# One more thing:



## M&MKhan (Apr 30, 2005)

I don't know about cycling a tank. Could some generous person take me through it super quick step by step? Please!!!!


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Cycling a tank is known as "The Nitrogen cycle" or "new tank syndrome"
This is the process by which nitrifying bacteria colonize in your filter and gravel,
the single most important step in establishing your aquarium ecosystem. 

As soon as you add fish to a brand new, clean, clear-watered aquarium, they start to make waste. Excess food and fish waste contains bacteria that will utilize oxygen to break the waste down into ammonia. Ammonia is very toxic to fish, irritating their gill tissues and causing severe damage to other body tissues. We call this Ammonia burn, because it basically burns your fish's sensitive tissues. The benefical bacteria multiply in your tank, and further break ammonia down into nitrite, 
Step 2:
Nitrite is still very toxic to fish. It destroys the hemoglobin in their blood, which carries their oxygen. In simple terms, nitrite is suffocating your fish. This causes stress, and any kind of stress will affect your fish's immune system, leading to disease and usually death. Lastly, Nitrite breaks down into Nitrate. 
Step 3:
Far less toxic than ammonia and nitrite. Nitrate is the end product of the Nitrogen cycle. This chemical is only toxic at high levels, above 50 parts per million or so. To keep nitrate at a healthy level, most aquarists do water changes every 14 to 18 days, removing only about 20 percent of their aquarium's water and replacing it
with new water. It is important to only change this small amount, or you will lose too 
much bacteria and the cycle will begin again! Live plants also help keep nitrate under
control, they use it as fertilizer. The whole cycle usually takes around 4 Weeks, 
depending on how quickly your bacteria grow. It can take longer, especially for saltwater aquariums. There are products avaliable now that contain actual bacteria, to give your aquarium a little boost through the cycle, but I dont use them as they dont always do what they promise. There is also a process known as fishless cycling that many have tried.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

fish_doc's description was very good, but if you want more detail, look here:
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html
Actually the whole beginner's section of the FAQ is worth reading
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin.html
If you want info on fishless cycling, look here:
http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/Fishlesscycle.htm

My method of cycling without killing any fish is to start out with a small number of small, fairly tough fish, and toss in lots of floating plants to absorb excess ammonia while the good bacteria are growing.


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## TANKER (Apr 28, 2005)

I only disagree with 1 part of the cycling info and that is in not replacing more than 20% of your water. While it is true that some of the bacteria, a very small portion in fact are free radicals in your water, the vast majority will be in your gravel and filter. Nitrobacters need a place to grow and unfortunately open water just isnt very conducive to this. So, with that said change your water, change it frequently, and change upwards of 50% at a time. Just be sure to dechlorinate any water you are going to add before dumping it into your tank, and try to get it as close to tank temperature as you can to avoid shocking any benificial bacteria you may already have. Once your tank cycles you can go with smaller water changes without any problems. the large water changes in the beinning however will save your fish alot of unneeded stress and reduce your losses.


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## M&MKhan (Apr 30, 2005)

Thanks so much, y'all. I have been doing all the stuff TANKER said and I think I have been following pretty close to the other things because I have taken out some of the water and replaced it (dechlorinating and aquariam salting first) so I think I am on the right track. My bigger fish is doing awesome but my little one is a little punkish. 

Is it a sign of ammonia burn if she is staying in one place for a long time and opening and closing her mouth more that the other g/f?

Thanks so much.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

> I only disagree with 1 part of the cycling info and that is in not replacing more than 20% of your water.


I asked fish_doc about this before. He replied that he recommends people only change 20% of the water at a time (or less) because newbies sometimes forget to use water conditioner, and if you change large amounts of water at a time with water that has lots of chlorine in it, it will kill your filter bacteria.

Personally, if I were writing the cycling info, I would say that you can change as much water as you like, but make sure that (1) your tap water has been left in a bucket oernight to come up to room temperature and to get rid of some of the dissolved gasses in it, and (2) you use water conditioner to get rid of the chlorine/chloramine.


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