Nitrogen cycle - a newbies friendly guide.

I remember when I first started that I got a tiny bit confused by the nitrogen cycle post that I read here, so I decided to create a newbie friendly guide that breaks it down really simply. Not sure where to put this on the forum. Hope it helps someone!

I'll just do a full run down here! Ready for a novel?

There are three types of "Chemicals" if you will, That show up in your tank.

Ammonia - This is produced after anything decays in your tank. Like fish poop, plants, fish food.

Nitrites - These are produced as a result of the good bacteria eating Ammonia.

Nitrates - And these are produced after another bacteria eats the Nitrites.

So The process of cycling is important cause your tank needs time to grow both kinds of bacteria. One bacteria to eat Ammonia, and one to eat Nitrites. The only thing that I've found that does this is TIME, and PATIENCE.

So we get our tank set up. Sand or gravel is totally fine. Add in plants and what not now, cause once we start cycling its important not to disturb the sand. You can add in a declorinator. I would recommend "Prime" by Seacham. You only need to add the Prime one time. at the beginning of the cycling process. Let the tank sit for 24 hours. Now we add in some ammonia. Enough to get your readings to 2ppm. Pure ammonia is best! But if not drop in some fish food and let it start to decay!

The next step is to WAIT. Wait about a week or two, then start testing every couple days. You'll see that your ammonia will go to 0ppm and you'll start to see Nitrites! This is a good thing! It means we are on the right track. Ok, Now we have to wait for the second bacteria to grow, but we don't want to first bacteria to starve to death. So add in a little more ammonia to feed that bacteria, while the second batch grows.

Then in another week or two you'll see that you have 0 Nitrites. Now test for Nitrates! The final test results should be Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrites 0ppm, Nitrates 10-20ppm. Now you have both types of bacteria that you need. The way that we keep Nitrates under control is Weekly water changes, Gravel Vacums. Everything is coming into place, Your ready to get fish!

The maintenance that you'll have to do. Is take out a little water every week. Say 25%, then add in some more with a declorinator. Again, I recommend the use of "Prime" made by Seachem. I've found that this one is one of the best on the market. Your ready to rock!

**Remember when adding fish, to only do 3 at a time, That way you do not Overwhelm the good bacteria. Put in 3 fish, wait a week or two, and add three more. This will make for happy and safe fish!

By following these steps we won't kill any fish and we will have out very own Ecosystem in a tank! It's pretty cool

 

I belive the amount of fish you add is dependednt on size, biload and the such.

 

You are not the first nor will you be the last new fish-keeper who feels that way. At least there are guidelines out there to help the beginner because back when I started there weren’t any that I know of. The internet, books and magazine articles on this subject are too many to count and they all are a bit over the beginners head when they are first starting out if they aren’t a chemist or biology major.

One of the biggest pit falls in our hobby of fish-keeping is the ignorance of the nitrogen cycle by beginners. I am not saying beginners are stupid because they are not, but rather un-educated in the importance of the nitrogen cycle in keeping fish. Not getting a tank properly cycled before adding fish to it has cost more fish their lives than any other single thing beginners do while keeping fish. It tops over feeding and overstocking because it happens first and I would personally put proper acclimation in second place.

Getting a tank properly cycled is definitely the single most important thing we can do for our fish before we even get them. A well cycled tank will give your fish the best chance at a full, happy and healthy life while in your care. There is absolutely nothing else you can do while keeping fish that effects there life more than the getting a tank properly cycled.

Not only is a well cycled tank the safest environment we can provide our fish but it is also much easier maintain. A properly cycled tank isn’t going to require as many water changes to keep the water pristine because it does some of the cleaning for us.

Understanding the nitrogen cycle can be a bit over whelming to the beginner but once they understand that fish produce ammonia and it must be removed from the tank because it is toxic to them, they are off to a good start. Ammonia can be removed from a tank in several ways and the nitrogen cycle is the easiest and cheapest. We can do 100% daily water changes to remove ammonia (too much work), we can add chemicals to remove ammonia (costly) or we can get a tank cycled (by far the easiest, cheapest and safest).

