Starting New Tank 25litre

[miltiadis_s]

hi i am new to this hobby and i have a 25lt tank. i have everything to get started to get it tropical... i have trouble understanding the cycle.. how do you do it .. i read that you need to add street zyme or ammo lock ... but arnt all these chemicals bad for the fish like with the chlorine nutralizer and the conditioners?

i only want to keep 3-4 guppies. please help as i want to start asap...

also is a master test kit required??/
thanks

 

[dwarfgourami]

Right, a brief explanation of the cycle:

when fish poo (and breathe), they produce ammonia
ammonia is toxic to them
fortunately tap water contains beneficial ammonia-eating bacteria
these bacteria turn the ammonia into nitrites
unfortunately nitrites are also poisonous
but other nitrite-eating bacteria will convert those to nitrates
these nitrates are less harmful and can be diluted by weekly partial water changes

Now the problem is that tap water does not contain enough of either the ammonia- or the nitrite-eating bacteria to deal with the concentrated waste of a fully stocked fish tank. They will grow in time if they are fed, but if you introduce a tank-full at once, the fish will get poisoned before they've had time to grow.

The process of getting enough bacteria to grow is known as cycling. There are two ways:
either you introduce a small number of fish and monitor the ammonia and nitrites carefully (test kits are sold in pet shops), so that you keep the fish alive until the bacteria have grown
or you leave off buying fish until you have artificially induced the bacteria to grow by feeding them ordinary household ammonia
Note that there is nothing harmful to the fish in the latter procedure (fishless cycle)- they won't be in the tank until there are enough bacteria there to deal with ammonia- and once you add the fish you stop adding ammonia.
Also note that there is no way you can avoid introducing chemicals such as ammonia in the tank- not if you keep fish in it, they bring their own toxins.
The same goes for dechlorinators. If you use tap water, you will be bringing chemicals into the tank, in the shape of chlorine and heavy metals; by the use of dechlorinators you can render them harmless.

I would strongly advise buying a master test kit. Then either start adding ammonia (the safest way) or introduce a single guppy. Either way you will need to monitor the water. If the ammonia goes over 1 ppm and you have fish in there, you need to dilute it by frequent water changes- if you are doing a fishless cycle, you just need to add a regular dose of ammonia and watch the water stats.

 

[miltiadis_s]

ok thanks.. so either way ill have to add ammonia?

what is this acctually called aquarium ammonia.. and where do u buy it from?

with the fishless cycling do you still need to put flakes in?

thanks

 

[miltiadis_s]

hold up.. stuff the fishless cycle... i bought a bottle of cycle.
i am just going to let the tank settle for a few days then add the cycle... after i do this ill add a fish or two and monitor the water chemistry. when nitrate nitrite and ammonia are on 0 i have finished cycling and then do a water change???

is this correct??
thanks

 

[miltiadis_s]

reply someone plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[Glod]

No, that's incorrect.

Cycle is supposed to "aid filter maturation" whether it does or not is debatable. Cycling is the process of getting the bacteria in your filter to mature to a level where they can handle the fish load.

To learn about cycling read this thread.

Cycling the tank will take several weeks. Letting it sit for a couple of days is not cycling, it's just proving that your heater and filter etc are all working as expected.

 

[miltiadis_s]

ok but whats the CYCLE for? doesnt it help with bacteria?/

 

[The-Wolf]

fortunately tap water contains beneficial ammonia-eating bacteria

I'm sorry but that is just wrong.
tap water containes either chlorine or chloramine
which kills all bacteria, that is why the water supplier puts it there.

the nitrifying bacteria are present in the air and will eventually seed a filter
but this can takes weeks.

the best products for adding nitrifying bacteria to a tank are (in no particular order)
Tetra safe start ®
Söll bactinettes (tm)®
bio-spira(tm) (continental USA)

all three products are patented and are the natural live nitrifying bacteria
any other product on the market, IMHO, are a waste of cash.

of course all three need a source of ammonia to feed them and start the process off
but you could always urinate in the tank for that.

search the forums for cycling tanks and you'll see how most people recomend to do so.

 

[miltiadis_s]

haha lol

on the CYCLE packet it says nitrifiers keeps aquarium healthy and matures it...

reduces dangerous ammonia and nitrite levels...

also can i do a fishless cycle like this.........................

start with no fish, just add fish flakes and do partial water changes. test the levels every few days and once the levels are ok i can put the fish in??

 

[DarkEntity]

The only product that i could say works to cycle a tank is Biospira.


Yes you could do it that way, thats a fishless cycle.

 

[dwarfgourami]

fortunately tap water contains beneficial ammonia-eating bacteria

I'm sorry but that is just wrong.
tap water containes either chlorine or chloramine
which kills all bacteria, that is why the water supplier puts it there.

the nitrifying bacteria are present in the air and will eventually seed a filter
but this can takes weeks.

I stand corrected on the source of the nitrifying bacteria. However, I do maintain that it is perfectly possible to do a fishless cycle without adding nitrifying bacteria. I have done so a couple of times, as there was nowhere near me that sold bacteria, and it worked fine. On neither occasion did the cycling process take more than 2 weeks, but tbh it wouldn't have mattered if it had taken a little longer. Fishkeeping is about patience anyway. I also know plenty of other people on forums who have done the same. Obviously, if you can get hold of extra lashings of nitrifying bacteria, that's fine, but it is not necessary. Most people who do a fishless cycle and can't get hold of Biospira etc just accept that it's going to take a few weeks- what's the big deal?

Oh and Miltiadis, if you are doing a fishless cycle (whether with fish food or liquid ammonia), you don't want to do partial water changes, those are only to keep the fish safe if you're cycling with fish.

 

[miltiadis_s]

ok.. thanks for all the help much appreciatd

 

[John59]

If you have a friend or lfs that has an established aquarium get some of his filter filling what ever it is and put it in your filter you will be good to go in a few days.