New tank. What is a cycle?

I've gotten back into the aquarium thing and to tell you the truth I've
never thought nothing of the cycle. I'm not sure that it is as big a deal
as the LFS said it was. As a matter of fact another store told me not to
make a big deal about it. Anyhoo....... I have been putting my cichlids in
for about a week now and all have survived. What damage does a cycle do
and what do I need to look for. Should I buy a test kit other than the ph
kit I have?

Thanks to all who respond.

"Telemundo" wrote in message
...
I've gotten back into the aquarium thing and to tell you the truth I've
never thought nothing of the cycle. I'm not sure that it is as big a deal
as the LFS said it was. As a matter of fact another store told me not to
make a big deal about it. Anyhoo....... I have been putting my cichlids
in
for about a week now and all have survived. What damage does a cycle do
and what do I need to look for. Should I buy a test kit other than the ph
kit I have?

Thanks to all who respond.



The "cycle" is all-important. It is the natural process of ammonia (fish
waste) turning into useable nitrogen. Understanding the nitrogen cycle is
centrally necessary to not killing fish, outside pure luck.
read: http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html#cycle

hth
billy

"Telemundo" wrote in message
...
I've gotten back into the aquarium thing and to tell you the truth
I've
never thought nothing of the cycle. I'm not sure that it is as big a
deal
as the LFS said it was. As a matter of fact another store told me not
to
make a big deal about it. Anyhoo....... I have been putting my
cichlids in
for about a week now and all have survived. What damage does a cycle
do
and what do I need to look for. Should I buy a test kit other than
the ph
kit I have?

Thanks to all who respond.



Buy some Amquel and add salt. Do some water changes every couple days.
And buy an Ammonia Alert (Seachem).

"Telemundo" wrote in message
...
I've gotten back into the aquarium thing and to tell you the truth I've
never thought nothing of the cycle. I'm not sure that it is as big a deal
as the LFS said it was. As a matter of fact another store told me not to
make a big deal about it. Anyhoo....... I have been putting my cichlids
in
for about a week now and all have survived. What damage does a cycle do
and what do I need to look for. Should I buy a test kit other than the ph
kit I have?

Thanks to all who respond.

Your Ammonia levels ( and soon your Nitrite levels) will be rising nicely at
this point to where things are getting nice and toxic for your fish. Your
LFS was right, this is a "big deal" and if you don't manage it properly
you'll have a tank full of dead fish. At one week your tank is only just
starting out on its journey through the cycle - start monitoring Ammonia &
Nitrite now to see where you are at & take appropriate action (water
changes) to manage the levels until your filter(s) kick in.

I.

Lesson to be learned...

Trust the LFS who made a big deal about the "cycling" thing. He wants you to
succeed!
Go to the other LFS and tell him to blow himself.



"Telemundo" wrote in message
...
I've gotten back into the aquarium thing and to tell you the truth I've
never thought nothing of the cycle. I'm not sure that it is as big a deal
as the LFS said it was. As a matter of fact another store told me not to
make a big deal about it. Anyhoo....... I have been putting my cichlids
in
for about a week now and all have survived. What damage does a cycle do
and what do I need to look for. Should I buy a test kit other than the ph
kit I have?

Thanks to all who respond.

"Telemundo" wrote in message ...
I've gotten back into the aquarium thing and to tell you the truth I've
never thought nothing of the cycle. I'm not sure that it is as big a deal
as the LFS said it was. As a matter of fact another store told me not to
make a big deal about it. Anyhoo....... I have been putting my cichlids in
for about a week now and all have survived. What damage does a cycle do
and what do I need to look for. Should I buy a test kit other than the ph
kit I have?

Thanks to all who respond.



visit thekrib http://faq.thekrib.com/

starting with: http://faq.thekrib.com/begin.html

and:
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html (cycling)
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-hardware.html#essentials (test kits)

for references to your questions. these should help you a bit.

best of luck.

tedd.

"SG" wrote in message
...
In article , Racf wrote:

Buy some Amquel and add salt. Do some water changes every couple
days.
And buy an Ammonia Alert (Seachem).

Buy this, buy that. This is not good advice. There is no explanation
here of what any of this does, and how it relates to keeping fish.


Actually, its the very best advice under the circumstances....There are
plenty of other posts....take a pill....

As I said, many thanks to all who replied one thing I have done is I kept
the old filters off of my old tank. Putting them in the power heads, would
this not add the bacteria needed to start me out right. They were still
letting water pass through but they are covered in bacteria.
"Tedd" wrote in message
...

"Telemundo" wrote in message
...
I've gotten back into the aquarium thing and to tell you the truth I've
never thought nothing of the cycle. I'm not sure that it is as big a
deal
as the LFS said it was. As a matter of fact another store told me not
to
make a big deal about it. Anyhoo....... I have been putting my cichlids
in
for about a week now and all have survived. What damage does a cycle
do
and what do I need to look for. Should I buy a test kit other than the
ph
kit I have?

