christinenha Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 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. =) TomCruise, sarah, Shrimpie and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpie Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Excellent video, Christine - Really good breakdown of how to use Dr. Tims method. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ch3fb0yrdee Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 WHoa!!! Awesome!! You saved folks a lot digging through google. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 Great job Christine!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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