# Cycle going o.k.?



## jrdeitner (Feb 7, 2010)

My tank is now about 3 weeks old, fishless cycling with cocktail shrimp and half a tilapia filet. There is a really bad smell coming from it, I don't know what to relate it to, but it is bad. Is this normal from the decaying shrimp? My sand bed is 2 1/2" in front and 5" in back, but it takes more time for sulphur dioxide to form......Right? Btw I tested it 3 days ago and there was 1 ppm ammonia and nothing else. That's when I added the tilapia because I thought there wasn't enough ammonia. Will the smell stop when the cycle is over? The tank is in my room sooo I've gotten used to the smell but my parents really hate it. Thanks!


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## navarchus (Jan 26, 2010)

Not sure why you chose to Fishless Cycle. The smell is not going to go away for quite some time. 

Reason:
The bacteria that is needed to grow in your sand bed is derived from the living fish. Essentially a new tank, new sand, new water is sterile. Algae will grow but only after the ammonia is low enough for them to grow. The ammonia then will only go down with the neccessary bacteria. The best thing to do is turn up your water circulation. If you have any extra powerheads, air pump will definitely help. Oxygen is the limiting factor, more oxygen the more bacteria can grow. Since these are areobic bacteria, that you are needing.

To seed this faster, if you have a friend or a reputable LFS, you can take their filtrate (floss, bio media..etc) and rinse it out in your tank. This will dose your tank with a living source of bacteria. Reason I say reputable, is to make sure it is a healthy tank. You don't want to introduce parasites or ich..etc.

The other way to do this is introduce cured live rock.


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## jrdeitner (Feb 7, 2010)

I chose fishless cycle because I didn't want to kill any fish or have to get rid of damsels after it is over. 
I could buy a chromis, do you think it would live through the cycle? I didn't intend for this to be a fowlr tank, but would just a couple pounds of live rock significantly help?
When you said it will take a while for the
Smell to go away did you mean a few weeks or months? 
For those of you who have done a
Fishless cycle is this normal?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Smell will stop when you take it out. I can smell a dead fish even in a cycled tank that should be taking ammonia out of the water. There must be an airborne decay product.


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## pinetree (Nov 29, 2009)

I'm doing a fishless cycle, but I used household ammonia so can't really comment on how long the smell will last from the shrimp. I imagine it will stink as long as it's in the tank. I'm on day 71 of my cycle, but finally getting nitrates so almost done. I hope your's doesn't take as long for your nose's sake!


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Liverock would have cycled the tank without the smell.


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## jrdeitner (Feb 7, 2010)

I understand I couldve used lr, but the lr here costs $7 a pound so $7 times 75= several hundred dollars, not worth it just to have a cycle without the smell. Just to clarify everything I'm doing is ok and normal?


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