Another question

[teagansmama]

While I'm here...

I've owned fish off and on for a few years now...most of my fish last a year or two. But recently I've come to learn that I know next to nothing about the Nitrogen cycle...I need it explained to me in a "For Dummies" way.

My first tank was a 1 gallon kit. Now I have a 2.5 gallon tank, so as you can imagine...crum builds up pretty quickly.

I know it is bad for your fish to change the entire tank weekly, but I do this because there is so much crap in the gravel...and I had a syphon gravel cleaner but it doesn't seem to do much and I can't afford a fancy dancy tank vac.

I know that changing the whole tank is restarting the nitrogen cycle all over again.

How can I clean my tank without starting over? Can someone explain the cycle to me? Any other suggestions?

So far, cleaning the whole tank hasn't really proved too harmful for my fish...but I'm sure they would live much longer if I knew the correct way to do things.

Thanks!

 

[ryan]

Here is a good article that will exaplain it;

http/fish.orbust.net/cycling.html