Cycling question

[JurisHP]

I upgraded from a 180 to a rimless 180 last week. I saved as much old water as I could (about 50%) and 50% NSW. The tank has been running with live (and dead) rock, and CaribSea Aragonite (dry). My heaters are on. No other equipment is on, including lights.

Unfortunately, my tank is going through a full cycle (I thought using my rock/water would speed things up OR result in a mini-cycle).

My question is: Yesterday was exactly 1 week with new tank up and running. On Monday, I started dosing MicroBacter7. Is it a bad idea to drop a raw shrimp in the tank at this point? Or adding another “cycle in a bottle” like Dr. Tim’s?

 

[Quietman]

Not a bad idea at all. I used 3 different bacteria sources, plus whatever the local that just shows up (MB7, Dr Tims, Live Sand).

Did it make a difference....meh. Took a month to cycle fully still.

I told myself I was maximizing competition between the different strains so I'd have diversity and the best would dominate. Is that true? Sounds good to me but I wouldn't be surprised to find I wasted $10 bucks on bacteria in a bottle. But it's only $10 and it doesn't hurt and who knows maybe I'm right.

So is it a good idea? You'll have people swear it is, not sure how they know that. I suspect truth is somewhere between guaranteed success and no difference at all to just letting your tank sit there with a dead shrimp and let the bacteria that exists locally populate.

Probably not a big help here am I?