Hawaiian Opae Posted March 30, 2016 Report Share Posted March 30, 2016 Can bacter AE be used in cycling a brackish water tank like one for Hawaiian Opae Ula? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dluxeshrimps Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 I never used it. Bacter AE can make a biofilm in the aquarium. so I don't see why it wouldn't work. in my brackish tank I used "Dr. Tim's one and only" to get it jump started put some of my media from my freshwater tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 On 3/30/2016 at 8:36 PM, Hawaiian Opae said: Can bacter AE be used in cycling a brackish water tank like one for Hawaiian Opae Ula? no. bacter ae is not a product made for cycling. there is some bad info out there about people using it for cycling. ShrimpP 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dluxeshrimps Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 1 minute ago, bostoneric said: no. bacter ae is not a product made for cycling. there is some bad info out there about people using it for cycling. thanks Bostoneric for you input. I wasn't so sure myself on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 Just now, Dluxeshrimps said: thanks Bostoneric for you input. I wasn't so sure myself on it no problem. probably great for OU but once the tank is established. Dluxeshrimps 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawaiian Opae Posted April 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2016 What do you use to kick start bacteria in your tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. F Posted April 5, 2016 Report Share Posted April 5, 2016 What do you use to kick start bacteria in your tank? For fishless cycling you can try ammonium chloride which is a source of ammonia for the bacteria that will naturally populate your biofilter. Dr tims is a popular one (http://store.drtimsaquatics.com/Ammonium-Chloride-Solution-for-Fishless-Cycling_p_190.html), or you can find surfactant free ammonia at your local hardware store. You can also get bacteria balls that contain dormant bacteria, when introduced to water they reanimate. I've used azoo Max bio balls (http://www.azoo-aqua.com/product-info.asp?id=132) and they seem to cycle my tanks faster and I skip the stringy diatom algae phase. Alternatively, if you have a bunch of ramshorns, you can just drop those in and over feed them. Lol. They generate a lot of waste (ammonia) which is necessary for the cycle. You can also leave your temp up around 80 for a couple weeks and that will speed things up. Then when it's cycled, drop in a pea puffer to clean up the snails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted April 5, 2016 Report Share Posted April 5, 2016 3 hours ago, Hawaiian Opae said: What do you use to kick start bacteria in your tank? I and MANY of our clients have been doing the SL-Aqua Cycling method with great success for a couple years now. http://www.discobee.com/blogs/news/18442297-cycling-a-dwarf-shrimp-tank-the-easy-sl-aqua-way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescador Posted April 5, 2016 Report Share Posted April 5, 2016 +1 I am one of them, set up a Tiger tank and a TB tank using the SL Aqua method,. Worked great! EricM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShrimpP Posted April 5, 2016 Report Share Posted April 5, 2016 If you want to cycle the traditional fishless/invertless way, you can use Ammonium Chloride or Ammonium Hydroxide as the ammonia source. Or alternatively you could use any ammonia source, even rotting fish food, rotting market shrimp, etc,. If you want pretty much an instant cycle just use one of these nitrifying bacteria products: Dr. Tim's One and Only, Tetra SafeStart or Microbe-lift Nite Out II (2). They contain the correct nitrifying bacteria for Freshwater environments, Nitrosomonas (ammonia-oxidizers) and Nitrospira (nitrite-oxidizers). You could stock shrimp instantly, or if you felt more comfortable, you could dose ammonia for a couple days or so (same guidelines as fishless cycling, just much quicker to fully cycle since you added the bacteria) and monitor nitrogen (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) levels to be sure it is fully cycled. Do note that I have only studied Freshwater bacteria, so I am not completely sure if these same bacteria also live well in brackish environments. I would think that they would still be suitable for brackish levels of salinity (complete marine/saltwater is another thing). Don't bother with heterotrophic bacteria or biofilm products. Those naturally develop very rapidly. With how little bioload dwarf shrimp produce, I wouldn't be worried much. Especially with the extremely hardy Opae Ula (pretty much the hardiest shrimp in existence?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawaiian Opae Posted April 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2016 Thanks guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svetilda Posted April 5, 2016 Report Share Posted April 5, 2016 I don't do anything fancy at all. I just start my tanks with 7 days of Seachem Stability. Mr. F 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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