cycle my tank??

willieb18 · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 87

so all i have to go is.....
fill the tank up with water. Question

put in some ammonia. Question

let it set for a few days and test it. Question

once i have a lot of nitrAtes i can put my fish in???? Question

if i missed anything please help. this is really confusing (sp) Confused

if anyone wants to add something can the just copy what i have and fill in where i need something? that would make it easer.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

Idealy, you'll need to test the water every day then add enough ammonia so it registers 5ppm. You'll gradually see a rise in nitrItes, then they will start decreasing while the nitrAtes increase. When you can add 5ppm ammonia one day and the next day have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrItes, and some amount of nitrAtes, it means your tank is cycled and it's safe to do a 30% water change and add your fish.

Basically what happens when you cycle a tank is you are feeding the bacteria and letting it grow. There are 2 types of bacteria (I'll call them A & B). Bacteria A eats ammonia and turns it into nitrIte. Bacteria B eats the nitrIte and turns it into nitrAte. You start off with basically no bacteria in the tank. When you add the ammonia, you are giving bacteria A lots of food so they multiply and produce lots of nitrItes. After a while bacteria B startes growing and eats the nitrItes (that's why you'll see a decrease in the nitrItes) and produces nitrAtes.

Eventually everything will even out. Bacteria A will be able to eat all the ammonia you add (or eventually all that is produced by the fish). And bacteria B will be able to eat all the nitrItes produced by Bacteria A. There are no bacteria to eat the nitrAtes so that's why you have to do water changes.

Also, when you do a fishless cycle, you are adding the ammonia to simulate the presence of fish. During the cycling process, the levels of ammonia and nitrIte get very high. And since those 2 are very toxic to fish, it's best to not have fish in the tank when you're cycling it because chances are they will die or at the very least suffer.

I hope that helps you understand the nitrogen cycle a little better.

-Chelle

willieb18 · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 87

ok i think i have it!!
so all i have to do is put water in the tank, and keep the ammonia at 5ppm untill there are no ammonia or nitrites, and some nitrates.

when i don't have any ammonia or nitrites but i have nitrates then it is ok to do a 30% water change and add my fish.

then i do a water changer like once a week to keep the nitrates down.

is that right? if it is so will my ammonia usually stay down as long as i'm not putting too much food in the tank.

thanks alot!!

willieb18 · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 87

can you also tell me how to get a pic on my profile???

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

willieb18 · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 87

well i tried to do that but all i got was that box with the red X in it. a pic that small is hard to find. i have been looking for days.

i'm only planning to have one fish so i don't thing it will be over stocked. but as far as over feeding...... will all food if not eated turn to ammonia? like blood worms or beed hearts for an oscar.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

willieb18 · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 87

i am to the poing to where i have to app the ammonia. does anyone know how much i should start off with??? thanks

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

Since ammonia can be sold in different concentrations, I can't give you an exact measurement of how much you need to add. Just add a little, wait about 30 minutes and test the water. Keep doing that until it registers 5ppm.

-Chelle

willieb18 · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 87

i put the ammonia in my tank the other day. i just tested my water and
ammonia 2.0
nitrate 2.0
nitrite 0

i thought that the nitrite was going to be wigh like the ammonia..... im confused.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

willieb18 · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 87

yeah, thats what everyone was saying. thats why i thought that it was wrong. but that is what it said yesterday. so i dont know what could be going on.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

I'm not really sure what's going on either. Did you add any decoratons or filter media from an established tank?

-Chelle

willieb18 · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 87

no i didnt do anything. it is just plain water. well i did put the vaccum in there that i bought the other day to see how easy it was to work. but it was just in there for a min.

willieb18 · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 87

if i add some plants to my tank will it help it cycle faster? or once it is cycled should i get some plants

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

If you're getting an oscar, don't get live plants. They will eventually get torn up.

-Chelle

willieb18 · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 87

so will it be ok to get fake ones so i can put them in front of the heater so it will it? i have read that a oscar will break the heater

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

That actually works with my oscars so you can try it. Your other choices would be to get a titanium heater or a heater guard.

-Chelle

willieb18 · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 87

the last time that i did a water test my ammonia was at 2.0. so it is going down. well i went to the fish store today and they told me that i should drain my tank and do a cycle with fish. but i think i am close to having it cycled, and i dont want to start over. everyone has a diffrent way to do it and i dont which one to go with.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

Definitely don't cycle with fish (and really, I don't think you should be listening to the people at the LFS anyway. From what I've heard so far, they don't know what the heck they're talking about).

The 2 main reasons not to cycle with fish are:

1) The cycling process involves very high and toxic levels of ammonia & nitrIte. Purposly exposing fish to those high levels is, IMO, cruel. You will be poisoning the fish and will most likely kill about 1/2 of them and make the rest very sick.

2) If you use "sacraficial fish" to cycle a tank (like zebras or feeder goldfish), they will only produce a fraction of the bioload of a fully stocked tank. So by the time your tank is cycled, you won't have as much bacteria as you would need for a fully stocked tank and it will go through another cycle. When you do a fishless cycle and add 5ppm of ammonia/day, that's more than a properly stocked tank would have. So in other words, you will have plenty of bacteria to be able to handle the bioload of your fish when you add them and the tank shouldn't even go through a mini cycle.

-Chelle