cycling process

McFishin'

Hey, I've heard of throwing an unseasoned, uncooked, dead shrimp from the store into a brand new tank to kick start the cycling process in freshwater tanks. Will this work for salt too? I don't see why it wouldn't, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

55bldparrot30

yes ,if you would like to add parasites and fungus to your tank before you even thought about buying a fish. Decaying food and carcus only infest your water. NOT such a good idea.

McFishin'

I know that decaying food and dead animals are bad for the water normally, but I thought things like that were needed in the beginning. I'm really just looking for another method besides using a live fish to start the process. Is there anything other then using a live fish, live rock, or live sand?

Kellsindell

That is perfectly fine. Many people suggest that over LR and using a fish to cycle. It's now the preferred way of starting the cycle, so you did good.

onefish2fish

dead shrimp will do the trick, however adding some live rock will jump start the cycle itself as there is die off coming from that.

McFishin'

The thing is, I don't really have the money to buy LR at the moment, but I wanted to get the cycle going. I haven't put the shrimp in yet because I wanted to see what you guys thought first. It seems a majority agree with the shrimp, so I'll do it. Do you guys know if bubbles can enter a siphon in another way besides a crack in the tube?