is very difficult to get some algae growth without adding anything live in there.
As you have many months to go you could ask a friend that has a reef tank about two tablespoons of live sand or a small rock (not tiny).
If it’s not the case, you could buy a bit of live sand from a reef tank in your local pet fish shop (usually, for such small quantities they will give it to you free).
I recommend you having your tank at about 1.012 SG and have some marimo, it also helps to cycle and you’ll meanwhile have a marimo pet in the tank
I actually did put three small Marimo balls in there a couple of days ago. They look good. Nice to have something living in the tank. I took around a day to acclimate them to the brackish water.
The top of the tank has an open section where the filter is supposed to go, so no problem with it getting air. Also, I have been keeping the light on at least twelve hours per day. All the air bubbles on the glass from filling up the tank are starting to go away and the tank is looking good.
Thanks again for the replies and I'll keep updating as things progress. It would be great to be able to get the shrimp before Christmas but if it's too cold I'll just wait it out until we get some warmer weather. By then there should be lots of stuff for them to eat.
This is a great site and I'm enjoying reading and seeing all the pictures about these amazing animals.
Good luck JoeG! I've got a new tank cycling right now too with a similar time table as yours. After about 2 weeks of mixing the water and cycling the light algae spontaneously germinated and began spreading in my tank, obviously your mileage may vary but wanted to put that out there for you.
Tank is looking good. The water is crystal clear and the Marimo balls are nice and green. I got my hydrometer last night and took a sample of the water this morning. The readings were: 1.012 and 17 ppt. That looks like I got the brackish water parameters correct. Now we will wait for the algae to start to show up.
I looked close at the tank and I am starting to see the brown diatoms/algae starting to show up on the substrate and the side glass panels. I checked the weather for our area for the next 10 days and see that it will be in the 40's and 50's next week. I'm wondering if it would be ok to order my shrimp.
Two questions:
1) Is the brown diatoms/algae mean that the tank is cycled enough to add the shrimp?
2) Is the weather warm enough to send the shrimp?
Attached are two pictures:
The first is the brown diatoms/algae (the brown looks more brown in real life) and the second is the weather for next week.
Attachments
WeatherNov27Dec1.JPG (10.13 KiB) Viewed 2501 times
If where you live, mustafa ships in one day or two, he could put a heat bag and send the shrimps with no problems.
Your shrimps would survive in the tank if they were about ten or twenty but I think it's safer to wait for everything to settle a bit (algae appearing on the rocks's surface, glass...) this way ammonia levels won't vary that much.
This is my tank ready for shrimps (shrimps should arrive on monday)
This is a small 2L jar to give to someone as a gift with shrimps (I started to cycle it by introducing a small bit of rock in the other aquarium, the small bit is that thing on top of the big rock)
Mustafa what do you think? Are the temps ok for shipping? Is the brown algae mean it has cycled enough or should I wait until the green algae appears? I'm sure there is some green but it really isn't noticeable yet. The marimo balls are doing well.
Great forum and look forward to a lot more good reading.
