Not so sure, I like the term 'fish tank cycling' as it makes me think of a fish riding a bike. Anyway it is the single most important issue with regards setting up a successful fish tank.
Too many people think that all is needed is to fill a tank with water and put fish in and that is that. Indeed there is a program on TV I have watched called tanked where they do just that and don't even mention the fact that a new tank needs cycling.
The problem is that fish produce toxins (mostly ammonia) directly from their gills, from their waste and from uneaten food. So if you put a goldfish in a bowl or a lot of fish in a new tank and they die a few days later, this is why. In a river or a stream pollutants just get washed away in the current but in a closed environment like a tank or a bowl, the toxins build up and the fish die. This usually unfortunately puts new fishkeepers off the hobby.
So tank cycling can be frustrating but necessary. There are two main methods, if you have experience you can add a couple of small fish to a large tank while monitoring (and dealing with) the toxin levels until the tank can support the small amount of fish, then add a couple more and repeat the process. The advantages of doing this is that you will have fish in the tank during the cycling process, the downside is that it takes a lot longer to get the tank fully ready to support a full tank of fish. There is also the fact that despite your best efforts to manage the toxins, there will always be some to harm your fish.
The second preferable method is to do a fishless cycle which basically involves adding ammonia to a fishless tank and wait (about a month) for the substrate in your filter and elsewhere to build up (friendly bacteria) using something called the nitrogen cycle (actually the nitrate cycle) as the final part of the cycle nitrate to nitrogen is rarely employed. Instead nitrate is controlled through water changes.
The main downside of this method is that you have to sit and look at an empty tank for a month or so while the process completes.
The upsides are that the process is in actual fact much quicker with out fish as without fish to harm you can have the water temperature and ammonia level quite high without doing any harm. You can also add all your fish at once, although two thirds would be more sensible as it takes several months for a tank to fully mature.
Below I will include a 'cycling' article taken from the net that explains both methods for cycling a fish tank and below that we would welcome any comments or suggestions on this topic.
Cycling With Fish:
Set up your aquarium and filtration system. To start, you'll want your aquarium completely assembled and filled with everything you want in it, besides the fish.See our articles on setting up freshwater and marine aquariums for more information. Below is a brief checklist of things you'll want to do before getting started — this may not match all aquariums perfectly:
Introduce a small number of hardy fish to the tank.Your goal in this cycling process is to populate the tank with fish that produce waste but can survive the initial high levels of toxins long enough for the beneficial waste-processing bacteria to grow. Thus, you'll want to pick a variety that is known for being a good cycling fish and start with a small number. Later, once the bacteria have grown, you can slowly add more fish of different types. Below are just a few good choices for cycling fish:
Feed fish sparingly. When cycling an aquarium with your fish, it's very important not to overfeed them. Though different fish may have different dietary needs, a good rule of thumb is to give food once every other day. Only offer a moderate-sized meal — you don't want any extra food left over when the fish are done eating. This is done for two reasons:
Perform frequent water changes. While you're waiting for your tank to cycle, every few days, replace about 10-25%of the tank's water. As with the reduced feeding schedule described above, this is another way of ensuring that toxin levels don't get too high before the bacteria has a chance to grow. If you have a saltwater tank, don't forget to add a suitable amount of marine salt every time you change the water to keep the tank at a proper salinity.
Add additional fish gradually once toxin levels are near-zero. The cycling process typically takes about six to eight weeks.Once ammonia and nitrite levels are so low that they aren't showing up on your tests, you may add more fish. However, you'll want to do this gradually, introducing just one or two new new fish at once. Adding just a few fish at a time keeps the increased amount of ammonia and nitrites in the tank from each new addition well within the ability of the bacteria to control.
Assemble and prepare your tank. For this method, we'll start with a fully-assembled tank, minus the fish, just like in the method above. However, this time, we won't add the fish until the entire cycle is completed. Instead, we'll add biological waste manually as we monitor the water level and wait for the cycle to complete. This method requires a lot of patience, as it requires you to wait for the organic material you add to your tank to decay and start producing toxic waste products. However, it's often considered a more "humane" option as it doesn't expose fish to ammonia and nitrites like the method above does.
Add a sprinkling of fish flakes. To begin, drop just a few flakes of fish food into your tank — about as much as you'd use to feed your fish will do. Now, simply wait. Over the next few days, the flakes will begin to decay and release waste products (including ammonia) into the water. Alternatively you can buy ammonia from a chemist or a pet store.
Test your water for ammonia in a few days. Use a test kit (or bring a water sample to your local pet store) to test your water for ammonia levels. You want to have a level of at least three parts per million (ppm). If you don't have enough ammonia in your water, add more flakes and wait for them to decay before testing again.
