Complete cycle - Now what?

Greetings, all -

After 25 days I think I have completed my first fishless cycle in a 3.3 gallon nano tank. The tank processed 2ppm of ammonia down to zero ammonia/zero nitrite after about 24 hours.

I have had some bad (what I think is) brown algae/diatoms. I understand that is normal for a new tank. I tried to manually scrub the stuff off the walls of the tank, the plants, and rocks.

Yesterday I added three cherry shrimp to the tank and one snail. Current readings are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-10 nitrate.

Do I need to do anything more to keep my cycle going? I guess I'm worried that the good bacteria won't have enough ammonia and will die.

 

Greetings, all -

After 25 days I think I have completed my first fishless cycle in a 3.3 gallon nano tank. The tank processed 2ppm of ammonia down to zero ammonia/zero nitrite after about 24 hours.

I have had some bad (what I think is) brown algae/diatoms. I understand that is normal for a new tank. I tried to manually scrub the stuff off the walls of the tank, the plants, and rocks.

Yesterday I added three cherry shrimp to the tank and one snail. Current readings are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-10 nitrate.

Do I need to do anything more to keep my cycle going? I guess I'm worried that the good bacteria won't have enough ammonia and will die.

if all your keeping is shrimp I’d be worried about micro fauna than a “cycled” aquarium. What are your stocking intentions?

 

if all your keeping is shrimp I’d be worried about micro fauna than a “cycled” aquarium. What are your stocking intentions?

I mostly just want a planted tank...with a tank this small I thought I could do is shrimp or a betta.

 

I mostly just want a planted tank...with a tank this small I thought I could do is shrimp or a betta.

I’m a very big fan of fish in cycles with plants, since your this far I wouldn’t worry about breaking your cycle. Remember you feed the tank, not the fish. Fish are just another way to produce ammonia, we should be keeping ecosystem first and fish second

 

I’m a very big fan of fish in cycles with plants, since your this far I wouldn’t worry about breaking your cycle. Remember you feed the tank, not the fish. Fish are just another way to produce ammonia, we should be keeping ecosystem first and fish second

I'm not sure I understand what that means for what I should do differently...I thought the tank was too small for more fish.

 

I'm not sure I understand what that means for what I should do differently...I thought the tank was too small for more fish.

Your doing totally fine! I study Ichthyology so I go a little crazy with this stuff. Your betta would do fine in your tank. If you add food to your tank it will keep the cycle going. I’m not sure how long it is until you get your betta but I would say it’s fine to get him

 

Your doing totally fine! I study Ichthyology so I go a little crazy with this stuff. Your betta would do fine in your tank. If you add food to your tank it will keep the cycle going. I’m not sure how long it is until you get your betta but I would say it’s fine to get him

Okay thanks! I’m trying to do my best with my first tank and be humane.

I was thinking of doing a betta OR shrimp...I thought I couldn’t do both as the betta would eat the shrimp. Do I need to add a betta to have a healthy ecosystem?

 

Okay thanks! I’m trying to do my best with my first tank and be humane.

I was thinking of doing a betta OR shrimp...I thought I couldn’t do both as the betta would eat the shrimp. Do I need to add a betta to have a healthy ecosystem?

That’s very good to hear your trying to have proper care for your fish, I’ve had betta that will live fine with shrimp and other that as soon as they tasted shrimp it was game on and I lost all of them. I would suggest shrimp and snails because it is kinda small for a betta but if you keep the tank cleaned and chemically good I don’t see why you couldn’t have a betta. There are some really cool nano fish such as the Emerald Rasbora or the Pygmy Rasbora which would do totally fine in that tank.

 

Okay thanks! I’m trying to do my best with my first tank and be humane.

I was thinking of doing a betta OR shrimp...I thought I couldn’t do both as the betta would eat the shrimp. Do I need to add a betta to have a healthy ecosystem?

If I am understanding correctly your real goal seems to be a planted tank. In that case I would do shrimp and snails. There are some amazing snails available. You really don't have to have a fish in there to have a healthy ecosystem. If you add a Betta you may get lucky and get one that won't eat your shrimp but it would depend on the Betta. If nothing else I feel sure it would eat any baby shrimp born in there.

Some of the bacteria you have grown may die off but there will still be enough to handle the bio-load of whatever you have living in the tank.

 

You cycle for 2.0 ppm in 24 hours because that is, approximately, how much ammonia will be produced by a fully stocked tank. This means that unless you overstock your tank you know that the bacteria colonies can handle the highest flow of ammonia that the tank should ever have to deal with.
At less then maximum stocking the bacteria won't have as much food and some of them will die but that's not a problem it's just the colonies shrinking to the available food supply and they will grow again if you increase the stocking of the tank. So long as you don't add a lot of stock at once the bacteria should be able to keep up and everything should be fine.

