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Once I get to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite, is that it?


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I'm still confused with cycling my shrimp tank, because some people are saying put all this fancy powder stuff in, while others are saying just do it like a fish tank. They also talk about things like GH, KH, and TDS, I don't even know what those stand for, let alone how to test for them. So, once I get to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite, am I done with my shrimp tank cycle?

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It depends; what is your method of adding ammonia? (Fish less or fish/shrimp cycle) what species are you planning on keeping? Do you plan on using tap water or remineralized water?

Your next step is to add more ammonia, and confirm that the levels get back down to 0/0 within 24 hours. Then you do a 100% water change. The other parameters depend on the kind of shrimp.

API makes a kH/gH test kit. Also recommended is a TDS meter; easily found on eBay/Amazon

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6 hours ago, Kikojaharo said:

It depends; what is your method of adding ammonia? (Fish less or fish/shrimp cycle) what species are you planning on keeping? Do you plan on using tap water or remineralized water?

Your next step is to add more ammonia, and confirm that the levels get back down to 0/0 within 24 hours. Then you do a 100% water change. The other parameters depend on the kind of shrimp.

API makes a kH/gH test kit. Also recommended is a TDS meter; easily found on eBay/Amazon

I want to keep rili shrimp, and I use tap water with prime water conditioner. The way I usually cycle is I take the filter media from a already established tank and I add it to the new tank's filter. I usually add more ammonia by adding fish food into the tank.

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As mentioned, the only way to know for sure is to convert 4 ppm ammonia into 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, and less than 5 nitrate in 24 hrs. But how long has the tank been running? If you've been adding food and ammonia stays down, 4 weeks is long enough, I like to go 5-6 to be safe. Then check that your other parameters are in order, let it run a couple more days. If the parameters haven't changed, you're good. That's how I do it anyway.

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As mentioned, the only way to know for sure is to convert 4 ppm ammonia into 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, and less than 5 nitrate in 24 hrs. But how long has the tank been running? If you've been adding food and ammonia stays down, 4 weeks is long enough, I like to go 5-6 to be safe. Then check that your other parameters are in order, let it run a couple more days. If the parameters haven't changed, you're good. That's how I do it anyway.

Exactly that. Rili are a color of Neos, so they'll be fine on tap. All the powers are for RODI water. It would also be good to add in any leaf litter so they can start growing micro fauna for the shrimp to graze, optional but nice.

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