Home » African Cichlids » Tanks, Filtration, etc. » Cycling your tank
 Cycling your tank [message #7523] |
Tue, 03 July 2007 10:45 |
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The Nitrogen Cycle, you can look anywhere on the internet to find out exactly what the nitrogen cycle is but for here we are just going to explain how to get through it.
In order for a tank to have perfect water conditions, it must go through the nitrogen cycle. This cycle if done properly can take up to 8 weeks. There are short cuts as I have left a very good purely natural way to do it in 9 days. It can be found in Tanks, filtration, etc. When doing constant water changes and adding chemicals as a way to cut down on numbers during a new nitrogen cycle, it can make the cycle take even longer and sometimes not even finishing.
The one question I get asked more and more is "why are my numbers so high?"
I always ask, "how long has your tank been cycling?" This is what I hear, "well it's been running for months now" or "It's been running for a few week."
One of the biggest problems and I am no stranger to it myself is adding good fish that I want to keep before the tank has reached it's completed cycle. Let me just say this, if you add fish to your tank before a tank is cycled, there is a chance of losing some fish. This is why in my 9 day shortcut, I used little gold fish. They are little feeder fish and are very inexpensive. Less expensive then all the water changes and chemicals would cost separately.
When you can not get your tank to have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 15 or less on your nitrates, you have to rule out a few things, first and most important, did the tank go through it's cycle? Do you have dead fish in the tank hiding? Do you have proper water circulation (do you see water movement at the top of the water)? Do you have brown/red algae in the tank? Are you over feeding (do you see food landing in the bottom of the tank)? How long since you cleaned out your filter? Do you have real plants that are decaying in the tank? If you can answer any of these question yes, then this is why you have bad numbers. And let me also state that .25 or a little ammonia is not a good number. If your fish are constantly in .25 ammonia for months, you will lose fish to gill disease. You will start to see sick fish. I hear it all the time and I hear, "well my ammonia isn't bad or my ammonia is only .25". Another one I hear is, "my nitrates are only at 40 and my fish seem to be getting sick or not thriving" If your fish are in a constant 40ppm of nitrate, they will start to eventually show signs of breaking down. Or if your fish are in really good perfect water conditions and all the sudden in 40 ppm of nitrates, they will show signs of distress. Even though 40 is not extremely bad on nitrates, the fact is, they still aren't great. 40 means it's time to do a water change. It's a warning. If you don't take the warning, you pay the price. No tank should be left at 40 as a minimal on nitrates. This is pollution.
To get through the nitrogen cycle-
Put your gravel or sand in the tank. Make sure it's clean or rinsed. If you do any stirring of the gravel or sand, or crushed coral, do it now. Don't do it later and wonder why your water is cloudy. Put your filter in the tank. In order for the filter to do it's job cycling, it must have some source of ammonia to start with. There are a few different ways to achieve this.
1. Add live fish. Don't use your good fish if you plan on keeping them. Use some gold fish.
2. Get someone else's old filter media (free of disease) and use it in your own filter.
3. Put one capful of household pure ammonia (free of dyes and scents) in your tank with no fish.
4. Put a piece of raw fish about 4 ounces and let it decay in the tank.
5. Put a little fish food in every few days.
Do not do all these things at the same time. Pick one and stick with it. Be patient. "All good things come to those who wait".
Now after your tank has all the necessary equipment and you have water and your filter is running, Let it set for a few weeks. I should point out, unless you are using my "9 day cycle" these are the instructions that should be fallowed.
Do NO water changes, Do NOT change any filters, Do NOT add any chemicals. Do NOT stir sand, gravel, or crushed coral!!!
After a few weeks pass, start checking the numbers, write them down. Get an idea of what is happening in your tank. After about 4 weeks, you should see very little ammonia, high nitrites, and very little nitrates. It is very possible for these numbers to vary though. So you might see high ammonia and low nitrites and 10 nitrates. The point is to get a grasp on what part of the cycle you're in. High ammonia means you're in the first stage, high nitrites means you're in the second stage, high nitrates means you are nearing the end of the cycle. As ammonia or nitrites start to drop, you will see the next part of the cycle start to raise, ex. Ammonia is reading 3.0ppm and nitrites are reading .50 and nitrates are reading 10. This means you are nearing the end of the first part of the cycle. The nitrites will raise as high as they need to and the ammonia will start coming down. The nitrites will raise higher until the nitrates start to pick up. When you see numbers like ammonia at 0-.25ppm, nitrites 4.0ppm and nitrates at 20ppm, this means that you are starting to near the end of the second stage. Then the nitrates will sky rocket and I have witnessed them going as high as 160, the nitrites will be very low if not 0, and the ammonia will be at 0, then you know, it's time to do a 50 percent water change and recheck your nitrates the next day. If they are still very high then do another
25 percent water change. Your nitrates should drop to around 5-10. Congratulations, you have just cycled your tank.
Now let me just clarify that if you do not go through the natural cycle, your cycle will take longer in the end. Even if you use chemicals to lower ammonia or nitrites, you are just masking what you don't want to see. It will also mean confusion when you start seeing wacky numbers that don't seem to fall in sink with what I described above.
I have gone through my share of huge mishaps with uncycled tanks and let me tell you, it's no wonder people try aquarium keeping for awhile then give it up. They get frustrated and say the heck with it all. I know, I have been there.
Do it right the first time and save yourself a ton of grief.
P.S. Someone just brought to my attention about sand and air bubbles with gas and why stir. There is an alternitive to stiring the sand, and that is raking it slowly. This causes very little cloud if none.
[Updated on: Mon, 28 January 2008 20:33]
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