frozen shrimp kick start the cycle?

so i hear alot of things about throwing in a dead shrimp to kick start the cycle....

would a frozen shrimp work for this? (of course it'll thaw out)

also, how long should i leave it in a 55gal?
just until the ammonia spikes i'm guessing....

should i even do this if i'm planning on adding some of that nitri-cycle stuff?
i'll still wait the month or so to add fish, even if this helps the cycle along.

 

I prefer to cycle with dry fish food. You can also use pure Ammonia, you'll have to calculate the dosing for your tank size.

If you're going to go with a Bacteria additive I would go with Dr.Tims One and Only. He is a sponsor here and will address questions posted to his forum on 3reef.

One & Only Nitrifying Bacteria FAQ's | DrTim's Aquatics

 

I also prefer to just ghost feed the tank with a pinch of flake food daily or every other day.

 

With or without the bacterial supplement, the frozen shrimp will work fine. Yes, you can remove it when your ammonia spikes, then monitor ammonia and nitrite. When both are zero, you're good to go.

 

From my experience on last tank we took the shrimp out after ammonia spike and the tank never did cycle properly so we had to again put shrimp in and left it in until we saw nitrites and nitrates.

As always people have different experiences and just wanted to let you know mine.

As far as what Mr Bill said you could probably take it out after initial ammonia spike but then supplement with flake food to make sure cycle properly takes place.

I was watching a vid from BRS and (beside using cycle additives) they were going to ghost feed the tank what they expected to be feeding the tank when at full fish capacity.

Thanks

 

I just kept the shrimp in. It disappeared by the end of the cycle.

 

Me too, when the shrimp was gone, I figured it was complete, and it almost was.

 

I kept my shrimp in for about 2 1/2 weeks and it seemed to work out ok. This if the first time i cycled a tank that way. I had always had live rock from other tanks before. It s about 7 weeks since I started and just added my first fish today. I also added bottled bacteria to help accelerate the process.

 

Shrimp works.

I usually take out after several days.

 

7 weeks? holy crap!

i hope my cycle doesn't take that long!

i'll try the shrimp, ghost feed, and supplements...

i know i know, patience, patience, patience. crap.