Cycling with shrimp

[BlueStraggler]

Has anyone used this method?
I read that using some dead shrimp will produce enough ammonia to start cycling. Ok.
But do they have to be uncooked ...or can they be the cooked ones? I'm really curious about this but in my mind, either one would work.

Have you ever cycled with shrimp? It appears to be the way to go.
Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

 

[jo3olous]

do you have dead shrimp lying around or something? =P

 

[brian1973]

I would imagine they would need to be uncooked but thats a complete guess.. basically any decaying matter will produce ammonia it is just takes longer than using say...ammonia..lol.

Ammonia is a byproduct from decomposition.

 

[BlueStraggler]

no but I'd buy them haha
I'm just having issues keeping ammonia at correct level and looking into other ways to cycle w/o bottled ammonia and a load of fish food.
Have you ever done it?
(in response to jo3)

 

[emmanuelchavez]

I've read about using raw shrimp to start a cycle. It's an old method. You can just as easily use fish food, or ammonia (make sure there are no surfactants in it) to start it.

Pure ammonia is actually 'the way to go' now-a-days. The shrimp has to break down and decay before churning out any ammonia. Using pure ammonia skips that step.

 

[jo3olous]

no but I'd buy them haha
I'm just having issues keeping ammonia at correct level and looking into other ways to cycle w/o bottled ammonia and a load of fish food.
Have you ever done it?
(in response to jo3)

haha ive never owned shrimp, but yeah it seems like it just takes more time to use anything other than bottled ammonia. Plus with the ammonia what you see is what you get. Who knows what else comes with dead rotting shrimp

 

[unwritten law]

If your okay with putting a shrimp in there and allowing a bunch of other byproducts of decomposition other than ammonia to be exposed in your tank, you might as well just piss in your tank... That has ammonia.

 

[BlueStraggler]

If your okay with putting a shrimp in there and allowing a bunch of other byproducts of decomposition other than ammonia to be exposed in your tank, you might as well just piss in your tank... That has ammonia.

lmao...I'll pass on that.
Guess I'll try to hunt down some pure ammonia and use the shrimp as a back up plan.
Thanks everybody

 

[bmoraski]

lmao...I'll pass on that.
Guess I'll try to hunt down some pure ammonia and use the shrimp as a back up plan.
Thanks everybody

i think id use fish food if i couldnt get pure amonia.
like someone else posted you dont know what else your putting in your tank using the shrimp method.
good luck