Try to keep the ammonia level at about three ppm. Continue to test your water every other day for ammonia levels. As beneficial bacteria begins to grow in your aquarium, it will start to consume the ammonia, reducing the ammonia levels. Replenish them by adding fish flakes whenever the ammonia level falls below three ppm.
Start testing for nitrites, after a week.As the bacteria start consuming ammonia, they'll begin to produce nitrites, the intermediate type of chemical in the nitrate cycle (which is less toxic than ammonia but still harmful to fish). Start testing for nitrites after a week or so — again, you can use a commercial test kit or take water samples to a pet shop to do this.
Add fish gradually when ammonia and nitrite levels are near zero. After about six to eight weeks, the ammonia and nitrite levels should decrease to a level that's so low you can no longer detect them, while nitrate levels should plateau. At this point, it's safe to add your fish.[5]
Have live plants in the aquarium.Living plants (as opposed to fake plastic ones) typically speed up the nitrogen cycle, especially if they're introduced from a mature tank. Not only can plants carry beneficial bacteria (just like the substances above), but they also pull ammonia out of the water directly to use in a biological process called protein synthesis.
Beware of the risk of cross-contamination. One possible downside of using filter media or substrate from one tank to transfer beneficial bacteria to another is that it's also possible to unwittingly transfer otherorganisms. Many parasites, invertebrates, and assorted microorganisms can be transferred in this way, so be aware of this possibility in advance and never transfer material from a tank that's known to be contaminated with harmful organisms.
Add small amounts of salt to freshwater tanks.If you have a freshwater tank, adding a very small amount of salt can help your fish stay healthy when toxin levels are highest at the start of the cycling process. It does this by reducing the toxicity of nitrite, the intermediate chemical in the nitrate cycle. However, you'll want to use only 0.4 ounces per gallon of water at most — any more can be very stressful for freshwater fish.
Too many people think that all is needed is to fill a tank with water and put fish in and that is that. Indeed there is a program on TV I have watched called tanked where they do just that and don't even mention the fact that a new tank needs cycling.
The problem is that fish produce toxins (mostly ammonia) directly from their gills, from their waste and from uneaten food. So if you put a goldfish in a bowl or a lot of fish in a new tank and they die a few days later, this is why. In a river or a stream pollutants just get washed away in the current but in a closed environment like a tank or a bowl, the toxins build up and the fish die. This usually unfortunately puts new fishkeepers off the hobby.
So tank cycling can be frustrating but necessary. There are two main methods, if you have experience you can add a couple of small fish to a large tank while monitoring (and dealing with) the toxin levels until the tank can support the small amount of fish, then add a couple more and repeat the process. The advantages of doing this is that you will have fish in the tank during the cycling process, the downside is that it takes a lot longer to get the tank fully ready to support a full tank of fish. There is also the fact that despite your best efforts to manage the toxins, there will always be some to harm your fish.
The second preferable method is to do a fishless cycle which basically involves adding ammonia to a fishless tank and wait (about a month) for the substrate in your filter and elsewhere to build up (friendly bacteria) using something called the nitrogen cycle (actually the nitrate cycle) as the final part of the cycle nitrate to nitrogen is rarely employed. Instead nitrate is controlled through water changes.
The main downside of this method is that you have to sit and look at an empty tank for a month or so while the process completes.
The upsides are that the process is in actual fact much quicker with out fish as without fish to harm you can have the water temperature and ammonia level quite high without doing any harm. You can also add all your fish at once, although two thirds would be more sensible as it takes several months for a tank to fully mature.
Below I will include a 'cycling' article taken from the net that explains both methods for cycling a fish tank and below that we would welcome any comments or suggestions on this topic.
Cycling With Fish:
Set up your aquarium and filtration system. To start, you'll want your aquarium completely assembled and filled with everything you want in it, besides the fish.See our articles on setting up freshwater and marine aquariums for more information. Below is a brief checklist of things you'll want to do before getting started — this may not match all aquariums perfectly:
- Assemble the aquarium
- Add substrate
- Add water
- Add air stones, air pumps, etc.
- Add plants, rocks, etc.
