Cycle and commission a shrimp tank: evidence dossier
This is the audit trail behind one practical guide. It keeps the linked studies, supporting authorities, named uncertainty, search trail and public changes together without copying a second bibliography.
Guide purpose: Testing whether the whole system can process a known nitrogen challenge before livestock arrive.
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Download this guide's 8 linked evidence records: CSL-JSON or RIS. Both retain every record's support and limitation notes.
This is an inventory, not a confidence score. A direct study is still limited by its animals, experimental unit, water, treatment, duration and endpoint. Record counts do not prove consensus, completeness or a universal care rule.
- Linked evidence records
- 8
- Direct Neocaridina
- 1
- Direct controlled experiments
- 1
- Supporting authorities
- 0
- Named open questions
- 2
- Public research changes
- 0
Registry reviewed 2026-08-12. Next scheduled review 2027-02-12. Read the editorial method.
System observation or method study
Adjacent aquarium-system evidence
McKnight et al., 2025. ISME Communications 5(1): ycaf212.
Source taxon as published: Home aquarium biofilter microorganisms, not a Neocaridina animal experiment
Study shape: Weekly bead, sponge and water samples were paired with chemistry, qPCR and community sequencing while stocking and maintenance varied by home.
Experimental unit: Home aquarium, n equals three; repeated samples and technical replicates remain nested within aquarium
Environment: Three independently established home freshwater aquaria followed for twelve weeks
Endpoints: total ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, amoA abundance, microbial community succession.
What it can support: Nitrification timing and nitrifier succession differed among the three aquaria, with comammox Nitrospira prominent later in every sampled biofilter.
What it cannot support: Three uncontrolled home systems do not establish a universal three-week or eight-week cycle, a product effect or commissioned animal capacity.
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System observation or method study
Adjacent aquarium-system evidence
McKnight and Neufeld, 2024. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 90(7): e00104-24.
Source taxon as published: Freshwater aquarium microbial communities, not a Neocaridina animal experiment
Study shape: Microbial genes and community composition were surveyed across aquarium biofilters.
Experimental unit: Sampled aquarium biofilter
Environment: Thirty-eight freshwater aquarium biofilters
Endpoints: comammox genes, relative abundance, community composition.
What it can support: Complete ammonia-oxidizing Nitrospira occurred widely in the sampled biofilters.
What it cannot support: Detection and relative abundance do not measure a tank workload, prove full commissioning or establish an animal-safe concentration.
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Controlled experiment
Adjacent aquarium-system evidence
Scagnelli et al., 2023. Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine 44: 22-26.
Source taxon as published: Fishless freshwater aquarium systems, not a Neocaridina animal experiment
Study shape: Five aquaria each received a different commercial quick-start product and one aquarium was untreated after a 1.0 ppm ammonium-hydroxide addition.
Experimental unit: Aquarium, with one aquarium per product and one untreated control
Environment: Six ten-gallon freshwater aquaria followed for fourteen days
Endpoints: total ammonia nitrogen, nitrite, nitrate.
What it can support: Only one of five tested products produced lower total ammonia nitrogen than the control during this fourteen-day design.
What it cannot support: One aquarium per product provides no independent treatment replication and cannot certify or rank current products, prove instant cycling or establish animal-ready capacity.
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Controlled experiment
Direct Neocaridina evidence
Viau et al., 2020. Aquaculture Research 51: 3847-3864.
Source taxon as published: Neocaridina davidi
Study shape: The full life cycle and juvenile outcomes were followed while comparing conditioned artificial substrates.
Experimental unit: Substrate treatment culture unit
Environment: Designed laboratory biofilm culture across substrate treatments
Endpoints: juvenile survival, growth, biomass, biochemical reserves, reproduction.
What it can support: The tested biofilm community supported the life cycle and substrate treatment changed juvenile outcomes.
What it cannot support: It does not establish that any home-aquarium film is complete food or that tank age measures grazing value.
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System observation or method study
Adjacent aquarium-system evidence
Bagchi et al., 2014. PLOS ONE 9(12): e113515.
Source taxon as published: Freshwater aquarium microbial communities, not a Neocaridina animal experiment
Study shape: Nitrogen balances and attached ammonia-oxidizer communities were measured across biofilter media and time.
Experimental unit: Aquarium and sampled biofilter medium
Environment: Three freshwater aquarium biofilters
Endpoints: nitrogen conversion, ammonia-oxidizer abundance, spatial and temporal stability.
What it can support: Attached aquarium biofilters can account for a large measured share of nitrification in the studied systems.
What it cannot support: It does not prove a filter model, media volume, cycle duration, turnover rate or Neocaridina toxicity boundary.
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System observation or method study
Adjacent aquarium-system evidence
Sauder et al., 2011. PLOS ONE 6(8): e23281.
Source taxon as published: Freshwater aquarium biofilter microorganisms, not a Neocaridina animal experiment
Study shape: qPCR, gene sequencing and water chemistry were compared across sampled freshwater biofilters, with saltwater filters and two supplements as context.
Experimental unit: Sampled aquarium biofilter; technical molecular replicates are not independent aquaria
Environment: Twenty-seven residential and retail freshwater aquarium biofilters in Ontario
Endpoints: amoA gene abundance, community fingerprints, ammonium, nitrite, nitrate.
What it can support: Thaumarchaeal ammonia-oxidizer genes dominated the detectable amoA signal in most sampled freshwater biofilters.
What it cannot support: Gene abundance does not measure complete nitrogen-processing capacity, prove a filter mature or prescribe a product, media volume or cycle duration.
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Controlled experiment
Adjacent aquarium-system evidence
Wert et al., 2008. Water Research 42(1-2): 372-378.
Source taxon as published: Pilot drinking-water biofilters, not an aquarium animal experiment
Study shape: Backwash chlorination, filter depth and filtration rate were compared while residual ammonia and biodegradable organic matter were measured.
Experimental unit: Pilot filter
Environment: Three pilot sand-and-anthracite drinking-water filters
Endpoints: ammonia conversion, nitrite, nitrate, biodegradable organic matter removal.
What it can support: Backwash disinfection history and filtration rate changed nitrification in these pilot drinking-water filters.
What it cannot support: A municipal pilot filter does not prescribe aquarium rinsing, flow, media replacement or safe shrimp exposure, and chlorine effects depend on the tested system.
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Controlled experiment
Adjacent aquarium-system evidence
Hovanec et al., 1998. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 64(1): 258-264.
Source taxon as published: Freshwater aquarium nitrifying communities, not a Neocaridina animal experiment
Study shape: Molecular probes, clone libraries and water chemistry followed nitrite oxidizers during aquarium establishment and an additive comparison.
Experimental unit: Aquarium for treatment and chemistry; sampled gravel or biofilter material for molecular endpoints
Environment: Ammonium-dosed freshwater aquaria and aquarium biofilter samples
Endpoints: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, rRNA sequence and probe signal.
What it can support: Nitrospira-like organisms appeared with nitrite oxidation in the tested freshwater aquarium systems.
What it cannot support: One establishment design does not establish a universal cycle day, prove an additive effective or certify animal-ready capacity.
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