5 Gallon Shrimp And Snail Tank

[starlitsunrise]

Hey everyone, 
 
On Wednesday I bought the Tetra Complete LED Aquarium 5. It came with a 5 gallon tank, hood, small led light, tetra whisper micro filter and some free samples of various tetra products. Plant wise, it currently has a small amount of java moss and two baby java ferns from my 10 gallon, I just ordered 6 marimo moss balls, so at least 3 of those will be going in this tank and I also want to build a java moss wall to act as a background and to hide my filter. I'll probably also get some other plants but I'm not sure what kind just yet.
 
I just started cycling it today, I added about 2.5mls of ammonia (a bit much) and after taking out a bit of water is was showing at about 4ppm. I also added 5mls of Topfin Bacteria Supplement, so we'll see it that helps at all. 
 
Once it is done cycling I will be housing my Mystery Snail Atlas in it as well as a small group of (hopefully) either male or female cherry shrimp. 
 

 

 

[Mamashack]

If you are only keeping a few shrimp and one snail in there you are overdosing the ammonia. It depends how many shrimp you are wanting to keep. If you only want to start with a dozen or so it would only need to be 1-2 ppm for such a small bioload. If you want to start off with a huge shrimp colony then aim for 2-3 ppm ammonia doses. You'll be wasting time developing bacteria for them to die back when they aren't needed.
If you haven't seen it already have a look at the article linked at the end of my signature and reduce the target ammonia to 1-2 ppm. Using that method reduces the numbers of ammonia doses needed and the amount of testing you'd need to do too.
Also if you keep adding too much ammonia the nitrite level will eventually hit the roof and stall the cycle. 
I'd replace some of the water to get that ammonia level more in the 2 ppm region - 3 ppm max if you are going to have hundreds of shrimp.
 
EDIT: The only bacterial supplements that have been shown to work consistently are Dr Tim's One and Only or Tetra Safe Start. If you can't get either of those, see if you can beg, steal or borrow some mature filter media or substrate from another mature tank to kick start the process.

 

[starlitsunrise]

If you are only keeping a few shrimp and one snail in there you are overdosing the ammonia. It depends how many shrimp you are wanting to keep. If you only want to start with a dozen or so it would only need to be 1-2 ppm for such a small bioload. If you want to start off with a huge shrimp colony then aim for 2-3 ppm ammonia doses. You'll be wasting time developing bacteria for them to die back when they aren't needed.
If you haven't seen it already have a look at the article linked at the end of my signature and reduce the target ammonia to 1-2 ppm. Using that method reduces the numbers of ammonia doses needed and the amount of testing you'd need to do too.
Also if you keep adding too much ammonia the nitrite level will eventually hit the roof and stall the cycle. 
I'd replace some of the water to get that ammonia level more in the 2 ppm region - 3 ppm max if you are going to have hundreds of shrimp.
 
EDIT: The only bacterial supplements that have been shown to work consistently are Dr Tim's One and Only or Tetra Safe Start. If you can't get either of those, see if you can beg, steal or borrow some mature filter media or substrate from another mature tank to kick start the process.

 
Thanks for the pointers! I know I overdosed, I was trying to get a reading of 3ppm (as the article suggested) and then to be honest, I just got lazy and didn't change anymore water.
 
Later on today I'll do like you suggested and change some more water to get it into a more acceptable range. I'll probably still aim for 3ppm, since I've learned Atlas (my mystery snail) is a messy little guy. 
 
Also, I'll put a bit of sand out of my 10 gallon into a little pouch when I clean it today and place that into the 5 gallon. I'm fine if the bacteria supplement I bought doesn't work, I just saw it and figured I'd give it a go. 
 
