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Urgent Help, Shrimp here but tank not cycled

PostPosted:10 Aug 2019 18:49
by Daisypush
I'm here recommended from Reddit and I'm in a huge pickle

I wasn't able to cancel my order of shrimp when I discovered my tank parameters of my 5.5 gal were out of wack. They're still in the bag and the supplier said they'd be okay in the bag for a week or two while I get things straightened out (I got these guys from google.com)

Can anyone help me with what next step to take for their safety? Here are my parameters:

salinity: 1.010
pH: 7.8
ammonia: .50 ppm
nitrites: 2.0 ppm
nitrates: 10 ppm

This is probably set off by using Bio-Activ Live Aragonite sand for substrate when I should've just used the inert stuff. I got to these parameters doing partial water changes everyday and removing some of the sand until the shrimp got here, it's helped a ton but now I dont know what to do now that they're here.

Someone on reddit suggested just to dose Nite-Out II in the tank until it's cycled. I popped a dose in the 5.5 gal last night.

Someone else on reddit suggested I open the bag they're in and slowly add some partial salinity RO to their temp holding container in order to help them, and completely replace my substrate and let my tank fully cycle again while they wait there. I've heard that when you open the bag to air when it's waited awhile (they've been in there 4 days now incl travel time, just got here yesterday) their holding bag quickly develops ammonia, I'm worried that won't work but I'm unsure of my options.

Would it be wise to kind of cap the sand with the new substrate so nutrients won't leech into the upper tank, but I don't remove most of the nitrogen entirely?

Anyone have any tips of what to do? Sorry if this is a lot of information at once. Any help at all is appreciated.

Re: Urgent Help, Shrimp here but tank not cycled

PostPosted:10 Aug 2019 21:38
by odin
Make up some fresh brackish water in a container and leave it for a day.. then put the shrimp and their bagged water in the container with your fresh brackish water. Emergency averted :).

This will give you time to start a new tank or get your other one sorted out.


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Re: Urgent Help, Shrimp here but tank not cycled

PostPosted:11 Aug 2019 00:35
by Daisypush
Thank you Odin! Just mixed up a batch of brackish, will put them in tomorrow! :-)

Re: Urgent Help, Shrimp here but tank not cycled

PostPosted:12 Aug 2019 22:04
by Vorteil
I would change the "live" sand out. By the time anyone actually purchases the sand most of what is supposed to be live is not. You can actually just give it a thorough cleaning and then start again.

Re: Urgent Help, Shrimp here but tank not cycled

PostPosted:13 Aug 2019 00:38
by Owlbit
This website has an excellent setup guide. I used it to help me do mine step by step to make sure I had things right. It does mention no live sand. The bacteria in it would die off when you don't use normal saltwater salinity, which it is designed for.

Re: Urgent Help, Shrimp here but tank not cycled

PostPosted:13 Aug 2019 05:27
by Daisypush
Yeah I didn't realize when I was setting it up just how detrimental it was to the tank, and I was only referred to this site after setting the tank up. Wish I'd seen the steps here sooner though, they're very thorough and informational here

Re: Urgent Help, Shrimp here but tank not cycled

PostPosted:13 Aug 2019 19:08
by Vorteil
This is a pure hobbyist site with users Worldwide. There's no pushing of products or opae ula to buy here. We'll steer you in the right direction.

Re: Urgent Help, Shrimp here but tank not cycled

PostPosted:06 Nov 2019 16:04
by themagician
Vorteil wrote: #8255  by Vorteil
 13 Aug 2019 19:08
This is a pure hobbyist site with users Worldwide. There's no pushing of products or opae ula to buy here. We'll steer you in the right direction.
Vorteil: I agree w/ you full here -- esp in contrast to its U.S. counterpart forum, which the forum moderator, though not directly state this, but appears to suggest the only plants that will work will be from his store...

Re: Urgent Help, Shrimp here but tank not cycled

PostPosted:06 Nov 2019 18:18
by opae ula related
themagician wrote:
Vorteil wrote: #8255  by Vorteil
 13 Aug 2019 19:08
This is a pure hobbyist site with users Worldwide. There's no pushing of products or opae ula to buy here. We'll steer you in the right direction.
Vorteil: I agree w/ you full here -- esp in contrast to its U.S. counterpart forum, which the forum moderator, though not directly state this, but appears to suggest the only plants that will work will be from his store...
LOL

Re: Urgent Help, Shrimp here but tank not cycled

PostPosted:06 Nov 2019 18:20
by odin
opae ula related wrote:
themagician wrote:
Vorteil wrote: #8255  by Vorteil
 13 Aug 2019 19:08
This is a pure hobbyist site with users Worldwide. There's no pushing of products or opae ula to buy here. We'll steer you in the right direction.
Vorteil: I agree w/ you full here -- esp in contrast to its U.S. counterpart forum, which the forum moderator, though not directly state this, but appears to suggest the only plants that will work will be from his store...
LOL
Lol indeed :)


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