Can brine shrimp cycle a 5g?

noobonics · 03/07/2015, 10:12 PM

Hey guys, new to the forum. Been looking at all my questions on here anyway, figured I'd join.

What I wanted to know is do you think brine shrimp could cycle my 5g dwarf seahorse tank? Everything's already wrapped in pantyhose so my future itty bitty seahorses don't get sucked up. They'd be the only thing in the tank right now and I've got some powder "food" for them. Worst case scenario they all die and cause an ammonia spike which kickstarts the cycle, right? Then the seahorses move in and eat should they survive.

Tank info:
Went cheap, got a glofish.
It's got a HOB, itty bitty canister, and a very small skimmer.
Live sand & rock I'm transfering from my octopus tank

ichthyogeek · 03/07/2015, 10:44 PM

I'd mostly be worried about the current in the tank. Brine shrimp are very easy to just filter out of a system. They really just can't swim in tanks with large amounts of current. Technically you can cycle the tank, since the brine shrimp are very tolerant to horrible conditions (high ammonia, nitrites and nitrates). I think the best way to cycle your tank this way, would be to cycle the HOB and canister filters separately (I feel that they would produce too strong a current) and run an airline @5 bubbles/second on the tank, feeding very little very often. You can go ahead and use the live sand and rock though.

There are way too many glofish aquariums. Do you mean the 5 gallon glofish aquarium like Petsmart sells? the 16" X 8" x 10" one?
What's the powder "food" you'll be feeding your shrimp?
Will you be using adult brine shrimp, or growing from cysts?

noobonics · 03/08/2015, 08:05 AM

It's 14.5 wide 15 tall and 9 deep.

I use sera micron powdered food. Seems to work well enough.
And I'm growing them from cysts.

03/07/2015, 10:12 PM	#1
noobonics Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 2	Can brine shrimp cycle a 5g? Hey guys, new to the forum. Been looking at all my questions on here anyway, figured I'd join. What I wanted to know is do you think brine shrimp could cycle my 5g dwarf seahorse tank? Everything's already wrapped in pantyhose so my future itty bitty seahorses don't get sucked up. They'd be the only thing in the tank right now and I've got some powder "food" for them. Worst case scenario they all die and cause an ammonia spike which kickstarts the cycle, right? Then the seahorses move in and eat should they survive. Tank info: Went cheap, got a glofish. It's got a HOB, itty bitty canister, and a very small skimmer. Live sand & rock I'm transfering from my octopus tank

03/07/2015, 10:44 PM	#2
ichthyogeek Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Arkansas Posts: 742	I'd mostly be worried about the current in the tank. Brine shrimp are very easy to just filter out of a system. They really just can't swim in tanks with large amounts of current. Technically you can cycle the tank, since the brine shrimp are very tolerant to horrible conditions (high ammonia, nitrites and nitrates). I think the best way to cycle your tank this way, would be to cycle the HOB and canister filters separately (I feel that they would produce too strong a current) and run an airline @5 bubbles/second on the tank, feeding very little very often. You can go ahead and use the live sand and rock though. There are way too many glofish aquariums. Do you mean the 5 gallon glofish aquarium like Petsmart sells? the 16" X 8" x 10" one? What's the powder "food" you'll be feeding your shrimp? Will you be using adult brine shrimp, or growing from cysts?

03/08/2015, 08:05 AM	#3
noobonics Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 2	It's 14.5 wide 15 tall and 9 deep. I use sera micron powdered food. Seems to work well enough. And I'm growing them from cysts.