Cycling??? please explain

[dylanling22]

So i am still extremely new to this, and was reading around and heard a lot of people discussing cycling and how its important. I started a 10 gal tank without cycling (consciously at least)and the fish seem to be doing fine they've been fine for the past 2 months without any fin damage or death or anything like that. I just recently acquired a 30 gal that I've refurbished (or 40 but i think that might be irrelevant here) and was thinking that i might need to cycle it before i get the fish into it this time.
Can someone please explain what cycling is in noob terms, why its necessary and how to cycle a tank??...also should i cycle my 10 gal? I've seen that its possible to do it with fish in tank or since the fish are doing fine should i just let that tank be and only focus on the new one??

 

[Mebbid]

Cycling is a building up of beneficial bacteria. The first group of bacteria converts ammonia to nitrite and the second group converts nitrites to.nitrates.

Ammonia is produced through fish waste and leftover food. It's extremely toxic and needs to be kept under 0.5ppm. It can cause ammonia burns to the gills and a lot of other damage as well.

Nitrite is also highly toxic and needs to be kept under 0.5ppm.

Lastly nitrate is less toxic and needs to be kept under 40ppm. Lower nitrate levels are directly related to effectiveness of the immune system. With ultra low nitrates a fish can fight off many infections preventing death.

If you get a reading above the recommended levels then just do a 50% water change to rectify. Cycling generally takes about 2 months and if you have 0ppm ammonia along with 0ppm nitrite then your tank is considered cycled.

 

[BBradbury]

Cycling a Tank With Fish

Hello dyl...

Here are the basics: You set up the tank and fill it with treated tap water. I use Seachem's "Safe". Get some floating Hornwort plants from the pet store and drop some individual stems into the tank. Floating plants help keep toxins to a minimum. Turn everything on and run the tank for a couple of days. Then, it's back to the store for some hardy fish 3 or 4 small ones for every 10 gallons of tank water. You need hardy fish like, Tiger Barbs, Rosy Barbs, White Clouds, Rasboras or Zebra Danios if you like egglaying fish. If you prefer fish that give birth to live young, then Swordtails, Guppies or Platys will work as well. You'll also need a water testing kit. API has a good one. You'll need it to test for traces of ammonia and nitrite in the tank water.

When the fish are in, you can start testing for traces of the above toxins. You can feed the fish a little bit every day or two. The combination of the fishes' waste and oxygen from the surrounding air, starts the "nitrogen" cycle.

Every day, you test the water. When you have a positive test for either, you'll have to remove 25 percent of the tank water and replace it with pure, treated tap water. Don't change more water, though. You're also growing the microscopic bugs that use the ammonia and nitrite for food. If you remove too much water, you starve the bugs and they won't reproduce.

Just test and remove water if you need to. In a month or so, you'll find you've had several daily tests with no traces of the two toxins. At this point, the tank is cycled.

From this point on, you remove and replace half the tank water every week to maintain safe water conditions for the fish and plants.

Have fun!

B