Cycling

[Khabbral]

I'm not too sure how cycling works, I have 33 gallon aquarium with gravel, a filter, a heater and a fluo. I put 3 things in it, something for waste, something for cleaning tap water and something for chlorine. It had just been set up today and it looks pretty cloudy, what do I do now?

 

[TankGirl]

I am not sure what three things you put in the tank - usually you put in a dechlorinator (tap water "conditioner" aka "dechlorinator") and then you have products that claim to speed the cycle by introducing beneficial bacteria. If you used a Marineland product called Bio-Spira you need to have fish in there or it is wasted as that bacteria will die without ammonia.

Basically in order for your tank to be able to filter the waste produced by fish (ammonia, for the most part) bacteria have to grow that consume that ammonia. In the absence of the bacteria the ammonia stays in the water and poisons the fish. Waiting for the bacteria to grow is known as the cycling process. There are tons and tons of articles on the web about this so you have plenty of reading to do to get the whole scoop.

You can use hardy, tough fish that can handle some ammonia in the water to cycle the tank, or you can add household ammonia yourself and wait for the bacteria to grow before you put fish in.

You don't mention fish, so I'm not sure if you are going to be doing a fishless or a fishy cycle.

 

[tropic27]

Help!! I just registered w/ this site because I have a huge problem. I bought a 50 gal tank & I planned on having the filters run a couple of days before I added fish, but my kids were bugging me to buy them. I purchased 5 baby silver dollars, a baby Polypterus, 1 baby red tailed shark & a baby silver tipped shark. All are no more than an inch & half long. Well, after I filled the tank, I put in the "stress coat" as directed & a chemical that is supposed to remove harmful metals from the water. I let the bags sit in the tank for 20 min & released them last night. This morning they were all alive, but now I am researching "cycling tanks", ..since I did not do this at all..I am afraid I'm going to come home & find them all dead..is their anything I can do, or is it a lost cause???

 

[Psyhampster]

If you LFS carries it, buy some Bio-Spira. Bio-Spira is packaged bacteria that eliminates the cycle. I'm not posititve if it works after you've added fish, but it should.

 

[TankGirl]

tropic27 - this is going to be dicey but you might be able to get them through it. If you have access to a LFS that carries Bio-Spira you can avoid the entire cycling process completely. Just get the 3-ounce package and dose about half of it, and see if that is enough, save the rest in the fridge.

If you can't get Bio-Spira (can be ordered online from Bernie at http://www.fishstoretn.com) then post a new thread explaining your situation and you will get lots of assistance - you are not alone!

 

[TankGirl]

Simulpost, Psyhamster!

 

[jsoong]

Topic27, You've had good advice regarding the biospira. While you are locating a source for biospira, may I suggest:

Get NH3 & NO2 tests & keep a close eye on the levels. I don't think your fish can tolerate too high a level of NH3 or NO2, so you'll need to do LOTS of water changes to keep those levels down (prob once or twice a day). I would aim for NH3 no higher than 1 or 2 & NO2 less than 0.5-1. By keeping the levels low, you give the fishies a fighting chance of surviving the cycling process.

But keeping the levels low will really drag out the initial cycling (you are looking at prob. a couple months), so I would still try to get the bacteria established ASAP with either biospira, or maybe some bacteria from a friend's tank. If you really trust the lfs's tanks <most of us don't! lfs's usu. have overcrowed tanks & diseases>, you can ask them for some used filter media/ filter squeezings to jumpstart your cycle.

Finally, if possible, you can return the fish to the lfs - a really good lfs will hold the fish for you for a few weeks while you cycle the tank properly.

 

[TankGirl]

jsoong - excellent advice about returning the fish - *smacks self on forehead* - that is the obvious solution and I appreciate your mentioning it!

In the absence of Bio-Spira, return the fish and run a fishless cycle - that's the ticket