Another shrimp cycle question...

[Murph]

So I'm about 2 weeks into my cycle and my first piece of shrimp deteriorated into almost nothing and I was never able to pick up any ammonia or nitrite readings... I have about 20 lbs of live rock (with 70/80 dry) that I figured must've been able to handle any ammonia put off by the shrimp. So a couple days ago I added a couple more pieces to see if that would get me any readings... So now I have 2 questions.
1. Do I need to get the shrimp out of the tank once they start to really break down? I tried to keep them netted, but the current forced them out and they've landed behind rocks in various corners of the tank. Will they be okay to rot and eventually get eaten by cuc?

And 2. If i don't see any ammonia after another week or so, would I be okay to proceed with adding the CUC. I know I need to be patient and I'm in no rush, but if I can move to the next step, I'd obviously like to make it happen. I've also tested for nitrates and it seems like there might be a tiny bit, but the test is a little hard to read. The water seems to be slightly pink, but not pink enough to register on the card. Thanks for any thoughts...

 

[ReefMedic]

1. Leave the shrimp in the tank to rot away.

2. I don't see any reason why you couldn't start adding your CUC a little at a time say 6-10 individual organisms per week, being sure to keep an eye on your water parameters before adding each batch.

Are you running a skimmer during your cycle? Are you running lights during your cycle? Is there any obvious algae growth in the tank for a CUC to start eating?
Was the LR you added completely cured before it was added?

 

[Murph]

Thanks for the reply... I'm not running a skimmer right now, but have one ready and waiting. I've been lights out, except for a few minutes to a half hour once in a while when I'm checking things out (and to play with the lights.) There is no visible algae growth aside for what came on the live rock. There are a lot of little patches of what look like hair. It doesn't look like hair algae when I Google "hair algae", but I'm sure it must be some form of it. It honestly looked like pet hair to begin with. I believe the rock was fully cured though. I got it from the lfs and it's a nice purple color and it was only out of water for maybe 45 minutes while I drove home and gave it a quick ro/di rinse before putting it in.

 

[AmberSunrise]

There is no reason I can think of that you would need to add more than one shrimp, if you didnt get ammonia and nitrates then you should be ok. I never got a big cycle in my tanks and I only left shrimp in for a few hours.

Just take adding creatures slowly.

 

[Murph]

I just did another water test and still no ammonia, but I can definitely tell the nitrates are going up, so it definitely looks like the bacteria are in there doing work. Seemed to be right around 10. So I'll probably start figuring out what to add for my cuc. They can hunt down any bits of shrimp that are left over.