Thanks to all who respond.



visit thekrib http://faq.thekrib.com/

starting with: http://faq.thekrib.com/begin.html

and:
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html (cycling)
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-hardware.html#essentials (test kits)

for references to your questions. these should help you a bit.

best of luck.

tedd.

I suspect that by moving the old filters over on the power heads that you
created an instant cycle. see ramblings below:

"Telemundo" wrote in message
...
As I said, many thanks to all who replied one thing I have done is I kept
the old filters off of my old tank. Putting them in the power heads,
would
this not add the bacteria needed to start me out right. They were still
letting water pass through but they are covered in bacteria.
"Tedd" wrote in message
...


I just moved a bunch of guppies (a dozen adults and more tiny fry than I can
count hiding in the Java moss) out of a 10 gallon into a old 29 gallon to
free up the 10 gallon tank from angel fry and give the guppies room. (FREE
GUPPIES ANYONE? Java Moss and Platies too ;-))

I had emptied the 29 gallon into a new 50 a month ago and just moved the HOT
filter from the 29 onto the new tank along with the new big filter (old sand
from the 29 on top of the Red Sea Flora Base). No added fish except for the
steadily increasing fry. Not a bobble in the ammonia and nitrite levels.
It has been running every since. Of course with the light from the 29
gallon (as well as the new tanks light) and sloppy fertilizer application I
ended up with a really impressive black brush algae bloom ;-)

Yesterday, I cleaned and rinsed the old 29 gallon, put in a layer of
Fluorite, netted all the fish in the 10 gallon and dropped them into a 5
gallon bucket. I then just picked up the 1/4 full 10 gallon tank and dumped
it into the 29 gallon tank, moved the whisper from the 10 gallon tank and
took the 29s old filter off the 50 put it on the 29 gallon. I then just
dumped all the fish into the 29 gallon. Every one is happy as can be
today. Parameters normal. Of course the tank looks like hell, plants
floating everywhere. Actually looks like my tanks before I traded my big
common (bulldozer) pleco in on some rubber nosed plecos. Again, I doubt
that I will see any increase in ammonia or nitrite.

Tonight, I'll clean the 10 gallon, add a new heater and fill the tank. When
my angel wigglers, which are now in a 1 gallon jug become free swimmers,
I'll move the whisper 10 filter back onto the tank from the 29 gallon tank
(with a sponge over the filter intake) and add the angel fry --- instant
bare bottom fry tank. instant cycle.

That leaves me with only one problem.... what to do with the middle sized
non-breeding black angels hiding under the Java moss. The breeding pair
are really beating them up if they come out into the open. I suppose I
could use them for population control in my wife's platy or the grand kids
guppy tanks .-)

Cycling refers to the process of establishing all the right bacteria in the
tank to deal with the ammonia from the fish waste and the nitrite the
bacteria breaking down the ammonia produce. They develop in stages. Moving
old filters, and old sand and or gravel simply insert established colonies.
So long as the fish load isn't increased too fast you don't have the
problems normally seem when cycling a new tank from scratch.

It should be noted that even in an established tank the levels of bacteria
are in balance with the fish load, a big jump in fish load can cause ammonia
and nitrite spikes before the tanks bacteria population adjusts to the new
load. Use of some medications, washing filters in tap water and that sort
of thing can crash the bacteria population and cause a tank to cycle too.

I started out with the old 29 gallon (a garage sale tank-- looks like a
K-mart special). No sooner than it was cycled and doing well with a few
platies -- my wife and I treated ourselves to a 55 for Christmas. I set the
55 up using part of the gravel and filter pads (they were doubled up) from
the 29 gallon tank. Every thing was fine. Then, overnight everyone,
including the grandkids showed up with fish for Christmas and the fish load
tripled. The stress and ammonia/nitrite spikes wiped out my wife's school
of cardinals that were doing fine along with half the angels the grandkids
had brought Nana.

On the positive side... the trauma of having their fish die has resulted in
people only buying fish for Nana when Bob says it is okay and only at the
local EXPENSIVE and trustworthy LFS.

Enjoy... I've run out tank space in 8 months and am giving platies, guppies
and now it looks like angels to anyone who will take them ;-)

Bob

Telemundo, yes I had a name change. Okay, went to wally world tonight and
purchased cheap ammonia test kit. Shows to be stressed. What now water
change? Any chemicals need to be in there?
"Telemundo" wrote in message
...
I've gotten back into the aquarium thing and to tell you the truth I've
never thought nothing of the cycle. I'm not sure that it is as big a deal
as the LFS said it was. As a matter of fact another store told me not to
make a big deal about it. Anyhoo....... I have been putting my cichlids
in
for about a week now and all have survived. What damage does a cycle do
and what do I need to look for. Should I buy a test kit other than the ph
kit I have?

Thanks to all who respond.