Starting the cycle in a 10g IM Nano...

Oberst Oswald · Jan 31, 2017

that I'm going to use as a qt. Fish stores are about a 1 hour drive for me so I can only get there on weekends (would like to hold off going to fish store) to get bio in a bottle. Tank is setup with new water and running with a small golf ball size rock from my sump. Don't know if this rock is big enough to start a cycle. Is it OK to help start the cycle now with the "dead shrimp" method in a qt? Could I just dump some fish food in there to start the cycle? I want to buy about 3 small new fish in 2 to 3 weeks time and watch them for about a month before putting them in DT or treat if necessary. Will be used as a frag & "bad" crab tank after to keep the cycle going as a qt. As you can see this is my first qt tank after years of just releasing fish in display freshwater tanks and my one year old 65 gal marine tank. I had a fluke problem with a new fish I bought in my DT which I cured with PraziPro but lost a wrasse. A wee bit wiser now...

Humblefish · Jan 31, 2017

What are you using for biological filtration in the QT? Besides the one rock? HOB, sponge filter, canister, etc.?

Oberst Oswald · Jan 31, 2017

Its a All-in One Tank with a sponge filter in a sump on the back of the tank.

Brew12 · Jan 31, 2017

The rock will help provide a small start to your filter but hard to say just how much.

The question in my mind is will your tank be ready in 2-3 weeks. It probably will but it is hard to say for sure. Every tank seems to cycle differently. I always seed my QT with Biospira but it isn't necessary. I also like to test when it is ready by adding pure ammonia. If using shrimp or fish food, you really don't know how much ammonia is being produced. If you use pure ammonia, you can dose it to 2ppm, and if it can go from 2ppm to 0ppm in 24 hours you are good to go. The other reason I prefer this is that you don't have the shrimp or food continuing to add ammonia when you add the fish.

Oberst Oswald · Feb 1, 2017

Thanks for replies. Drove to a Petsmart and they had a bottle of "Stability". Reason I didn't mail order is because they say it can't freeze and it being winter in NJ did not want to take a chance. Have kits to test to make sure its safe to buy & add fish. These 2 to 3 fish ( 2 wrasse's & a goby) will be last to enter the DT.