How Do I Cycle A Tank?

[Inty]

I like to read around the betta forum and get information about how to take better care of a betta. I keep coming across people talking about cycling a tank, and i have no idea what this means.. i've looked it up and it still doesn't make much sense to me. would someone maybe be able to please explain cycling to me? i would like to think that i have learned about bettas and know a bit about them since the beginning of this year, but i haven't really looked in depth into tank care and things like that i'm kind of embarassed about that, hehe.. so any help or advice is greatly appreciated, as i will hopefully be getting a new boy this weekend thanks everyone! <3

 

[*Fishkies*]

to the forum area of bettas!!
Here are some links and helpful thinks for you to read through. You'll love bettas their addicting, and they have great personalities!! I currently only have 3 of my own. However I have gotten many other people into owning one. So i'm sure you'll love it!!

The first thing to do would be to decide on a tank size. A minuimum of 1 gallon is usually recommended.

First of all here is a link on Fishless Cycling.
Also to help your cycling get started HERE is a list of people willing to donate mature filter media to newbies like yourself.
Cycling is also known as the nitrogen cycle.

Here is an FAQ link about bettas.

You can either keep one male in a tank.
Or two males in a divided tank.
Or a sorority of 6 females in a tank large enough.

Good Luck!

 

[Inty]

thanks fishkies!

i have owned a betta before (Toki, but he died of TB a little while ago. i have another post asking about TB and tank cleaning ;P) and i adored him. he had more personality that my dog practically. haha. he was very awesome and i miss him. i had him in a fairly small tank. a Critter Keeper that was only maybe 1 gal. and for the new boy that i'm getting soon, i want to take the best care of him so i want to get a much bigger one with a filter and anywhere between 5-15 gal. to give him plenty of room to swim around. needless to say, i'm very excited hm.. maybe i could just get some general tank info too? i won't be able to keep live plants, but i'm open to just about any other suggestions!
thanks again! <3



also, what exactly are the benefits of cycling a tank? is it necessary or will he be able to remain healthy without it?

 

[scorphonic]

Think about it this way. When fish are out in the wild they are in rivers/lakes/sea. When they go to the toilet the chemicals that they release are quickly diluted since there is alot of water around them which is more than likely flowing so there is never any chance of those chemicals building up. The only chemicals you need to know are Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Note the difference in Nitrite and Nitrate. When your fish are in a closed environment like in a tank these chemicals will continue to build up and will eventually be very harmful to your fish causing them to get ill and possibly die. When you cycle a tank you are really getting the filters full of friendly bacteria that will reduce the levels of these toxic chemicals into less harmful chemicals that you can then control yourself through water changes.

A healthy tank will have ZERO ammonia and ZERO nitrite at all times and levels of around 40ppm of Nitrate. This is because the bacteria that grow on your filter sponge will convert Ammonia to Nitrite and other bacteria will convert the Nitrite to Nitrate. Both the Ammonia and Nitrite are very toxic to fish while the Nitrate is only toxic at high levels. That is all the chemistry you will ever need to know when keeping freshwater fish!! The only other thing is pH and water hardness but you can easily read up about that.

I will assume that since you are asking about cycling a tank that you have yet to purchase a water test kit. You should buy a water test kit straight away, the API Master Test Kit is 100% amazing. This kit is a set of specific chemical indicators. These indicators are added to a small sample of your tank water and will let you know the level of toxic chemicals in the water and whether or not your tank is cycled (enough bacteria in your filter to gobble up all the harmful chemicals) or if your nitrates are so high that you need to carry out a water change to reduce them.

Thats the best way I can put it to you...its far from being difficult...you just keep in mind that its all to do with bacteria growing in your filter sponges and these bacteria keep your water healthy by keeping dangerous chemicals at a low level.

Any more questions..dont be afraid to ask, I was in your position only 3 months ago!!

One important thing to keep in your mind is that if you can look after the water conditions the fish will look after itself. Cycling a tank is vital in having healthy fish so read up on fishless cycling from the post above and all will be revealed.

 

[Inty]

Thank you everyone for all the help and advice you've given me. i found some sites too to help explain. but there's still just one more problem.. what do you actually DO in cycling? is it just using a filter at a certain time? and can you use a filter and have it on all the time with the betta in the tank? is there a better filter for betta's out there that has a gentle current so it won't disturb the betta? thanks.

 

[Christine1014]

You can do a couple of things to cycle.

The most efficient way is to get pure ammonia (without any other detergents, scents, coloring, etc -- it's hard to find in some areas though) and add it to the tank water (in the newbie section there's a post called "fishless cycling" -- just follow the directions in there). The quick version is you add this ammonia and then with your water test kit, measure the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. Your ammonia levels will be really high (obvisouly, since you just dumped pure ammonia in the tank), and for a while, nitrite and nitrate will be zero because there's no "good" bacteria in your tank to do anything with this ammonia. After a few days, you'll notice in your testing that the ammount of ammonia is reduced, but then you'll start seeing a reading on the nitrIte test. This means that a type of bacteria is building up that is processing ("eating") the ammonia. But NitrItes still aren't good. Keep adding ammonia, though, so the bacteria has something to eat, and Nitrites will continue to be produced. Eventually, another kind of bacteria will form that will start eating the nitrites. It turns nitrItes into nitrAtes. Nitrates aren't nearly as harmful to fish as ammonia and nitrites are. You know your tank is cycled when you add ammonia and within a few hours your test kit says you have no ammonia and no nitrites. This means both the ammonia and the nitries are being quickly and efficiently processed. By this point, though, your NitrAtes will be sky-high. Just do a nice big water change and presto - you're ready for fish. This whole process takes a while. Depending on your water, it can be as quick as 2 weeks, or as long as a month+. But the important thing is that there's no fish in there being poisoned by ammonia and nitrites while all this is going on!

