Question for a friend...a concerned for the timeline of his setup.

KJones90s

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
334
Reaction score
178
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hey guys, a friend of mine is setting up a tank to house a mantis peacock shrimp.
The animal is going to be at his house Friday.
He has not yet set up his aquarium to house the pet and is planning to do so tomorrow.
My concern is that the tank still needs to cycle before adding the animal and I’m not sure that he has enough time to do that. He’s starting his tank with boiled live rock and premixed RODI water purchased from a lfs.
Being that the way I set up my tank is different (dry rock,RODI water mixed at home), it took my tank weeks to cycle.
My question to you is, does live rock have an effect on the cycling process and is it likely the tank is going to be ready by the end of the week? It is a 30 gallon bow front aquarium with a hob filter and a small power head from petsmart for flow and gas exchange.
Please no bashing guys, I just wanna help my buddy out and help him keep his animal alive.
He’s new to the hobby and I’m worried he jumped the gun, I don’t want him to kill the animal and turn from the it.
Any advice helps, I’m not in the position to home the animal for him as we reside in different states btw
 

Copingwithpods

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2019
Messages
1,966
Reaction score
3,141
Location
Los Angeles
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Ouch that's a tough one, one week to cycle a tank is not enough time, specially for a messy eater that will no doubt spike ammonia. Best case scenario is your buddy takes the shrimp to an lfs to housed until the tank cycles (if possible) or trades it in for store credit. The chances of that shrimp living is very slim.
 
OP
OP
KJones90s

KJones90s

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
334
Reaction score
178
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Ouch that's a tough one, one week to cycle a tank is not enough time, specially for a messy eater that will no doubt spike ammonia. Best case scenario is your buddy takes the shrimp to an lfs to housed until the tank cycles (if possible) or trades it in for store credit. The chances of that shrimp living is very slim.
I’m attempting to talk him into taking the animal to a lfs until he can get his tank up and cycled.
I don’t know if I can convince him but I can try.
 

EMeyer

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 23, 2016
Messages
1,148
Reaction score
1,880
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hey guys, a friend of mine is setting up a tank to house a mantis peacock shrimp.
The animal is going to be at his house Friday.
He has not yet set up his aquarium to house the pet and is planning to do so tomorrow.
My concern is that the tank still needs to cycle before adding the animal and I’m not sure that he has enough time to do that. He’s starting his tank with boiled live rock and premixed RODI water purchased from a lfs.
Being that the way I set up my tank is different (dry rock,RODI water mixed at home), it took my tank weeks to cycle.
My question to you is, does live rock have an effect on the cycling process and is it likely the tank is going to be ready by the end of the week? It is a 30 gallon bow front aquarium with a hob filter and a small power head from petsmart for flow and gas exchange.
Please no bashing guys, I just wanna help my buddy out and help him keep his animal alive.
He’s new to the hobby and I’m worried he jumped the gun, I don’t want him to kill the animal and turn from the it.
Any advice helps, I’m not in the position to home the animal for him as we reside in different states btw
Boiling live rock kills the bacteria and can cause medical emergencies. Tell your friend to never do that again, for his own sake!

That said, your friend now has a dry rock tank. A bottle of bacteria won't change that at all, but may buy your friend a few days while you get some additional biodiversity. I recommend at least a couple pieces of real live rock (not wet base rock from the LFS). If that's unavailable, try live sand or mud (not the fake stuff on the shelf, the stuff from the ocean).

Good luck!
 
OP
OP
KJones90s

KJones90s

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
334
Reaction score
178
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Who has told your friend this is likely to work out well? Has he not watched the numerous videos available on cycling or read the articles?
He hasn’t, he really jumped the gun and didn’t do a lot of research before actually purchasing the animal.
I referred him to the 52 weeks of reefing series on BRS YouTube page as it’s where I got my start.
His local fish store doesn’t seem to be very knowledgeable out in Denver, CO.
 

Skydvr

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 28, 2014
Messages
575
Reaction score
279
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How did this go?
It is a shame to see situations like this with so many resources readily available. Violated pretty much every best practice/recommendation, which I am sure you are well aware. Hopefully he can get through this without harming the mantis or discouraging him from learning more about the hobby.

An ammonia badge to supplement testing at least twice a day (got to use up the ammonia test somehow) and lots of pre-mixed water on hand for frequent and emergency water changes. There have been lots of hobbyist level testing that shows no difference in cycle completion time, or a couple of days at most, with frequent large partial water changes compared to the standard practice of maintaining elevated levels. Preserving life is the critical goal at this point.
A lot of the bottled bacteria products help reduce the cycle times. Do some research on what is readily available as not all are effective. Also check the dates, they do have a limited shelf life.