 

If I am understanding correctly your real goal seems to be a planted tank. In that case I would do shrimp and snails. There are some amazing snails available.

thanks!
Do you have any suggestions about snail species and where I would get them? I have one “baseball snail” (?).

You cycle for 2.0 ppm in 24 hours because that is, approximately, how much ammonia will be produced by a fully stocked tank. This means that unless you overstock your tank you know that the bacteria colonies can handle the highest flow of ammonia that the tank should ever have to deal with.
At less then maximum stocking the bacteria won't have as much food and some of them will die but that's not a problem it's just the colonies shrinking to the available food supply and they will grow again if you increase the stocking of the tank. So long as you don't add a lot of stock at once the bacteria should be able to keep up and everything should be fine.

That makes sense thank you! I guess I was worried that three shrimp and a snail wouldn’t produce enough ammonia.

is there a “target level” for how much nitrate post-cycle?

 

thanks!
Do you have any suggestions about snail species and where I would get them? I have one “baseball snail” (?).

I am kinda partial to rabbit and nerite snails. There are lots of different kinds of Nerites in various colors. Rabbit snails also come in different colored bodies including brown, yellow and golden. I like these particular ones because they don't get huge. Nerites will lay eggs but normally won't hatch in freshwater. Rabbits will give you babies if you are fortunate enough to get both a male and a female.

 

That makes sense thank you! I guess I was worried that three shrimp and a snail wouldn’t produce enough ammonia.

is there a “target level” for how much nitrate post-cycle?

Usually for a planted tank you want around 15-20 ppm, plants will consume the nitrates as a natural fertilizer

 

That makes sense thank you! I guess I was worried that three shrimp and a snail wouldn’t produce enough ammonia.

is there a “target level” for how much nitrate post-cycle?

You're going to want to reduce Nitrate to 10-20ppm before introducing things.
Generally lower is better. For a planted tank Nitrate is a nice fertilizer as @ChichlidJynx already mentioned but it's something you'll want to keep fairly low.

 

Thanks for all the help, everyone!

Finally, could I get some input on water changes? If my ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels are good, is it better to leave things alone? Or do a partial water change?

 

Thanks for all the help, everyone!

Finally, could I get some input on water changes? If my ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels are good, is it better to leave things alone? Or do a partial water change?

If the water in this tank is the same water you started with then yes, by all means it is time for a partial water change. There is more to water changes than just removing excess nitrates in a cycled tank. Over time most of the minerals present on our tap water will be used up and need to be replenished. There are other things that gradually build up in our tanks that we normally don't test for and they need to be removed with water changes.

I have never had shrimp but since I have considered getting some I have been reading up on their care. It seems when it comes to shrimp one needs to do smaller water changes than one would do in a fish only tank. If you've not done any water changes in this tank yet you may want to do several small ones every other day for a few days. Small meaning maybe 10 or 15% each time.

 

If the water in this tank is the same water you started with then yes, by all means it is time for a partial water change. There is more to water changes than just removing excess nitrates in a cycled tank. Over time most of the minerals present on our tap water will be used up and need to be replenished. There are other things that gradually build up in our tanks that we normally don't test for and they need to be removed with water changes.

I have never had shrimp but since I have considered getting some I have been reading up on their care. It seems when it comes to shrimp one needs to do smaller water changes than one would do in a fish only tank. If you've not done any water changes in this tank yet you may want to do several small ones every other day for a few days. Small meaning maybe 10 or 15% each time.

OK thanks. I think have done at least two water changes (~40-50%) before adding the shrimp. I can continue to do the 10-15% changes.

 

OK thanks. I think have done at least two water changes (~40-50%) before adding the shrimp. I can continue to do the 10-15% changes.

I know we have several shrimp experts here but off the top of my head richie.p is the one that comes to mind. Hopefully he will stop by to make sure I have given you good advice.

 

I know we have several shrimp experts here but off the top of my head richie.p is the one that comes to mind. Hopefully he will stop by to make sure I have given you good advice.

I couldn't have said it better your advise is top notch mattgirl

 

I couldn't have said it better your advise is top notch mattgirl

Thanks for confirming! Does three seem like an OK number of RCS for this 3.3 gallon tank?

Any thoughts on adding a few white cloud mountain minnow....?

 

If you want to put fish in then do it, just because we don't dosnt mean you can not, if you have a problem then you'll have to address it

 

In case anyone is curious - I got three dwarf spotted rasboras. They seem to be doing fine. I think I have some baby RCS too.

 

We are always curious as to how things are going. we love pictures too

 

Here is a (not so good) picture. Photographing aquariums seems hard!
You can see one of the rasboras in the upper right.
Snail is on the glass in the lower right.

 

Hmmm not so good eh??