What exactly Cycling?

[shortd81]

Hi
What exactly is cycling? & how often or when should you do it?

 

[krazitrain]

read the pinned posts above

 

[shortd81]

read the pinned posts above

And which pinned post above will I find that or are you saying read them all?

 

[juliethegr8t]

I'd say read the two by Alien Anna - she does a pretty good job explaining it.

 

[smb]

Hi shortd81.

Cycling is the Nitrogen cycle for establishing beneficial bacteria in your tank. It takes about 30 days on avg, sometimes a couple weeks longer and sometimes less. You do it when you first set your tank up and once the process is complete, there is no need to do it again unless you clean your filters in non-chlorinated water or change the substrate, which both of these can cause a mini-cycle.

When fish waste is produced, organic materials or uneaten food is in the tank, ammonia levels rise and the cycling starts. The beneficial bacteria starts to colonize and converts the toxic ammonia into nitrItes, then the bacteria that turns the less toxic nitrites into nitrates starts to colonize and turns it into nitrAtes.

 

[cheese_mcphee]

If you look around (particularly the pinned posts) there are some very good explanations on the subject. For what its worth, never stock up the tank quickly without giving it a chance to cycle properly. I (and many others here) learnt this the hard way after watching 5 Glowlight tetras die one-by-one in the space of 24 hours because I was too impatient and put them in an un-cycled tank. Not a very pleasant experience...

Don't let this put you off though, as the patience definitely pays off, and the fish become fairly easy to keep if you put a little time in each week.

Hope all goes well with your tank!