The fastest and easiest way to cycle a tank. please advise

**lsk** · 20th Nov 2009, 14:25

Hi all,

I'm in urgent need to cycle my tank, My shrimps are in a non-cycled tank due to my negligence and lack of knowledge. May I know the ways to cycle a tank with shrimps in it already(dying one by one). I hope to salvage the remainders. Please advise on how to cycle tank only.

Thanks in advance.

**vinz** · 20th Nov 2009, 14:40

Go and get Seachem AmGuard. It should help to bind the ammonia/ammonium and nitrite. It claims to keep the ammonia and nitrite bio-available for the bacteria which processes it, so your tank should still be able to cycle while keeping your shrimps safe.

See http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...s/AmGuard.html.

I'm not sure where can get them though. You can try calling Nature Aquarium, PetMart, Biotope. Their numbers are in the Fish Shop directory. Alternatively, look in the map of our fish shop directory and see if there are any shops near you.

Also go get some frogbits. They are floating plants and they will help to take up some of that ammonia, etc. I'm pretty sure Nature Aquarium has them. Call them and ask to speak to Chan, he would know what is frogbits and AmGuard. Get enough frogbits to cover the whole water surface.

There is no fast way. Cycling is always easy. Just set up the tank without livestock and wait for the bacteria colony to grow. You might want to get some bacteria seeding solution etc to kick start the bacteria colony.

I'm trying to find a post that I wrote some time back about cycling tanks.

**lsk** · 20th Nov 2009, 14:44

Thanks Vincent. I'll head down to LFS later to see if they have it. Hopefully my fire red and cherries can last till then...

**vinz** · 20th Nov 2009, 14:54

Read these too:

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ing#post484782

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ing#post449958

Search the forum for cycle, cycling, ammonia, nitrite, etc for more posts.

**lsk** · 20th Nov 2009, 15:18

Hi Vincent,

1 more qns is that i'd be expecting dead shrimps every now and then. since cycling involved bacteria , so upon seeing dead shrimps should I take it out or let it rot to get those bacteria?

**bossteck** · 20th Nov 2009, 16:27

You should remove the carcasses.

**vinz** · 20th Nov 2009, 17:56

Remove them. Because rotting carcasses will introduce a lot of ammonia into the water. It will help tank cycling, but it will kill all your other shrimps first.