Thanks again for your ideas

 

[Mamashack]

I know some snails can be very messy altho I have no experience with mystery snails. So perhaps 3 ppm would be the best one to aim for.
Let us know how you get on and post some pictures when you get the tank running i.e. when you scape it and get livestock and/or plants (whichever comes first! lol)

 

[starlitsunrise]

Ok I just wanted to record what my water parameters are:
 
            Ammonia    Nitrite    Nitrate
Day 1:    4ppm        0ppm    0ppm             (I know I dosed the ammonia too high, I'll be more careful next time haha)
Day 4:    3ppm        0ppm     -----
Day 8:    2ppm       .25ppm   -----
 
So ya, I have nitrites! Yay!

 

[Mamashack]

Woohoo the ammonia-converting bacteria are growing!
Only when the ammonia is less than 0.75 ppm AND the nitrite is over 2 ppm should you add another 3 ppm dose of ammonia and keep checking the tests every other day. This should help reduce the chance of the nitrites getting too high and stalling the process.
If you are following the article to the letter it shouldn't be long before you start to see nitrate.
It's a process that requires patience but is well worth it in the end.

 

[starlitsunrise]

Ok, so here is a late 4th reading of my tank parameters, my mind was all over the place these last few days so I completely forgot to test and see how the cycle is progressing. 
 
 
              Ammonia        Nitrite        Nitrate
Day 12: .25-.50ppm    2-5ppm       80ppm     
 
And I added enough ammonia to get it up to 3ppm 

 

[Mamashack]

It's well on the way but not quite ready.
The nitrite seems to hang high for ages then will suddenly start to drop quite dramatically. Both the ammonia and nitrite need to be cleared within 24 hrs of dosing. 

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yep, you sure are on the way with your fishless cycling. Good job
 
As Mamashack said earlier, no need to dose as high as 3ppm if the plan is just shrimps and a snail, their bioload wont be all that much so 3ppm ammonia is overkill as they will never produce that much bioload.
 
2ppm ammonia should be more than sufficient for that 5 gal tank and will also help make the cycle go a little quicker as wont need as much bacteria.
 
Red Cherry Shrimps are fairly hardy but don't get too many to start with as shrimp basically fare better in mature tanks that have been running for a few months, keep an eye on these guys when you get them, if the new shrimps do perfectly fine for a week or two, then you can get more

 

[the_lock_man]

 
as well as a small group of (hopefully) either male or female cherry shrimp. 
 

 
When they're young and still at the LFS, it's quite difficult to tell the gender. They breed readily, so don't bank on not having any breeding going on.

 

[starlitsunrise]

Thanks for all of your replies! Ya I know it will be difficult to get cherries of all one gender, if they do breed I'll find a way to handle it. I might also look at other shrimp instead of the cherries, not sure yet. Also I'm going to be adding in a few dozen pond snails (aka pest snails) I have them in a tiny "betta" tank as I didn't have the heart to kill them and since then I've realized they are interesting little guys. 
 
I just tested the water and got the following:
 
               Ammonia         Nitrite          Nitrate
Day 15:    0-.25ppm        5ppm          80ppm
 
Also I would really appreciate it if you guys could check out my other thread (http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/435706-one-of-my-african-dwarf-frogs-died/) One of my African Dwarf Frogs dies earlier this week and I really could use some help figuring out why. 

 

[starlitsunrise]

Ok, tested the water again, parameters were:
 
Ammonia: 0ppm
 
Nitrite: 5ppm
 
Nitrate: 100ppm
 
I also added the 'snack' dose of 1/3 the amount of ammonia I normally would add. 

 

[starlitsunrise]

Day 21:
 
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: Looks like 2ppm maybe a little more
Nitrate: 100ppm

 

[Mamashack]

Looks like the nitrite munchers are growing - shouldn't be long now. Wait til the nitrite gets under 1 ppm then add a full dose and test after 24 hrs. If they are both zero it's cycled - if not test daily until ammonia is 0.25 or lower and nitrite under 1 ppm then add another dose and repeat this pattern until they both are cleared in 24 hrs.

 

[starlitsunrise]

I'm so happy this tank seems to be cycling faster than my 10 gallon did!