Originally Posted by aquariumnewbie

Hi guys, as I've been researching more on how to ''Cycle'' a tank, some questions have appeared in my mind. So hereby, I'll be seeking your kind help to fill answers to my questions. Here goes,

1) When I get a new tank, I wash it clean and fill it up with water. To kick start ammonia, can i add the dry fish pellets?

A, Yes, any fish food will produce ammonia when it rots.

2) What are the important equipments that I should put in the tank? (eg. Air pump, Filters? Gravels? or perhaps can you introduce me to what type of filters are good & what you think I should need to add?)

A, To cycle the tank you will need a filter, heater, air pump and stone and gravel.

3) When should I start to check for ammonia to be present in the water? (eg. 1 day after the dry fish pellets are added in? or 2days? or 3day?)

A, You will start to see ammonia around day 3-6. The fish food needs time to decay.

4) After I've detected ammonia, what should I do? Continue to wait and perhaps check for the Nitrite? Should I add more fish pellets?

A, The fish food should be added ( same amount ) every day until you get a reading for ammonia of 4-5ppm, at this point you should start to see nitrites. Once you start to see nitrites, add the fish food once every 3-4 days. No point in checking the ammonia at this point, but start checking the nitrite levels every 2nd day, Your nitrites will keep going up, then start to come down, when you see they have started to come down stop adding the food.

5) Lets say I've detected Nitrite, should more fish pellets be added in? Or just let it be, and probably wait for Nitrate to be present?

A, See reply to 4)

6) Do I need to do any water changes before the tank is cycled?

A, Do not do any water changes during the cycle process as a water change will remove the food that the bacteria need.

7) So if I've detected Nitrate, I'll have to check whether Ammonia and Nitrite are at 0 for both so then I'll be able to say that the tank is cycled right?

A, Yes, its party time! Clean the gravel ( it will need it after all that fish food! ). And do a water change to get the nitrates down to less than 10.

8) How often do I need to test the water? (eg. Initially, I'll just have to test for Ammonia, then after that, Nitrite, then after that, Nitrate & Ammonia & Nitrite. is that somehow the right method to test the water?)

A, Think it has been covered by the other answers.

Sorry for the amount of question. All your help is deeply appreciated.

Originally Posted by aquariumnewbie

Well, for tank size, I don't really know about it yet. but a estimated caculation, I'm able to get about 80g or more. Thats about the size I'm intending to get.