- Add filtration system (and/or protein skimmer)
- Add heater
Introduce a small number of hardy fish to the tank.Your goal in this cycling process is to populate the tank with fish that produce waste but can survive the initial high levels of toxins long enough for the beneficial waste-processing bacteria to grow. Thus, you'll want to pick a variety that is known for being a good cycling fish and start with a small number. Later, once the bacteria have grown, you can slowly add more fish of different types. Below are just a few good choices for cycling fish:
- White Clouds
- Zebra Danios
- Cherry or Tiger Barbs
- Pseudotrophius Zebra
- Banded Gouramis
- X-ray Tetras
- Pupfish
- Most minnows
- Most guppies
Feed fish sparingly. When cycling an aquarium with your fish, it's very important not to overfeed them. Though different fish may have different dietary needs, a good rule of thumb is to give food once every other day. Only offer a moderate-sized meal — you don't want any extra food left over when the fish are done eating. This is done for two reasons:
- Fish who eat more produce more waste, which can cause the levels of toxins in the tank to rise before the bacteria have a chance to colonize the aquarium.
- Leftover food will eventually rot, producing toxins on its own.
Perform frequent water changes. While you're waiting for your tank to cycle, every few days, replace about 10-25%of the tank's water. As with the reduced feeding schedule described above, this is another way of ensuring that toxin levels don't get too high before the bacteria has a chance to grow. If you have a saltwater tank, don't forget to add a suitable amount of marine salt every time you change the water to keep the tank at a proper salinity.
- Don't use chlorinated water — this can kill the bacteria in the tank, forcing the cycle to start over. If using tap water, make sure to treat it with an appropriate dechlorinator or water conditioner before adding it to your aquarium. If using bottled water, make sure to buy distilled water, as "purified" or "drinking" water may have minerals added for taste that may be harmful to fish.
- Be ready to perform water changes much more frequently if you start to see signs of serious ammonia stress in your fish (more information below in the "Solving Common Problems" section.) However, try to avoid stressing the fish by exposing them to big changes in water chemistry or temperature.
- You will want to keep ammonia levels below 0.5 mg/L and nitrite below 1 mg/L throughout the cycling process (ideally, they should be less than half of these values.) If these chemicals start to approach unsafe levels, increase the frequency of your water changes.
- The cycling process is complete when both ammonia and nitrite levels drop so low that they are undetectable. For practical purposes, this is often referred to as "zero," though this isn't technically accurate.
- As an alternative, you can take water samples to the pet store where you bought your fish or aquarium. Most will offer cheap testing services (some even do it for free!)
Add additional fish gradually once toxin levels are near-zero. The cycling process typically takes about six to eight weeks.Once ammonia and nitrite levels are so low that they aren't showing up on your tests, you may add more fish. However, you'll want to do this gradually, introducing just one or two new new fish at once. Adding just a few fish at a time keeps the increased amount of ammonia and nitrites in the tank from each new addition well within the ability of the bacteria to control.
- After each addition of new fish, wait at least a week or so, then test the water once more. If ammonia and nitrite levels are still low, you may add your next few fish.
Assemble and prepare your tank. For this method, we'll start with a fully-assembled tank, minus the fish, just like in the method above. However, this time, we won't add the fish until the entire cycle is completed. Instead, we'll add biological waste manually as we monitor the water level and wait for the cycle to complete. This method requires a lot of patience, as it requires you to wait for the organic material you add to your tank to decay and start producing toxic waste products. However, it's often considered a more "humane" option as it doesn't expose fish to ammonia and nitrites like the method above does.
Add a sprinkling of fish flakes. To begin, drop just a few flakes of fish food into your tank — about as much as you'd use to feed your fish will do. Now, simply wait. Over the next few days, the flakes will begin to decay and release waste products (including ammonia) into the water. Alternatively you can buy ammonia from a chemist or a pet store.
Test your water for ammonia in a few days. Use a test kit (or bring a water sample to your local pet store) to test your water for ammonia levels. You want to have a level of at least three parts per million (ppm). If you don't have enough ammonia in your water, add more flakes and wait for them to decay before testing again.
Try to keep the ammonia level at about three ppm. Continue to test your water every other day for ammonia levels. As beneficial bacteria begins to grow in your aquarium, it will start to consume the ammonia, reducing the ammonia levels. Replenish them by adding fish flakes whenever the ammonia level falls below three ppm.
Start testing for nitrites, after a week.As the bacteria start consuming ammonia, they'll begin to produce nitrites, the intermediate type of chemical in the nitrate cycle (which is less toxic than ammonia but still harmful to fish). Start testing for nitrites after a week or so — again, you can use a commercial test kit or take water samples to a pet shop to do this.
- Once you detect nitrites, you'll know the cycle has started. At this point, you'll continue adding ammonia as you have before.
- You can detect this final phase of the cycle by either testing for nitrites (in which case you're looking for a sudden drop), nitrates (in which case you're looking for a sudden spike from a base level of zero), or both.
