cycling

alergic__1

alergic__1

Alergic__1
Apr 1, 2005
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Canada
Could anyone tell me a good site where I can read up on cycling...because I have no idea what it is.....all I know is that my fish haven't died yet...and I have had them in a few different tanks.....10 gallon one now...and I just change that water and put them in.....
 
"cycling" is the nitrogen cycle. In the beginning, the ammonia levels from the fish waste are very high, and ammonia is the most toxic to fish. Then bacteria grows in your tank (in the gravel, in the filter) that converts the ammonia to nitrites, so your ammonia levels start going down while your nitrites start going up. Nitrites are also very harmful to fish. Finally, a new bacteria comes and converts the nitrites to nitrates, a far less harmful chemical. Cycling can take anywhere from days to weeks, I think.
examples:

n-cycle.gif

nitro.gif

That's my very limited and newly gained understanding of it, alteast. They suggest fishless cycling, as in letting the tank mature on its own without fish, before adding fish, but I am doing my first cycle ever with fish and I'm at the nitrite peak. AS it's been suggested to me, do a 20-50% water change every day to keep the toxic chemicals down as the aquarium gets the good bacteria.
 
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20%-50% is a good guideline but if it doesn't keep your levels below 0.25ppm you may find yourself doing more than one 50% change a day. I too am a newbie and just finished fishy cycling two 10g tanks. Some days I was doing two 50% water changes a day to stay within the optimal range during my nitrite spike. I am not trying to discourage you but you are probably in for a long haul. I spent 5 weeks doing daily water changes and sometimes twice a day. There is work involved but your fish will thank you for it in the long run. BTW I am now doing a fishless cycle on a 55g tank. Didn't know about fishless when I started with the 10gs but it is a lot better method and alot less work.
 
Boohoo said:
20%-50% is a good guideline but if it doesn't keep your levels below 0.25ppm you may find yourself doing more than one 50% change a day. I too am a newbie and just finished fishy cycling two 10g tanks. Some days I was doing two 50% water changes a day to stay within the optimal range during my nitrite spike. I am not trying to discourage you but you are probably in for a long haul. I spent 5 weeks doing daily water changes and sometimes twice a day. There is work involved but your fish will thank you for it in the long run. BTW I am now doing a fishless cycle on a 55g tank. Didn't know about fishless when I started with the 10gs but it is a lot better method and alot less work.
Click to expand...
.25? My ammonia is at around .25 and my nitrites get up to around 10... They were at around 7 or 8 and I got them down to 4 with a 50 % water change.... are you sure they have to stay at .25? These "5-way" test strips I picked up today test nitrites from 0-10, are you sure they have to be kept below .25? And according to these strips, my nitrates are around 30-40.
 
Nitrites are very toxic. A safe level is to keep them below 0.25ppm. You may have to do 50% back to back water changes. I did. But your goal for your fishes well being should be to stay below 0.25. Some test strips are not real accurate. The liquid tests seem to be better. Things aren't measured in such a wide range.
 
Check out some of the cycling stickys, Ideally nitrites AND amonia are 0, both can be very harmful/deadly to fish :(
 
yeah, my mom has a 5 gallon marine aquarium and she has the liquid tests for that. They're so expensive though, I'm on a tight budget so I went with the strips. On her test kit when I tested them I think they were a little above 1.0, and that was before I was doing regular water changes. Perhaps the strips are messed up and the chemical point is misplaced. The strips also call water hardness TH, and i've seen it called dh, so maybe they don't know what theyre talking about.

My fish seem to be doing fine.
 
do you mean marine as in saltwater? if so, the test results can be very different. Also, I made the same mistake and managed to only get away with a few deaths. The cycling process can take many weeks and if you are doing it with fish, they will be fine at first until all your levels reach lethal levels and the fish will ALL start to die off. Water changes, I think daily are a must, read the stickys on the board and then see where you are and post more questions then. You can take your water to a local store and they will usually test it for free, make sure to remember what they are :)
 
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Gah. Dangit, why can't I just have a reliable test. Someone mail me money.

By the way, sorry to hog the thread, but today I picked up aquarium solutions "ultimate full function water conditioner". It claims it removes chlorine and ammonia, destroys chloramines, detoxifies nitrites and metal, replaces slime coat, adds electrolytes, boosts alkalinity, reduces stress, "ages" water.... would this be at all effective do you know? would it effect/slow down my cycle?
 
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