All that being said, there are a lot of areas where you just can't find pure ammonia. Unless your want to order it online (can you even do that? Not sure....) you can also add fish food flakes to the tank. As it decomposes it will produce ammonia. It might take a little longer this way, but it works.

And of course, there are people who say "oh, just put a big hardy fish in there; his poo will produce all the ammonia you need and when you're done cycling, get rid of him." That's just mean to the fish, in my opinion. (and there are LOTS of fish that just can't survive a cycling tank).

But have a look at the pinned topics in the beginners section, and they'll give you exact measurements for amounts of ammonia and stuff.

Another tip: there's a thread somewhere (I think it's in the beginner section, but it's been pretty active lately so you may still find it under the New Posts) that's a list of people willing to donate mature filter media. If you can find someone on this forum who lives close to you, get a piece of media from their filter and put it in your own. You'll get the benefits of all that good bacteria without having to wait weeks while you're pouring ammonia into the tank.

Now - the beta/filter issue -- if you have a filter in your tank, you have to leave it on all the time. If you don't, the good bacteria that are living on it will die (they need fresh oxygen to live). Then you're tank's going to go through the cycling process again when you turn it back on. So, bad idea. What a lot of beta-keepers do (myself included) - is use an HOB (Hang On Back -- of tank) filter. Then take a regular-size plastic water bottle, cut the top and bottom off, slice it down the side, and attach it to the part of the filter where the water comes out. Really eliminates the current in the tank and makes for a very happy beta!

 

[Maxsmom]

Well... in a nutshell a cycle is just that... a cycle (nitrogen cycle to be exact.)

Your fish excrete ammonia through their urine and poo (and uneaten food, as well will contribute to ammonia developing in your tank). Ammonia is toxic to your fish and can cause burns and aggravate diseases/parasites. During the cycling process... a bacterial colony starts to form (aka "good-guy" bacteria) in the filter and on the gravel and decorations... and converts the ammonia to nitrite. Nitrite is still toxic to a fish. Again, during the cycling process... another colony of good-guy bacteria starts to form and converts the nitrites to much less toxic nitrates. You get rid of those nitrates by doing partial water changes and gravel vacuuming on a weekly basis.

Some conditioners like Prime will help to convert the ammonia to ammonium (which is non-toxic)... and the good-guy bacteria will still eat that up.

Many will do a cycle with their fish, but typically bettas don't handle it well... as they can't handle prolonged exposure to ammonia and nitrites very well. A typical cycle with fish can take 4-6 weeks.

Many will do a "fishless cycle" - whereas you use pure ammonia instead of fish (the ammonia has to be 100% pure ammonia and water - no surfactants, fragrances or other additives.) It takes about as long - but is safe b/c no fish are exposed to the high levels of ammonia and nitrites. I tried a fishless cycle but it stalled 3 weeks into it and being new - probably messed it up somewhere... so I gave up and moved on to... BioSpira.

I personally have used BioSpira (made by Marineland) with great success in cycling my tanks! (And no, I'm not an employee of the company who makes it.) It's basically the "good-guy" bacteria in a package that you add directly to your tank... you don't have to wait for them to establish themselves... they get right to it as soon as you add them and cycling typically is done within a week or two... with very low levels of exposure to ammonia or nitrites, if any. This is a refrigerated product - and is not to be confused with other products like Cycle or Stability.... which are pretty useless IMO and are basically dead bacteria that seldom comes back to life. With teh BioSpira, my tanks were cycled within a week and my bettas did beautifully throughout (although I panicked at one point with an ammonia spike of 0.25ppm)... but I was able to handle it and get it back down to zero with a water change and adding a bit more Prime water conditioner (which remember converts ammonia to ammonium.)

I have a 5 gallon cycled with one betta and 2 - 3 gals with 1 female in each. I have a new male betta currently in a 3 gal, which I will be transfering to a 5 gallon this weekend (and will cycle it again.) I only bought a 3 oz package (on line - shipped overnight with a cold-pak) and I still have loads left. Some say it doesn't last very long, but I know some that have used it up to six months and there was still some live bacteria. I also have heard of some that have not had good experiences with it... but personally speaking - I think it's a wonderful product.

Actually, that reminds me of another method you could use in place of BioSpira - if you know anyone that will give you some of their gravel or filter media from an established and disease-free tank - that would also work. But IMO, it's risky incase there is a hidden disease or problem that you could be infecting your fish with.

Sorry if that was information overload.