cycle in low density tanks

[35ppt]

I set up a new plant only 29G tank a few months ago. Somehow I forgot about the fact that there is no nitrogen cycle, and I put 2 ghost shrimp in there.

I do not have another cycled tank I can move them to.

I do have a 10G with 2-4 RCS in it. I set this tank up a few months ago with fresh substrate and switched to remin. RO. I used the established filter from the old tank. Shrimp seemed fine at first, but eventually I noticed the numbers just droped one by one. I really have no idea why these shrimp are dying. So I don't want to put the ghosties in this tank.

However, I did take a sponge from the RCS tank to try to seed the ghost tank.

But I don’t even know IF the RCS tank has a cycle going at this point with that amount of shrimp in it.  There has to be a minimum amount of nitrogen to start & sustain a cycle, right?  I don’t even know how to check a tank for cycle, now that I think about it.

Even kind of wondering if you can keep a small amount of shrimp in a large volume of water without a cycle. Just thinking about the small jars and bowls people keep with shrimp + plants and no filtration.

So I really don't know what to do about either tank - the 10G with 2 RCS or the 29G with 2 ghosties.

 

[chappy6107]

how heavily planted is it?  if it is pretty full, some tanks will not need to cycle as the plants take up the harmful ammo/nitrite/nitrate faster than the bacteria can.  and you need a test kit to check the tank for completed cycle.

[35ppt]

Good point. The 10gal is lightly planted but the 29gal is heavy.

NitrAte is zero on the 10gal, and I will of course be checking the 29gal now that I've shrimped it.