# New Tank....cycling



## zbaidy (Dec 23, 2005)

Hi,

I am setting up my first shrimp tank. It is a 10G tank with 6 tear drop plants. Once Cycled I will introduce Crystal Red Shrimp.

My Water parameters before planting.....

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm (mg/L)
Nitrite: 0 ppm (mg/L)
Nitrate: 5.0ppm (mg/L)
PH level: 8.8

I planted the tank 5 days ago with 6 tear drop plants. I use a canister filter and dosed CO2 everyday. Tank gradually turned a white cloudy color that is now starting to fade.

Now I have the following Parameters...
Ammonia: 0.25-0.50 ppm (mg/L)
Nitrite: 0 ppm (mg/L)
Nitrate: 0 ppm (mg/L)
PH level: 6.8

My Questions.....

1) Am I on the right track ? Will plants help the cycle ? How ?

2) What should I do next ?

3) What can I do to speed up the cycling so I can introduce Shrimp sooner

2) Will my plants survive the cycling? Should I fertilize them since I have a gravel substrate or will that screw up the cycling ?


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## dschoter05 (Oct 14, 2008)

zbaidy said:


> Hi,
> 
> I am setting up my first shrimp tank. It is a 10G tank with 6 tear drop plants. Once Cycled I will introduce Crystal Red Shrimp.
> 
> ...


i am not an expert but this is what i have learned from everybody on P-Fury


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Doesnt make sense that you had nitrates at one point and as the cycle progressed you had zero nitrates. Either you are confusing nitrates with nitrites, your test kit is faulty, or your cycle hasn't really kicked in high gear yet. Also you never mentioned what you are using as an ammonia source to cycle the tank. If you just threw in 6 tear drop plants and nothing else, example: dither fish, pure clear ammonia, any throw away fish, etc... than you are not cycling....


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## zbaidy (Dec 23, 2005)

Dr. Giggles said:


> Doesnt make sense that you had nitrates at one point and as the cycle progressed you had zero nitrates. Either you are confusing nitrates with nitrites, your test kit is faulty, or your cycle hasn't really kicked in high gear yet. Also you never mentioned what you are using as an ammonia source to cycle the tank. If you just threw in 6 tear drop plants and nothing else, example: dither fish, pure clear ammonia, any throw away fish, etc... than you are not cycling....


Dosing capful of microbacter every day. Also plants came loaded with all kinds of organisms....

been dosing fertilizer now for five days. Also added six guppy fry.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

With 6 guppy fry in a 10 gallon with feedings you should have ammonia readings by now. Maybe in another week nitrites will read and then both ammonia and nitrites will start going down to zero and nitrates will go up. Expect about a month total for the cycle unless you add established bio media to the filter. Once you get the spike in ammonia and nitrites and they fall to zero in your tests than you will be done with the cycle.


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