What is cycling.

[EditioN]

can anyone tell me how to cylce a tank in understanding words plz

 

[akulashark]

there is an article pinned to the top of this forum but I will try to simplify.

When your fish pee or poop they produce ammonia. This ammonia needs to be removed somehow. The way it gets taken out of the water is via Bacteria. If your tank has no bacteria the ammonia level will climb until your fish suffocate.

The beneficial bacteria don't just come by floating thru the air. The best place to get it is from a friends/neighbors fish tank, either get their filter media or some rocks from the bottom.

You must go buy a test kit to keep tabs on this.

Now that you have some bacterial source, you can add fish, or better fishless cycle, you have to have a source of ammonia.

In either case you are looking for the same thing, the fish or you add ammonia to the environment. When the bacteria establish themselves they will eat all the ammonia and turn it into Nitrite. The nitrite is further broken down to Nitrate.

When your water tests that it doesn't have ammonia but has nitrite you have 1/2 of a cycle, when the nitrite dissapears the cycle is complete. TEST EVERY DAY!

Fish Pee -> Ammonia
Beneficial Bacteria eat Ammonia -> Nitrite
More consumpton of Nitrite -> Nitrate
Cycle complete.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Edition

AMMONIA is introduced into the tank through fish - even just from when they breathe. Bacteria must form in order to convert the ammonia into a less toxic form, called NITRITE. Nitrite is also harmful. Another type of bacteria forms to convert nitrite into NITRATE, which is harmless to fish except in higher numbers.

Both of these types of bacteria make up your BIOLOGICAL FILTER.

It takes time to build up a biological filter, and if you put too many fish in the tank at once ammonia will rise and damage or kill the fish. To prevent this you need to start off with only a few fish, so that ammonia does not rise too quickly.

So, in basic steps:

1. Add a small amount of fish to the tank. Purchase a tester from the fish store; one that tests for ammonia and one for nitrite.
Try to obtain some filter media or gravel from an existing tank. This well speed up the cycle by introducing bacteria into the tank right away. If you don't have a friend with a fish tank the fish store will probably help you out if you ask. Put this in your own filter for best results.

2. Test the water every day. If ammonia tests at .5 or more do a water change to lower it. The higher the ammonia tests, the more water you should change. If you used the right amount of fish it should not rise past 1.

3. Eventually you will see the ammonia will stop rising on it's own. This is when you start testing for nitrites. Nitrites will rise higher then the ammonia did. Any time you see it rise past 2 you should do a water change. keep testing for ammonia as well just to make sure.

4. After a while the nitrite will drop to 0. At this point the ammonia should already be at 0. Your tank is now cycled. You can add fish whenever you like. Remember, each time you add fish the biological filter must expand to allow for the increase in the biological load, so only add a small amount of fish weekly or less until youhave acheived your desired stocking level.

5. There is no bacteria that gets rid of nitrate. You must do waterchanges regularly to keep these at healthy levels. Every two weeks is a good schedule. Every week is great, every month will do if you have no choice.

Hope this helps.

 

[G_Sharky]

When your water tests that it doesn't have ammonia but has nitrite you have 1/2 of a cycle, when the nitrite dissapears the cycle is complete. TEST EVERY DAY!

That's great to hear cause i'm on the process of cycling my tank too. I just tested my tank's water today and ammonia is at 0, but Nitrite is still at 1.6. How many days/weeks is left before my tank is fully cycled? Also i am changing the water every 3 days/25% cause i'm also treating ICH at this moment. With these condition do you guys think that there's a chance i could lose any of my fish. BTW i have a 10 G with 9 fish. Thanks...

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Also i am changing the water every 3 days/25% cause i'm also treating ICH at this moment. With these condition do you guys think that there's a chance i could lose any of my fish

Your fish will survive the cycle like that, ich is a different story altogether.