Cycling

soup wrote:
Have googled for aquarium cycling and there seems
to be 301,000 different opinions on how to do it.
A straw poll, how many believe in the chemical
approach and how many in hardy fish and does
anyone have a method involving black cats and
ouija boards ?.

As I understand it "cycling" is too get the level
of good bacteria up so they can "eat" fish waste
and convert it into nitrites then convert these
nitrites to nitrates.


Your understanding of the cycle is correct. And during this process,
there is a level of toxic ammonia or Nitrite in your tank, depending on
how much water is changed out at frequent intervals. If you are very
conscientious and dependable during this period, and change a large
amount of water daily, the impact to the fish will be minimal. Better
yet, if there are live plants in the tank, the fish may not even know
they're swimming in a toxic solution at all.

steve

Hi soup - You will definitely need a test kit to do this. First measure
your pH. The higher the pH the more toxic the ammonia. This may influence
whether you use fish or not or which fish. Like the net I am sure you will
find here, just about as many diverse views on how to start. I prefer to
start fishless. Some believe even if the fish survive from cycling with
fish, it is uncomfortable for the fish and gill damage may result in early
death. In a five gallon tank you will really have to watch your levels very
closely and probably only start with one fish. I may be a bit over the top
but it may not be the best lesson for your son to accidentally kill your
fish during cycling. However accidents will always happen occasionally
particularly in a small tank. Even after cycled it will require some
vigilance to make sure you dont have significant ammonia and nitrite spike=a
few small fish, do regular water changes and dont overfeed. You might want
to google for fishless cycling. I also have heard many excellent reports on
using Bio Spira to cycle your tank. You will have to purchase a portion
that will actually treat about 30 gallons and cost $10 or 12, however. It
does allow you to start with minimal fish and since it usually helps with a
very quick cycle fish damage should be less. Most of the other 'starters',
I have heard are often maginal at best.
With only 13 months experience and 3 tanks and 2 ponds cycled I certainly
do not present myself as having near the knowledge most do on this board.
However, I would add that ONE of the experts on this board, some may agree,
is NetMax and I know he advocates fishless. Here is a link to his 'more
than you ever wanted to know' site.
http://www.2cah.com/netmax/basics/water/water.shtml - if you want the short
version you can scroll down to 'Avoiding New Tank Syndrome'.
I think you will find their are the basics and they will get you a long
way. Then there is a mountain of information to hone those basics. For me,
the more I learn the more I enjoy being a concientous pet keeper. I now
know quite a lot, but still very little. I'm sure we can assume you want to
know at least the highlites or you wouldn't be here. Be very, very careful
though. This fishkeeping business can become very addictive. Your 5 gallon
tank may have swelled to a 55 gallon within a year if you dont watch it
Enjoy!!
Bill Brister - Austin, Texas

"soup" wrote in message
.uk...

Have googled for aquarium cycling and there seems
to be 301,000 different opinions on how to do it.
A straw poll, how many believe in the chemical
approach and how many in hardy fish and does
anyone have a method involving black cats and
ouija boards ?.

As I understand it "cycling" is too get the level
of good bacteria up so they can "eat" fish waste
and convert it into nitrites then convert these
nitrites to nitrates.
--
yours S

Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione

Have googled for aquarium cycling and there seems
to be 301,000 different opinions on how to do it.
A straw poll, how many believe in the chemical
approach and how many in hardy fish and does
anyone have a method involving black cats and
ouija boards ?.

I will not sacrifice "starter fish" to cycle, nor do I do fishless cycling
in the traditional sense (adding ammonia, et cetera). I like the "multiple
aquarium" method. If you already have several established planted tanks and
wish to start a new one:

(a) Prepare new aquarium with treated water and about 3/4 of the gravel (or
other substrate of your choice) you will need.

(b) Add some gravel (or other substrate) from established tanks (replace
with new).

(c) Add plants from established tanks (replace with new plants if desired).

(d) Install your filters. Use cartridges or biowheels from filters in
established tanks (replace with new).

(e) Add the heater if necessary and give the tank a few hours or so to get
the temperature stable.

(f) Add just a few fish. These are NOT sacrificial "starter fish" but merely
serve as a small initial fish load.

Voila - instant cycled aquarium. Add fish a few at a time over a month or so
until you have the desired population. When I do this I seldom see any spike
at all in ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites, and never see a bacteria bloom
because a good bacteria population is already established in the old gravel,
plants, and cartridge or biowheel and will spread slowly and naturally
throughout the rest of the tank.

