|
01/02/2013, 05:45 AM | #1 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 92
|
Dead Damsel and Cycling
Would a dead damsel fish help cycle a new tank?
I always hear you can cycle a new tank with a shrimp from the grocery store by letting it rot in it. Are any of these true? |
01/02/2013, 06:02 AM | #2 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: sound beach,NY
Posts: 62
|
Yes and yes. You basically need something thats gonna break down and feed the tank ammonia to start your bacteria
|
01/02/2013, 06:10 AM | #3 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Hurricane WV
Posts: 70
|
Yelp it will help get it going, not that you want the fish to die but if it happens it wont hurt the process.
|
01/02/2013, 06:41 AM | #4 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Harford County MD
Posts: 331
|
A lot of people think it's cruel to the fish to put it in there and have it die just to cycle the tank. There are a few different ways to do it without having to use a fish...
__________________
Tank Setup: RSM 130D Current Tank Info: Red Sea Max 130D |
01/02/2013, 08:18 AM | #5 |
Moved On
Join Date: May 2012
Location: flowery branch georgia
Posts: 3,644
|
I christen mine with alittle urine!
|
01/02/2013, 08:40 AM | #6 |
Moved On
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Central NY
Posts: 1,124
|
Raw uncooked shrimp works as well.
|
01/02/2013, 11:09 AM | #7 |
I'm a little people
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Over Yonder
Posts: 1,392
|
It is ethically wrong to cycle a tank with a live fish. Please use a different source for your nitrogenous waste.
__________________
Stacy |
01/02/2013, 11:29 AM | #8 |
Moved On
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Stockton, CA
Posts: 14,854
|
If you don't want to use a piece of shrimp to cycle your tank, I'm sure your LFS would have no problem handing over a dead fish. They should be checking their tanks every morning for these.
|
01/02/2013, 11:36 AM | #9 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,670
|
I won't use dead whole fish as it make carry some parasite or undesirable bacteria esp inside the digestive tract of fish died from diseases.
Best protein source for decade is a shrimp, or some fish flesh from a large fish, I tend to think. |
01/02/2013, 11:40 AM | #10 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,670
|
The disadvantage of urine is quantity of ammonia unknown.
If I plan to do a 100% water change and cycle in a small container, I just urinate in it. Nitrite could be over 30 ppm, I don't care. But if you plan to retain the water you cycle with, a known amount of ammonia is better. You won't "age" the water excessively. Just enough one or two shots of ammonia well timed is best. |
01/02/2013, 11:52 AM | #11 | ||
Registered Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Virginia Beach
Posts: 6,659
|
Quote:
Quote:
Yeah you read that wrong too lmao |
||
01/02/2013, 12:07 PM | #12 |
RC Mod
|
You don't need ANYTHING. the dieoff in your live rock is completely sufficient. REmember what you're encouraging is microscopic: you won't see it. If you can't stand adding nothing at all, add enough flake fishfood daily to feed one guppy (one flake), and STILL expect a cycle of 4-8 weeks. You simply cannot get bacteria to propagate clear to the core of the rock in less time than that, and if you rush it, you can crash the tank.
__________________
Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%. |
01/02/2013, 01:04 PM | #13 | |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,670
|
Quote:
If the tank stinks very much you can be sure enough decay is happening; otherwise, there may well not be enough ammonia to cycle esp for many fish. Plus, the whole idea of using decay from dead lives from LR to cycle is senseless; there are alternatives. |
|
01/02/2013, 01:14 PM | #14 | |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,670
|
Quote:
"bacteria propagating to the core of LR" is not a part of cycling. Cycling is nitrification only, not denitrification. Such is the definition and also has a reason. This is NOT to say that denitrification is not important, it is in the longer term. You can introduce some fish when nitrification is complete, even if you have a basically reef tank in mind, even when denitrification is not yet well established. The comprehesive ecological perspective has more bearing on long term maintenance. If your interest is a reef tanlk with only a few small fish, you may consider long term ecological balance as more pressing. Having nitrification and some livestock before denitrification is robust will not crash a tank. I 'd agree that if your interest is a reef tank you should not add too much livestock quickly. |
|
01/02/2013, 01:38 PM | #15 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,670
|
In this hobby, it can be a mental handicap to always think of comprehesive ecological balance, nitrification and denitrification.
This is true especially in QT of fish. Nitrate is harmless to fish at concentration commonly encountered. There is much utility in nitrification alone without denitrification. Thus, LR is a poor medium of filtration in QT. One should not think of ecology in a QT. In a DT, ecology is of course of great long term significance, but one also should consider the timing of the correctness of the comprehesive ecological perspective. |
01/02/2013, 03:07 PM | #16 | |
Registered Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: The Wild Blue Yonder
Posts: 8,887
|
Quote:
__________________
If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat. Steve Current Tank Info: 180, 2-240 FOWLRs, 240 reef |
|
01/02/2013, 07:21 PM | #17 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 92
|
|
01/02/2013, 08:25 PM | #18 |
I'm a little people
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Over Yonder
Posts: 1,392
|
My apologies to the OP since I misinterpreted what was said. Sorry.
__________________
Stacy |
01/02/2013, 08:26 PM | #19 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: S.W Florida
Posts: 14
|
I had both my 75 and my 30 running for a week before I put a Damsel in which is still pretty soon and neither died. You're tank would IMO have to be very unprepared to kill a damsel and thats kinda cruel
|
01/02/2013, 09:55 PM | #20 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 3,907
|
+1 on using another source besides the damsel. it would certainly work, but the last thing you want to do is introduce velvet or some other nasty disease.
__________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 120 gallon, coast to coast overflow w/beananimal overflow. Waveline DC 10000 II return pump, 40 gal sump, Octopus XS200 skimmer, T5 lighting |
01/03/2013, 05:58 AM | #21 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 92
|
|
01/03/2013, 06:03 AM | #22 | |
Registered Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 92
|
Quote:
I was hoping for the best though... :? |
|
Thread Tools | |
|
|