Add fish gradually when ammonia and nitrite levels are near zero. After about six to eight weeks, the ammonia and nitrite levels should decrease to a level that's so low you can no longer detect them, while nitrate levels should plateau. At this point, it's safe to add your fish.[5]
- However, as in the method above, you'll want to add your fish gradually. Don't add more than a few small fish at a time and wait at least a week or two before introducing your next batch of fish.
- Consider cleaning the substrate with a siphon hose before adding fish, particularly if you had to add a lot of food. Decaying food or plant matter can become a ticking time bomb. If it gets trapped in the gravel, the ammonia won't enter the water, but if something upsets it, it could release a fair amount of ammonia rather quickly.
Speeding Up the Cycling Process
Add filter media from a mature tank.Since cycling a tank can easily take up to six or eight weeks, aquarium owners have long been looking for ways to shorten this process. One proven way to do this is to introduce bacteria from a tank that's already been cycled to the new tank. Since you don't have to wait for the bacteria in your tank to start growing naturally, your tank should cycle quicker than it otherwise would. One great source of bacteria is a tank's filter — simply switch the filter media from the established tank to the new tank for a potential boost.- Try to use filter media from a tank that's a similar size and has a similar amount of fish. Mis-matching your filters (like, for instance, using a filter from a tank with just a few fish in it to cycle a tank with a greater number of fish) can leave you with greater loads of ammonia than the bacteria are able to process right away.
Have live plants in the aquarium.Living plants (as opposed to fake plastic ones) typically speed up the nitrogen cycle, especially if they're introduced from a mature tank. Not only can plants carry beneficial bacteria (just like the substances above), but they also pull ammonia out of the water directly to use in a biological process called protein synthesis.
- Fast-growing plant varieties (like, for instance, Vallisneria and Hygrophila) tend to absorb the most ammonia. Floating plants also generally work well.
Beware of the risk of cross-contamination. One possible downside of using filter media or substrate from one tank to transfer beneficial bacteria to another is that it's also possible to unwittingly transfer otherorganisms. Many parasites, invertebrates, and assorted microorganisms can be transferred in this way, so be aware of this possibility in advance and never transfer material from a tank that's known to be contaminated with harmful organisms.
- Pests that can be transferred this way include snails, harmful algae, and parasites like ich and velvet.
Add small amounts of salt to freshwater tanks.If you have a freshwater tank, adding a very small amount of salt can help your fish stay healthy when toxin levels are highest at the start of the cycling process. It does this by reducing the toxicity of nitrite, the intermediate chemical in the nitrate cycle. However, you'll want to use only 0.4 ounces per gallon of water at most — any more can be very stressful for freshwater fish.
- Be sure to use certified aquarium salt — table salt isn't formulated for your tank and may hurt your fish.
Solving Common Problems
Treat ammonia stress during cycling with frequent water changes.Ammonia stress (the dangerous symptoms that fish get when ammonia levels get too high) is always a risk during the cycling process. If they aren't dealt with quickly, these symptoms can eventually become deadly for the fish. If you see the symptoms below, lower the ammonia levels by changing the water more frequently and changing a greater portion of the water each time:- Lethargy/lack of movement (even when food is added)
- Refusing to leave the bottom of the tank
- Gasping for air at the surface of the water
- Inflamed eyes, gills, and/or anus.
- Some people believe that ammonia removers can be harmful in the long-run. This may be due to a misunderstanding of the process of detoxifying. In a tank, toxic ammonia (gas NH3) is in reversible equilibrium with not-so-toxic ionized ammonia (NH4+). Most of the detoxifier products convert toxic ammonia into the form that isn't so harmful to fish. However, after 24 to 48 hours, they will release the ammonia. That's why these products should be used:
- as long as the useful bacteria is not yet established AND,
- from time to time make a partial water change (as per manufacturers' instructions) to remove some of the ammonia accumulated[8] AND
- even if is not specified, dose the detoxifier for the whole tank, not just for the new added (replaced) water, as the already bonded ammonia in the tank will be released soon (after 24-48 hours from previous dose).
- Changing 50% of the water (or more) generally prolongs the time required to cycle the tank (or even stop the cycle) just because the useful bacteria will be temporary inhibited and will need time to adapt to new pH. For this reason, some recommend a pH change of less than 0.2-0.3 per day. Suppose you have 7.8 pH in tank, replacing 25% with water of pH=7 will bring the final pH to 7.6.
- Useful bacteria transforms only ionized (non-toxic) form of ammonia, so they benefit from these products also.
- In addition, modern goldfish are somewhat susceptible to diseases that can easily spread through the entire aquarium.
- You won't want to cycle any aquarium with so-called "feeder" goldfish, which are poorly-cared for by breeders and sellers and are extra-susceptible to disease.