MiniMeg

Now what happens if you don't do this cycle? No one ever mentioned this when I bought my tank and equipment...or fish...and it wasn't on any of the begining aquarium sites I went to...

MiniMeg

I just got my mollies yesterday, had my tank set up for a week before, how often should the water be changed? and should it be changed all at once? a little each day?

Oh and what is the prefered temp for mollies because I've seen a great range they seem fine around 73-75 degrees F.

Any advice would be much appreciated!!

Lucy

Do you have fish in your tank? It would be helpful if you would fill in your aquarium info.
Go to the my settings drop down menu at the top left then edit aquarium info.

If you have fish in your tank will go through the cycle. How you handle it could depend on whether your fish make it through with out illness or death.

In order to help you further we would need to know how many and what kind of fish.

mr. Clown Loach

average temp should be 75-83 and when you change water about i'd say bi-weekly to every other week it should be all at once

Lucy

Hi Meg, welcome to Fish Lore
I answered in your other post, but didn't know if you had fish.
It would be a good idea to read this: nitrogen cycle

Here's a basic explanation of the nitrogen cycle:
First your ammonia (from fish waste and left over food) will rise.
In a few weeks bacteria will start to develop and you'll see the nitrite levels rise and the ammonia levels start to drop.
After a few more weeks a different kind of bacteria begins to develop and you'll see the nitrate levels rise and the nitrite levels drop.
Ammonia and nitrites are toxic to your fish.
So until your cycle is complete, you need to keep the levels down with daily water changes.
Using prime or Stress Coat+ as your water conditioner will detox the ammonia for 24 hrs between water changes.
When you having readings of 0 on both ammonia and nitrites with some nitrates showing, your cycle is done.

I'm going to merge your threads, it'll be easier for you and the other members to keep suggestions and advice about your cycle in one place.

MaddieLynn

mr. Clown Loach, you should never change all of your water.

tom28

well id say you should start off by getting a test kit to make sure that all your levels are ok and that your tank has cycled if you only had it up for a week. sorry i dont know where the links/ how to put them in about cycling (its basically when your filter media has started to allow growth of the bacteria that break the nasties down) if the levels for ammonia and nitrite are too high your new pets could die pretty quickly..i learned that the hard way. also how many fish did you get? if you start off and get to many fish at once your tank can do something called going into mini cycles and it may take a while for the bacterial load to catch up on how many fish you put in...for a 10 gal i wouldnt be putting more than 2 in at a time. also id get a "vacume" as some call it or a siphon....basically a tube with a enlarged end that you can dig into the gravel and get out all the waste, you can pick it up at any pet store...but some may argue that a 10 gal is pretty little and you may not need one ( i think its a good thing to have). after that id keep an eye on your levels to make sure that your tank is ok and that it has the backeria in there breaking down the ammonia and nitrites (you want both to be at 0) nitrates should be a bit higher. If you have any ammonia or nitrites you should be doing 50% waterchanges until they get to 0 (if you dont have a water conditioner like "prime" youll need to get one, it binds to the chlorine to make sure that the fish wont die becuase of it.) if your levels are at 0 then id only do a 20% water change every week (checking levels to see if everything is still ok), depending on how many fish you have in your set up you may be able to get away with bi-weekely. I dont quite agree with mr clown loach about the all at once but then again if im wrong im sure someone will correct me. if i gave you too much info there sorry but thought it would be better to give more since you only have 2 posts and i figure just got into fish keeping. have fun with it.

tom

MiniMeg

so how much water should be changed daily then?

tom28

you beat me to it lucy

tom28

you shouldnt be changing it everyday unless your levels are not at 0 but then id say 50% until they are at 0

MiniMeg

Thank you all!

Lucy

You added some good info I left out.

Your welcome, good luck with your tank. We'd love to see pics so post some soon. You can post them here:
Members Fish Tanks

MiniMeg

Maybe if I find my camera...haha

agabr123

remember you don't want ALL of your levels at zero, just the ammonia and nitrIte, you should have some nitrAte reading because that means that enough bacteria has colonized and you are done with your cycle.