dead fish

[naz42]

Im very new to this game and just started my first tank cycling i have 35 lbs of live rock and live sand.Someone told me if i put a dead fish in there it will cycle better and faster.Is there any truth to this.

[BangkokMatt]

[welcome]
You can speed up the cycling process a little with this idea. A dead fish is not necessary. Just add a piece of raw shrimp

[FOSELONE]

or a peice of shrimp ive heard...

[FOSELONE]

^ beat me by a millasecond...

[eskymick]

.. or a tiny pinch of Ammonium Chloride

[LisaD]

you need a source of ammonia to feed the bacteria colonizing your live rock so it will be able to support the biological load you are planning to add to the tank. if the live rock has die-off, this can be a source of ammonia. if the rock is cycled, but then not fed for a long while before adding fish, you will starve the beneficial nitrogen fixing bacteria.

some people feed a cycling tank as they would the planned fish (e.g., a cube or two of mysis daily). you don't have to have a rotting hunk of meat in there, though mysis cube vs. piece of shrimp are not really different.

check your tank parameters with a reliable test kit. when ammonia and nitrite are undetectable, but nitrates have gone up, you are cycled. Do a water change before adding fish to get nitrates down.
If you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, then you haven't had a cycle. Feed the tank to test...

Also, if you use ammonium chloride, be sure it doesn't have any additives or impurities. for example, some bottled ammonia has scent or soap added. I think you are safer to go with the biological method, raw shrimp or mysis.

[andrewsmart]

i prefer the feeding method to adding a shrim etc as it is a little more gentle and wont cause amonia to shoot up killing everything on your lr.