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Hi I have been cycling my caridina shrimp tank for about 3 weeks now. There isn't still any nitrite or nitrate popping up yet and was wondering if maybe something has stalled it? I dose ammonia but controsoil is leaching ammonia to 1 ppm. I also dose seachem stability and also use a same sponge pre filter that I have on my other tank filter intake. I currently have a goftball size java moss and some giant duckweed in the tank. My lastest test this morning is A: 1ppm / Nitri: 0ppm / Nitra: 0ppm Substrate: Controsoil PH: 6.5 GH: 6 KH: 0 Temp: 83F

Koi What do you guys think? I’m setting up my very first tank EVER (shrimp tank, 10gal) and have been cycling it for a month or so. After a week or two & added bacteria, I added 2 apple snails and a couple plants, rock & driftwood. The tank was crystal clear for almost a month, and then was hit hard with thin green algae on the glass & rock. It’s just now calming down a bit. I’ve kept the rocks scrubbed and done at least 1 to 2 water changes a week. I have a TDS (225ppm) & pH meter that I’ve been using to monitor it. I also have a water chemistry kit coming, but have a Gh/Kh one (8drops Gh, 2drops Kh) I’ve been using also. My pH was getting up to 8.2 (w/RO remineralized water) but with extra water changes, it’s back to 7.5 or so. I have to do a light gravel vac once a week because my snails leave SO much organic matter behind and I have a bloom of Detritus worms, which I’ve read is no biggie, but I feel like there’s millions in there. Im not sure when the time will come for me to add shrimp? I want to get my bigger water testing kit in first, and see what all the #’s are, but what do I look for to show a finished cycle? I don’t want to order $100 in shrimp then have them all die on me! I also want to add a small group of nano fish once my shrimp are established.

Hi.. made a beyond rookie mistake and purchased some RCS for my fluval edge 6 gallon, but it’s not cycled yet. I was going to do watch the tank like a hawk (thanks to being home nearly 24/7 for quarantine), but my conscience has gotten the better of me. I have a .5 gallon fish bowl from my old tank Equiptment. How can I best keep my 3 RCS (less than 1/2 inch in size each) in this while I let my tank cycle properly? I was thinking treated tap water (using prime), a ball of java moss, Fluval Stratum substrate. Am I better off using a different water source? Do I need an air stone? Add beneficial bacteria? Feed them? How often water change and how much? Those details will be most helpful. More detail the better, please, as I am newer to the hobby and can’t fill in the blanks like some of the others :) THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME FIX MY STUPIDITY!

Hello. I am new to this forum and have been setting up my first ever tiger shrimp tank. The tank had been going through some incessantly BAD thick milky cloudy water issues for almost 2 months. I have two large pieces of one-hour boiled spiderwood that I’ve covered in mosses and bucephalandra that are coated in the normal amount of spiderwood fungus. I am thinking the thick cloudy water issue is related to this too. I have to rinse the filter out a LOT, and do lots of water changes or tubing gets clogged and water gets super milky thick to a point where I cannot see the plants at all. A lot of people on the internet say for normal bacteria blooms to not do large water changes and just be patient but my tank would have crashed by now if I haven’t done tons of full tank water changes and filter cleanings. I have done partial water changes for a few weeks previously just to see if it’ll work itself out but it never does. Its the worst cloudy water battle I’ve ever had in a new tank. I have another shrimp tank I setup around the same time right next it but with lava rock instead of spiderwood and it’s been crystal clear with growing plants since day 1. It hasn’t caused me any stress or drama yet. The spiderwood tank has no detectable bad water parameters, ph 6.4, gh 7, kh 0-1 Ada Amazonia powder type, Caribbean sand (all pre rinsed and pre cycled). Fully cycled eheim canister filter, no co2 or added ferts. Has anybody else used spiderwood and experienced this milky water problem?

