How do you know if your tank is cycling??

[debs01]

Just curious I've read lots of the stuff about cycling and doing regular checks, but how do you know for a fact when you tank is cycling properly??

What are the signs??

[Anthony]

put a fish in and see what it does

[debs01]

I have my fish in it and they are swimming beautifully, thank you

So if they are all good and well then the tank is cycling well??

(Blonde question huh?? :oops: )

[Caryl]

The term 'cycling' refers to the build up of essential bacteria, which break down wastes.

In a new aquarium, there are not enough of the bacteria to cope with the waste load and toxic ammonia can rise to dangerous levels. Eventually, the bacteria increase to cope with the ammonia, converting it to another, only slighly less toxic compound - Nitrite. This too will then rise to high levels until a second type of bacteria increases and converts it to the much less toxic Nitrate. This process can take several weeks. In the confines of an aquarium, there is not really a complete 'cycle', and most of the end product, Nitrate, is normally removed by water changes.

There are therefore certain things which should be done to minimise any stress or even fatalities during the cycling period:

Add only a few hardy fish at first and feed lightly to minimise wastes.

Test water regularly and perform water changes to reduce the levels of ammonia and nitrite if they become dangerously high. The bacteria are attached to surfaces, so removing water should not slow down the maturing process.

If possible, obtain some gravel, tank decor, plants or filter media from a mature tank. This will introduce some of the necessary bacteria and may reduce or even eliminate cycling time.

The aquarium is considered 'mature' when ammonia and nitrite have reduced to zero, and nitrates have begun to rise. At this point it will be necessary to begin a regular programme of water changes to keep the level of nitrates low (aim for less than 50 mg/l, less than 25 mg/l is better).

(Note: mg/l = milligrams per litre and is essentially the same as ppm = parts per million, for most purposes).

[debs01]

I only have a ph tester because as yet I have been unable to afford a complete testing kit from our LFS, and they would have to get one in for me at an additional cost, when the ph has been high or low I have always done a water change is that adequate enough in the mean time.

Oh and thank you caryl for you awesome response (as usual ) you have explained the process very well

[Caryl]

Copied from another site (The Tropical Tank) and a slow day at work today

[suphew]

If you don't have the test kits, just put 1 or 2 fish in to get the cycle going and wait for at least a month before you add more, and even then only slowly (couple of fish a week). Unless you can test you need to allow plently of time so you can be fairly sure things are going ok.

The tank will cycle it's just a question of how long it will take, so if you wait a month then take it slow you will be pretty safe.

[Caper]

I didn't have any test kits at first with my 10 gallon. But was doing regular water changes, so if you keep up with that then your fishy will keep being

Important not to add too many fish too soon!

[klaymann]

would recommend spending your money on the ammonia , nitrite test kits at least before spending money on fish that could die :-? ( if you have high ammonia .. fish can survive but gills damaged for life.... high nitrites .. get out the spade(porcelian bowl)(water changes for both readings)... do recommend the nitrate test kit .. but you can get around this by having a very deep area of gravel with no water movement thru or around it .. starts "anerobic bacteria" which break down nitrates to gas which escapes the tank ... plus put alot of plants in the tank and you should be good as gold 8)

hey debs you got a zippy too !! :lol:

[suphew]

You could see if your LFS will test your water for you, most do now and either free or only a couple of dollars.

The trouble with buying all those test kits is you only do two or three tests while the tank is starting up then never use them again unless you have a problem, which if you do your house keeping and water changes shouldn't happen. Plus the tank IS going to cycle, it has to, its just a matter of how long it takes. If you test you MIGHT be able to start adding more fish in a couple of weeks, if you dont test (and save yourself $100 in test kits) you just have to wait a month to be sure it has cycled.

Personally I would wait the extra few weeks and spend the $100 on fish instead of test kits that only get used 2-3 times.

[vimmer]

Hey,

I didn't want to start a new topic seeing as it fits with this thread - but I added a couple fish to my tank, on sunday, to start cycling. When should i roughly expect to see the ammonia spike?

[Caper]

How big is your tank? How long has it been running?

[suphew]

You should see the ammonia spike with-in a day or two, but it is very short and sometimes not very high, people often miss getting any high readings.

[vimmer]

thanks Suphew

i did some tests today and got

ammonia 0

nitrite 0.25ppm

nitrate 5.0ppm

so it's doing okay? Should i be seeing a reading for both nitrite and nitrate at the same time?

and Caper, tank has been going since Friday, but only with fish and plants since Sunday afternoon (50is hours ago). Tank has approx 75Lt water in it..sorta..

(69x33x37, minus plants and gravel, etc).

The fish seem active and happy, so far so good

[suphew]

Yeah those numbers look pretty normal, you should slowly see the nitrite drop and the nitrate go up. How many fish do you have in the tank? I assume you know you should only have 1 or 2 while it is cycling? Then slowly add a couple per week. This gives the bacteria a change to catch up with the load from the extra fish.