Getting a hold of a cycled sponge filter, or even saturating a new one with a bottled bacteria before adding it may help a bit. Know the source so you don't bring contaminants or disease into the tank.

If he knows that the mantis has been well fed before he got it, scaling back the feedings slightly might help minimize the spikes.

I wonder if running a smaller temporary quarantine type enclosure wile the display cycles would make things easier on him. Water changes will be more frequent, but smaller in volume. Maintaining and matching parameters should be a little simpler and more consistent as he should be able to manage multiple water changes from the same container, just keep both well aerated. He'll have to keep up on things a lot more with the smaller volume
 
OP
OP
KJones90s

KJones90s

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
334
Reaction score
178
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How did this go?
It is a shame to see situations like this with so many resources readily available. Violated pretty much every best practice/recommendation, which I am sure you are well aware. Hopefully he can get through this without harming the mantis or discouraging him from learning more about the hobby.

An ammonia badge to supplement testing at least twice a day (got to use up the ammonia test somehow) and lots of pre-mixed water on hand for frequent and emergency water changes. There have been lots of hobbyist level testing that shows no difference in cycle completion time, or a couple of days at most, with frequent large partial water changes compared to the standard practice of maintaining elevated levels. Preserving life is the critical goal at this point.
A lot of the bottled bacteria products help reduce the cycle times. Do some research on what is readily available as not all are effective. Also check the dates, they do have a limited shelf life.

Getting a hold of a cycled sponge filter, or even saturating a new one with a bottled bacteria before adding it may help a bit. Know the source so you don't bring contaminants or disease into the tank.

If he knows that the mantis has been well fed before he got it, scaling back the feedings slightly might help minimize the spikes.

I wonder if running a smaller temporary quarantine type enclosure wile the display cycles would make things easier on him. Water changes will be more frequent, but smaller in volume. Maintaining and matching parameters should be a little simpler and more consistent as he should be able to manage multiple water changes from the same container, just keep both well aerated. He'll have to keep up on things a lot more with the smaller volume
He hasn’t had it delivered yet, actually hasn’t even gotten his shipping confirmation yet so it bought him a little time. He ended up getting a bottle of imagitarium biological booster to give his system a jump start, against my recommendation he had already started stocking and has actually even started to put frags in his tank.
I believe he told me he has a domino damsel and few crabs/shrimp. I did tell him that most of what he put in the tank will end up food and his tank most likely isn’t mature enough to house coral yet but it didn’t really deter him unfortunately.
Nonetheless he has bided himself time in order to begin the cycle on his tank.
 

Skydvr

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 28, 2014
Messages
575
Reaction score
279
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Some people need to learn lessons the hard way. I tend to prefer learning from the mistakes of others where I can.
Hopefully he is diligent with monitoring and water changes to minimize the risk to the inhabitants.
 
OP
OP
KJones90s

KJones90s

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
334
Reaction score
178
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I will definitely reach out, I am trying to assist in anyway possible.
He’s still loading up the tank like an idiot, 5 damsels and counting. I tried to explain to him it doesn’t make any sense because that peacock will most likely kill everything else in the tank.
A hard head makes a soft butt.
 
OP
OP
KJones90s

KJones90s

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
334
Reaction score
178
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I appreciate you guys assistance and advice too.
I love reef2reef!!!!
 

samnaz

Earthling
View Badges
Joined
Dec 30, 2016
Messages
3,564
Reaction score
6,879
Location
Humble.fish
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Good for you for trying to steer him in the right direction. I understand some people have to learn the hard way, I’m one of them, but when an innocent animals life hangs in the balance that is when I draw the line. Good luck to you both!
 
OP
OP
KJones90s

KJones90s

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
334
Reaction score
178
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Everything will probably survive and it will be ok and in the end he'll think he was right but it's just not very kind to the livestock.
I hope so.
I just don’t think it’s enough tank for everything it has in there.
 
OP
OP
KJones90s

KJones90s

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
334
Reaction score
178
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it. What would you say if in 6 months everything turned out to be fine? Would you congratulate him on his unorthodox ways?
Nah, I would still call him a jerk for putting the animals through the nitrogen cycle .
But I do want to see him be successful, I feel like failing drives a lot of people to leave the hobby.
 
Back
Top