Hi Everyone, I am new here and fairly new to the world of freshwater shrimps. One month ago, I decided to start-up a shrimp tank using my old 20 gallon aquarium. I started working on DIY stand and buying aquarium items (black sand, sponge filter, cholla wood, alder pines, and almond leaves). Now, the tank is in cycling process. My plan is to have caridinas (Blue Bolts<-definitely and Tigers <- don't know yet which type) and Neocaridinas (red cherries and blue dream). I am debating if I should purchase a RO system or just buy distilled/deionized water from somewhere (e.g. Walmart). Capital cost for 20 gallon distilled water should not break my wallet. However, operating cost might be - water change. I don't know how often I would need to do water change for a 20 gallon shrimp tank. Assuming I would do 25% water change, that will be 5 gallons of water. On the other hand, I do weekly water change for my 75 gallon freshwater tank. My 20 gallon tank is currently have dechlorinated tap water. I don't want to blabber to much. I kindly ask for your opinions and advice. I made few mistakes before being cheap and I want to make things right this time to prevent wasting time and spending more money due to mistakes.

Hi all, i am new to Shrimp keeping and despite having acquired many bathes and types of shrimps before all have died. this time I am determined to setup a proper tank to keeping shrimp. i followed some guide and setup my tank Cycling it currently. However I have a pressing question that no one seems to be able to answer me. i keep Monster fishes and goldfishes with established tank so Cycling is not new to me. However to my knowledge, a Low Ph actually impedes Cycling. I have tried various shrimp soil and they all brought the water ph down to 5-5.5. so would this in anyway stop the cycle in a shrimp tank with shrimp soil? How does Cycling a shrimp tank actually works? currently I loaded in the soil with some mineral rocks and jumpstart with bacteria in a bottle running on hob on a 1.5ft tank.

Anyone know if I can scape my tank with driftwood and plants before starting the SL-Aqua Cycling Method with Magic Powder + Purify? My driftwood has java moss attached to it but has difficulty standing on it's own so I need to put it under the substrate so that it'll hold. The problem is I'll be using SL-Aquasoil so if I try to force the driftwood under the substrate after the cycle, it'll crush the substrate. I was planning on putting the driftwood in the tank before the substrate so when I pour the substrate in, it'll help it stand. Anyone know if this would be okay with the SL-Aqua Cycle method and if the Java moss will be okay during the cycling process?

The gist of conversations I've had over the last few months with several people (some very recently): Person: I just got my shrimp a week ago, and they are dying. Me: How long have you had your tank set up? Person: [Answer ranging from one week to one month.] Me: Okay. How did you cycle your tank and what do you have in it? Person: I have this and that in the tank, and I left the filter on for [a week-a month] so I don't know what's going on. Me: Okay, but how did you cycle it? Person: I put bacteria in and left the filter on. [some didn't add bacteria and just had the filter on.] Me: Did you add some source of ammonia? Person: Yes. I put in the bacteria. Me: No, did you put in ammonia with the bacteria? Like fish food or a piece of shrimp or fish or ammonium chloride? Person: No. I just put in bacteria. Me: Test your water and let me know how your test goes. Person: I have an ammonia spike.... How do I have an ammonia spike? The filter's been on. [some people don't have test kits, so their response is, "I don't have a test kit. I don't know."] Me: Well, let me tell you a little bit about cycling. =) I was the exact same way when I first started. I had no idea what cycling was or how important it was and thought that if you put the bacteria in and just let the filter run, everything would be a-okay. Well, everything's not a-okay if you've got shrimp dying left and right from ammonia poisoning. So I'll just leave this here... =) **Please note that this is a tutorial on how to cycle a tank from scratch. It goes much faster if you use an already seeded filter/substrate, but many people starting out do not have this available. Also, some people prefer a fish-in cycle. I am not one of those people. =)

Hello! New member here and posting about my fluval spec 5 gallon tank I'm currently cycling to get ready for some shrimp I've had it set up for around 4 weeks. For the past week Ammonias been 0-0.50 ppm. Nitrites are really elevated to 2.0ppm and nitrates are elevated to 40-80 ppm. I've been doing some water changes to keep the NITRATES and NITRITES down but is there something else i can do? I'm afraid that the cycle is stsalling maybe or should i just continue doing what im doing with the water changes every day. I did also add tetra safestart like 2 weeks ago. I also have prime to help lower nitrites and nitrates and test the water with my API master test kit. I'm just worried about the cycle stalling. It's my first fish tank. Thanks for your inputs. Did a bit of research and most ppl say it's just at i t's peak and I'm close to finishing the cycle and it'll soon seem like the high ratings drop off a cliff.. but not sure.