symryk said:
howdy ascalon
to give you some idea as to how new i am to this game, ihave a couple of questions for you
what is fishless cycle
what are water paramiters and what do i need to check these topics.
i have a 4 foot tank, in the tank there is 1 heater
2 filters 1 is a rio-1400lph the other is a aqua 1 (103)
various rocks and aunaments and through the middle of the tank is a 18" air stone aswell as 5 artifical plants.
i would like to be able to add a photo of my tank but as yet i have'nt worked out how to do it
thanking you for your help
symryk
sorry, Havnt been online lately.
Fishless cycling is the best way to cycle a tank in my opinion.
Its a little complicated at first so i appologize for the novel.
One thing that you really need to understand first it the nitrification cycle.
When a fish excretes waste, they create ammonia, which will become toxic at higher levels. The next stage involves a nitrifying bacteria called Nitrosomonas. These bacteria consume the ammonia as food and excrete their own waste product called Nitrites. This product is very toxic to fish. The next stage involves yet another bacteria that consumes the Nitrites. These bacteria are called Nitrobacter. These Nitrobacter convert the toxic Nitrites into a far less harmful product called Nitrates.
Nitrites (with an “I”) = the harmful toxic waste product
Nitrates (with an “A”) = the less harmful product of the Nitrobacter
This is the cycle that an aquarium will need to go through to become a suitable environment for any living thing.
Many people unknowingly will add fish to their aquarium immediately after setting their tank up and will inevitably end up with a big problem. Their ammonia will go sky high and will take a nasty toll on their fish, causing ammonia burns to their gills that will never fully heal. Then their Nitrites will end up going sky high causing their fish to become ill and many times to die. This can be avoided with very frequent water changes to keep the levels from getting to high for the fish to bear. However this makes the cycle take a lot longer.
NOW, to the fishless cycle.
FIRST: You need to get a test kit. I use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. You will need a NitrIte test kit, NitrAte test kit, Ammonia test kit and you should have a PH test kit just because its good to have. (you wont be looking at ph for cycling)
This is what you do.
Get your hands on some common household ammonia. Make sure there are no additives or soaps added. Just look at the ingredients. If there are no ingredients and the liquid doesn’t get foamy like soap when you shake the bottle, then it should be pure ammonia.
You will need to add about 3-4 drops of ammonia per 10 gallons of water.
Do this once daily until your ammonia reading pretty much reads off the chart. Make sure to place the same amount of ammonia in each day.
Keep on adding the same ammonia and wait for a Nitrite spike. You will need to test the water at least every other day to keep track.
You are looking for your Nitrite to spike to about 3-5 ppm (parts per million). This should be near the end of the chart.
Once you get a Nitrite spike, you need to cut your ammonia additions in half. So keep adding ammonia every day, but half of the initial dosage.
This next part could take a while, up to a month or possibly more. Its different for everybody.
You need to wait until your Ammonia and your Nitrite readings drop all the way to Zero. Not almost to zero. They have to be at Zero.
Once this happens, check your NitrAtes. These should read anywhere from 20-80 ppm. Most likely it will be around 80 ppm.
So you have a reading of Ammonia – 0, Nitrite – 0, Nitrate – 80.
Nitrates should ideally be around 20 ppm for a healthy fish.
SORRY BOUT THE NOVEL :laugh:
.
