Cycling a tank

[Ebennett]

Sorry guys I know theirs quite a few posts already about this but what is cycling a tank? At the lfs I saw a product called "QuickStart" and products claiming that they allow the tank to cycle what do these products do?

 

[Ellebogen]

Cycling a tank is when you add ammonia to a tank (sometimes with fish in it, but usually fish less) for about four to six weeks to allow beneficial bacteria to grow. These bacteria will transform harmful ammonia and nitrites to less harmful substances so that when you add fish to the water, they won't die.

There's a lot of debate currently about what products like QuickStart do. Quickstart itself says that it adds beneficial bacteria to your tank and makes it automatically cycled. However, many people believe that the bacteria in products like these are not meant to be aquatic and thus die within a day or so and mess up the natural production of bacteria in your tank. There are other products that actually do have bacterial spores in them, but they won't immediately cycle your tank probably.

 

[trickshot3102]

Basically, there are three stages: ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. Ammonia is fish waste. It is HIGHLY toxic to fish. Once there is enough good bacteria to break down the ammonia, a waste product of the good bacteria is nitrites. Nitrites are less toxic, but still harmful. Once nitrites are broken down, nitrates are made. Nitrates aren't that toxic in small amounts, but they must be removed by partial water changes. Hope this helped!