I don’t know of a single chain store, local fish store or manufacture that promotes the nitrogen cycle over a sale of equipment and fish. Basically they don’t care if you loose fish because if you do you will return for more so they are not going to stop you from buying fish along with the new tank you’re picking up because they are afraid you will think it is to difficult or too much trouble and not purchase the tank to start with.

The simple nuts and bolts of the nitrogen cycle are as you say the fish produce waste in a tank with their normal bodily functions and we produce waste in the tank by feeding the fish. This waste produces ammonia by decaying which has to be removed by ether nature or us somehow. For nature to do it two types of bacteria must exist in the filter, one to convert ammonia to nitrites and another to convert nitrites to nitrates and it takes time for them to grow.

Once the bacteria have colonized the filter and doing their job we must remove the nitrates by either doing water changes or having enough live plants in the tank so that nature can remove. Nature takes time to get this all going because normally everything has to start from scratch if a bacteria booster isn’t used so cycling a tank isn’t done over night normally.

To know if nature and the fish-keeper are both doing their job a test kit is required. There are simple dip strips on the market which seem to make things simple but normally end up being costly in more ways than purchase price because they can give us a false sense of things are ok in my tank. A liquid test kit is a bit more costly to purchase but a lot less costly to use in the long run because they last longer and are more accurate. As long as you are not color blind most test kits are simple to use and tell us what is needed by the tank maintenance wise.

You provided a very good summarization Samurail Jack 77 and I truly hope some of the beginners find it useful. I might suggest you read it over again and make an edit or two in grammar (no I am not an English Teacher) but you covered things pretty well.

 

Nice write-up.

Personally, I agree with everything bowcrazy has said. There are just too many of the sort out there that it becomes more intimidating to the beginner than it was when there wasn't enough information out there!

The internet, books and magazine articles on this subject are too many to count and they all are a bit over the beginners head when they are first starting out if they aren’t a chemist or biology major.

The issue here is people read or see ammonia (NH3), Nitite (NO2)... etc etc. These words fall into the misconception that because the reader does not understand these words, they assume it to be less important than it actually is. This, as well as someone buying fish the same day as buying the tank (beginner set-up sales), is caused by the misconception that keeping fish is a simple job. Once set-up, that is where it ends, and sadly costs the lives of many, many fish out there.

One of the biggest pit falls in our hobby of fish-keeping is the ignorance of the nitrogen cycle by beginners. I am not saying beginners are stupid because they are not, but rather un-educated in the importance of the nitrogen cycle in keeping fish.

I disagree. It's not one of... it IS the biggest pit fall.

Not getting a tank properly cycled before adding fish to it has cost more fish their lives than any other single thing beginners do while keeping fish. It tops over feeding and overstocking because it happens first and I would personally put proper acclimation in second place.

Acclimation, sadly, is another one. The floating bag is one of my most hated practises. This is also the fault of chain stores providing such poor information.

I don’t know of a single chain store, local fish store or manufacture that promotes the nitrogen cycle over a sale of equipment and fish. Basically they don’t care if you loose fish because if you do you will return for more so they are not going to stop you from buying fish along with the new tank you’re picking up because they are afraid you will think it is to difficult or too much trouble and not purchase the tank to start with.

Sadly, between myself, my dad and my uncle, spanning over about 45 years, not one chain store has ever promoted the nitrogen cycle. I got very worked up when an employee at one store took it personally when I told him I won't be buying fish with the tank I had just bought.

 

Very nice write up.

I have moved this thread from the Beginners Forum to the Aquarium Water/Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle Forum.

 

Great job! Really nice write up Samurai!

 

Thx everyone. My goal with this was to make it as simple as possible in hopes someone could take 30 seconds to read it and then start making the right choices in saving fishies lives!