My brand new fish tank?

Question

How do I do this "cycling" that everyone is telling me about?

i already have a filter and heater...

Answer 1

Cycling a new fish tank is allowing the water to condition, and the beneficial bacteria to establish themselves.

There are three parts to the cycling process:
-First, the ammonia levels increase. This is mainly from fish urine, and food particles breaking down.
-Second, as the ammonia breaks down, it will turn to Nitrite, and those levels will increase.
-Third, as the Nitrate breaks down, it will turn to Nitrate, and those levels will increase.

Once both the Ammonia and Nitrite levels are down to normal and the Nitrate levels are at a reasonable level, then the cycle is complete. This will usually take about 6 weeks.

The way to properly cycle the aquarium is to only add a couple of "starter" fish when you first set up your tank. Allow the newly added water to sit in the tank for 3 days, then add two fish. Allow the cycle to complete as explained above, then you may add more fish. Don't ever add too many at a time, or overcrowd your fishtank.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

I have fish and I don't know. This is great. I believe it means that you need to fill the fish tank and have it completely setup with the filter and heater running just like if you had fish in it. Run that for awhile so the cycling through the filter and all the new parts. I think.

Answer 3

OMG cycling is VERY important

I would reccomend fishless, as it is faster (2 weeks then all fish load) and you don't expose fish to toxic ammonia and nitrite.

You see, when fish eat, they produce waste. As this waste breaks down, it becomes ammonia, then a bacteria, which you establish during cycling turns it into nitrite, as long as there is enough filtration in the tank. Then nitrite, still toxic but not as much, is converted into nitrate. You then remove this by water changes and plants. Ammo and nitrIte should always be 0. NitrAte should be under 40. You will need a good test kit, the aquarium pharm master is good, just don't try to change pH.

You can learn how to do a fishless cycle here http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861&hl=
It's also a great place for info. After that, try to stock with the majority of you fishload (around 1 in per gallon of slim bodied under 4" fish) or else bacteria will die. If you do a cruel unnecessary regular FISH cycle, you can't do this.

Answer 4

Cycling is before you put thye fish in, you'll need to set the tank up with water and live bacteria which you can get at a fish store, let the bacteria cycle threw the filter for a least two days along with the stress Zyme and water conditioner, after it's safe to add your fish with out them dying on you, Hope that helps

Answer 5

Audrey's answer is the best so far, however, you can either cycle fishLESSly or cycle with fish. The most humane was is to cycle fishlessly.

You will need ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate tester kits at this point. Otherwise, plan on taking many trips to the pet store to have them test your water.

To cycle WITHOUT FISH, take your tank. Add all the necessary parts, and fill it. Make sure it doesn't leak. Now you have several options at this point. You can go to your grocery store and get PURE ammonia. Add the ammonia to the tank until your tester reads a peak of about 4ppm. Test daily til it's down to about 1ppm. Add more ammonia until it peaks at about 4 again. Do this one more time. At that point, your nitrItes should start spiking. Let nature take its course, until your nitrItes disappear and you start showing nitrAtes.

You can do the same thing using those plain ol' shrimp that you eat. Take one and place it in your tank at the beginning of the week. Three days later, add another. By the next week, take out that first shrimp, and add another. Keep repeating until you don't see anymore ammonia, and your nitrites start spiking. You should have no more than two shrimp in the tank at one time.

To cycle WITH FISH, you set up your tank as before. Let it run for a day just to settle out the tank. Go to your petstore and pick a couple of HARDY fish. The best fish I've found so far a zebra danios. I've had mine live through two different plagues, and I've read elsewhere that they are among the most hardy fish you can get. You should only pick two or three to start. Go home, acclimate the fish to the water (float the bags in the water to get them used to your current tank's temp), release them. Now, you will need to check daily on your ammonia levels. You may not see anything the first couple of days, but it will spike. Remember that any ammonia is harmful to the fish, you will need a product like AmQuel Plus or AmmoLock to keep the ammonia at bay.

If you can find it at a petstore near you, I highly recommend you add BioSpira to your tank. It is the ONLY product that has live cultures of the bacteria you need to start your cycle properly.

Good luck!

Answer 6

I'm guessing that what you mean by "cycling" is changing the water periodically. I've had tanks for over 20 years and about every 6-8 weeks you can siphon out about one-third of your water (can buy siphon anywhere that sells fish supplies) and clean the debris out of your gravel at the same time. Depending on the number of fish you have warrants how often you change the water. I have gone as long as six months without doing this, but I do change my filters once a month.

Answer 7

When you cycle the water, what you are doing is taking half the water out and putting in new water to replace what you had in there. It's so that there will still be fresh water but the fish won't be as stressed because their "natural" water will be mixed in.

It's hard to explain so I hope you understood what I wrote

Answer 8

Cycling is when you put the front wheel of your..... No wait....

It's getting the bacteria that break down ammonia in your tank establish before you out a bunch of fish in the tank. (And have them due to ammonia poisoning.) See links

Answer 9

Umm im not really sure what "cycling" is but u might wanna put a filter in it

Answer 10

jsut set up your tank the way you like it , with all the correct meds for the water, let it "cycle " for about a week, (let all the water filet through).