Cycling your Aquarium

Subject: Cycling your Aquarium Wed Feb 06, 2008 5:16 pm

You new aquarium needs two types of beneficial bacteria.The first will converts ammonia into nitrite, while the other will converts nitrite into nitrate. Ammonia will be produce your fish in poo and pee. High levels of ammonia are dangerous to fish, there is bacteria that can convert ammonia into nitrite. Nitrite is actually even more toxic than ammonia, but the second group of bacteria will turn the nitrite into nitrate, which is much less toxic. The nitrate can then be removed by regular water changes.The beneficial bacteria will of course need to get started in the aquarium, and this is done by adding one or two hardy fish.The bacteria colony will take time to establish and this process takes several weeks.

You should purchase a good aquarium test kit, since while your tank is cycling you will need to test the water. The ammonia level should rise. Once the bacteria spreads the ammonia level will go down and the nitrite level will rise, as the second group of bacteria grow these level will also drop. The cycling is complete when both the ammonia and nitrite level are at zero when water is tested and the nitrate level are at safe readings. At this point it is important to do proper water changes to maintain your tank.

There is also Fishless Cycling, for more on that read the article Fishless Cycling http://www.freewebs.com/celticwraith/fishlessaquariumcycle.htm

Another good article to read is Filtration and the Nitrogen Cycle
http://www.freewebs.com/celticwraith/filtrationandthenitrogen.htm

Subject: Re: Cycling your Aquarium Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:51 pm

Good info Celtic! LittleFish should have found this before he got his fish! lol!

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I have been keeping aquariums most of my life. I have kept both fresh and salt water, cichlids, catfish, loaches, clownfish, wrasses, and everything in between. Feel free to ask me any questions!

Visit my blog at http://fgaquarium.blogspot.com/

Subject: Re: Cycling your Aquarium Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:07 pm

Well hopefully other will and avoid problems. I have seen people buy a new tank and load it up with fish just to have them die. That's why I always tell people to do there research first, learn every thing you can.

Subject: Re: Cycling your Aquarium Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:16 pm

Your dead on Celtic! Like the old saying goes, " Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." It means that if you not only give people fish and things, you have to teach them how to do it properly.
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I have been keeping aquariums most of my life. I have kept both fresh and salt water, cichlids, catfish, loaches, clownfish, wrasses, and everything in between. Feel free to ask me any questions!

Visit my blog at http://fgaquarium.blogspot.com/

Subject: Re: Cycling your Aquarium Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:14 pm

Don't you guys think buying beneficial bacteria is a way to speed up the establishment of the needed bacteria for cycling? It seems to me that you can avoid the ammonia and nitrite spikes if you just add the bacteria in the beginning. I would still build up the fish load slowly so the bacteria can become established, but why go through these toxic spikes if you can avoid them?

Subject: Re: Cycling your Aquarium Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:53 pm

I have tried some of those produces and never found them to work, but I have heard of one that does. There are several ways to speed up the process, seeding your tank using filter media from an established tank is one of them. I'm sure there are others who have use bacteria in a bottle and have had it work, but as I mentioned I'm not one of them. My tanks where all seeded from one tank, I would run the new filter for several weeks on the establish tank. This would allow a bacteria colony to get established in the new filters media. then when I set up the new tank I would use some water from the established tank and put the new filter on that had been running on my establish tank.

I realize that if you are starting out you can't do that, but if you have a friend with a tank you could see if they would run your filter on there tank or give you some filter media that they just took out of there tank, and you could put it in your tank. This will help speed up the cycle.
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Rank2 Member Age : 33 Joined : 20 Jan 2008 Posts : 63

Bio Spira is probably the product that Celticwraith has heard works, I have read that it works , but have never tried it.

Subject: Re: Cycling your Aquarium Fri Feb 22, 2008 12:49 am

Yea, seeding with filter cartridges or even live plants is probably the best way to go. My aquarium store sells these little refrigerated packs of supposedly really good stuff and it's $25 bucks a shot. I just thought I'd put the idea out since I've recommended it for people needing to restart their cycle after a toxic die off.

Subject: Re: Cycling your Aquarium Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:09 pm

Garman, I have never tried any that was refrigerated at $25 dollar, that stuff could work really well. If some one has the money and want to try it, why not.
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Subject: Re: Cycling your Aquarium Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:20 pm

Always good to have a test kit just to make sure what's happening I guess.