As you can imagine, the first tank is the hardest. If I had to start a tank
from scratch today, I would add treated water, substrate, plants, filter,
heater, et cetera, let it sit for a day or so, add a very few fish (again,
not sacrificial starter fish), and do 20% water changes daily for a couple
of weeks. I did a 30-gallon tank with five goldies that way late last year.
Even though that's a pretty heavy fish load, daily 20% water changes and
lots of plants kept the ammonia below 1 ppm (barely discernable on my test
kit). After two weeks the water was 0-0-0 and I went to my usual 20% per
week changes.

--
John Goulden
mostly guppies, goldies, swordtails, and bettas

"soup" wrote in message
.uk...

Have googled for aquarium cycling and there seems
to be 301,000 different opinions on how to do it.
A straw poll, how many believe in the chemical
approach and how many in hardy fish and does
anyone have a method involving black cats and
ouija boards ?.

As I understand it "cycling" is too get the level
of good bacteria up so they can "eat" fish waste
and convert it into nitrites then convert these
nitrites to nitrates.
--



I use no chemicals and no fish. Just a little liquid ammonia in place of
the ammonia produced by fish. Best method imo. Works great with no stress
to any fish at all. Once it is cycled I can stock it completely.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

soup wrote:
Have googled for aquarium cycling and there seems
to be 301,000 different opinions on how to do it.
A straw poll, how many believe in the chemical
approach and how many in hardy fish and does
anyone have a method involving black cats and
ouija boards ?.

As I understand it "cycling" is too get the level
of good bacteria up so they can "eat" fish waste
and convert it into nitrites then convert these
nitrites to nitrates.

Another method for planted tanks.
My LFS keeps cichlid babies and a few other fish in their plant tank
system. This means that the plants have small colonies of nitrifying
bacteria on their leaves. (Yep - plants support the bacteria like every
other solid surface in a tank.)

So, I completely plant my tank at the start. For me, that's usually
well over half of the substrate planted. Then add a super-light load of
fish. Between the plants themselves and the bacterial colonies on the
plants I don't usually see any ammonia or nitrite. In a couple of
weeks, if all tests well, add a couple more fish and let the bacteria
grow and adapt. If you keep adding slowly, even a new tank will never
"cycle."

I just did this with my 2 gallon betta tank. Even in only 2 gallons of
water, I've been able to establish an UGF without a bit of ammonia. And
a betta in 2 gallons of water isn't what I call a "light" fish load.

There is one risk - all the fish on the plant system you buy must be
healthy. The plants can carry ich and other diseases into your tank,
just like a new fish. Also, a snail dip will kill the nitrifying
bacteria too, so you must inspect the plants carefully and remove snails
by hand.

Oh - and if a black cat crosses your path on the way home from the fish
store, you must hold a session with a Ouija board that evening or it
won't work. ;-)

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__

Do you know anyone with a active tank? Borrow some used filter material,
near instant cycle
Bob
"soup" wrote in message
.uk...

Have googled for aquarium cycling and there seems
to be 301,000 different opinions on how to do it.
A straw poll, how many believe in the chemical
approach and how many in hardy fish and does
anyone have a method involving black cats and
ouija boards ?.

As I understand it "cycling" is too get the level
of good bacteria up so they can "eat" fish waste
and convert it into nitrites then convert these
nitrites to nitrates.
--
yours S

Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione

Originally Posted by soup

Have googled for aquarium cycling and there seems
to be 301,000 different opinions on how to do it.
A straw poll, how many believe in the chemical
approach and how many in hardy fish and does
anyone have a method involving black cats and
ouija boards ?.

As I understand it "cycling" is too get the level
of good bacteria up so they can "eat" fish waste
and convert it into nitrites then convert these
nitrites to nitrates.
--
yours S

Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione

I use Nutrafin Cycle, to add good bacteria to my tank. I bump the temperature up to 28 Celsius and add a touch off fish food. This kick starts the cycle process. I've found the advantages of a fishless cycle are. I don't get stuck with fish I don't really like e.g "hardy fish" and no matter how hardy they still suffer from stress during the cycling period. I've managed to cycle a 50g tank in 4 weeks using my method.

TheWizardHunter

Don't waste the money on the Nutrafin cycle and it will cycle in 3-4 weeks
;op

That stuff is just snake oil

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq