Cycling with market prawn - need help!

[TntR2]

Hi fellow reefers..

I just started cycling my 3ft tank and tried to kick start the ANN cycle by throwing in about half a market prawn. currently only have sand from a fellow reefer without any liverock..

After a few days.. slimy stuff is seen covering the prawn.. however.. the sand right underneath the prawn turned greyish black!! got worried and took my prawn out immediately which gave out a super terrible smell ..

The greyish/black sand is now mixed with the surrounding sand while trying to get the dead prawn out..

Any bros out there encountered this problem before?? is this normal or would this greyish black sand cause problems in the future?

can this be due to a lack of water circulation in my tank? i have a seio 820 and a return pipe from sump which is doing the job of circulating the water..

hope some bros can advice! thanks!

[Tanga]

Bro should be no problem but need to have some live rock for the ANN cycle to house the bacteria.

[hammy]

the prawn is rotting and dun worry the little part that turn greyish black.

foul smell is common as ammonia is high after ur prawn rot .

but bacteria need a media to reside . such as LR or biohome. make sure your water is well circulated .

[Qxnviolet]

Please add in any LRs you will need to use for you tank during the cycling phase. If you add them after your ANN cycle is completed, it'll restart another cycle again due to the die-offs from the rock.

[TntR2]

Thanks for the advice!

i'll be getting my rocks from one of the reefers tonight.. they have been in his tank for quite some time.. so i guess it should speed up the cycle and lesser headache of die-offs from the rocks..

the greyish black sand got me worried for a while.. thought it was some bad bacteria that is gonna spread and infect the whole tank!

got a bad previous experience with it when i put in some "bad rocks" and more than 1/2 of my rocks turned black and smelly and the sand changed colour.. went to a LFS and the person said my rocks are dying off.. and gotta change all of the sand in my 2ft ..

is this occurence a common one or is it due to a lack of water circulation where the prawn is settled at?

[FionaFiona]

dun worry abt the greyish sand caused by the prawn. if u are worried, then u can just wedge the prawn between some LRs. it'll grey-out that portion of the LR instead of ur sand. ^^

market prawn will rot, (u have to let it rot), and yes, it will smellreal bad. takes abt 15-20 days for the prawn to completely disappear (depending how big the prawn is lah).

yep, as the brothers above mentioned "Cured" LR from a fellow WILL speed things up a bit. and yes, get all the LR u need early into the cycling process, adding more in the midst of cycling will only start another mini-cycle from further die-offs in the LR.

wat u got in the past are probably un-cured LRs from LFS. they have their goods too. lotsa fanciful stuffs, good and bad bacterias, and hitchhikers/worms, etc. diff ppl have diff preference. i would prefer dead rocks or cured rocks with good bacterias. all the best for ur cycling!

[Terryz_]

I cant understand why most ppl start their ANN cycle using rotting prawn... With LRs it is already enough to kick off your ANN cycle...

[FionaFiona]

I cant understand why most ppl start their ANN cycle using rotting prawn... With LRs it is already enough to kick off your ANN cycle...

Hi Terryz, I can see from your viewpoint and agree partially.

more specifically, its with "Uncured" LRs, that is enuf to kick-start the ANN cycle. Cuz there is more things to die-off and rot with UNcured LRs.

but issue is , with uncured LR, it comes along with lotsa other hitchhikers or worms or bad bacterias that would survive. and ppl hate to see worms as long as 8cm (for example) in their tanks.

as such, some reefers resort to using "Cured" LR that houses ONLY the good bacterias. NO uninvited hitchhikers. With cured LR, lesser things to die off and rot, insufficient Ammonia to begin cycle. hence they just reinforce the rotting by adding market prawn.

(u can add lobster / crayfish also can haha j/k).

Just my 2cents. Hope it helps.

[FionaFiona]

i may not be totally correct though, since im still relatively new, heh heh

[Terryz_]

Cured rocks also contains bristleworm, brittlestar and various hitch hiker, FYI if you never notice...

Even the most matured rocks also contain theses...

The presence of these and the denitrifying bacteria that makes LiveRocks...

Even with little Ammonia, they can still continue with the ANN, just that the bacteria will not be enough to handle high load... Thats why stocking at the beginning must be slow and gradual...

Correct me if i am wrong... lol..

[FionaFiona]

Hmmm, very insightful comment from bro Terryz...

then from u wt said, perhaps we can deduce that the market prawn method is to condition the tank for high bio-load?

btw... this market prawn method originates from whom ah?

maybe this person can tell us the reason why.... haha