The nitrogen cycle, also known as the nitration cycle and nitrification, has and will continue to cause the death of thousands if not millions of fish a year. Understanding this delicate biological system can improve not only the health and wellbeing of the fish but your success in fishkeeping. Maths and science are incredibly vital when owning fish especially. Fishkeeping is one of the more expensive hobbies; it doesn’t stop it being so addictive!
There are the 6 main general rules all fish keepers should know:
Dechlorinate
Chlorine is inside most homes in the UK and America. Chlorine kills off any beneficial bacteria needed to keep a cycled and safe tank or pond for your fish while also burning the fish’s skin or even killing them.
25%/30% Weekly water change
This is a vital part of fish keeping. Water changes are to remove any debris, droppings and Nitrate, keeping the water clean and healthy.
Don’t rinse anything in tap water
This goes back to why you dechlorinate the tank in the first place. Your fish substrate and filter media are where most the beneficial bacteria is located, rinsing these in tap water can interfere and ruin the cycle.
Test water perimeters weekly
Keeping an eye on the perimeter levels to make sure the water in your tank is healthy and safe is very important to the health and welfare of your fish and success. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH are the most important.
Don’t overclean
This is where fish owners think they’re doing the right thing but can end up making the fish in pain, sick or even die instead. The beneficial bacteria grows on surfaces, not in the water column! So by wiping surfaces or disturbing the filter media too much can crash the cycle and cause a bacteria bloom.
Do not use non-fish-friendly chemicals
Non-fish-friendly chemicals such as soap will destroy the cycle and poison your fish. Most likely ending in a fish grave sight!
How do I cycle a tank?
A fish in cycle is both painful, unnecessary and could end in a dead fish. That’s why a fishless cycle is recommended. No matter how you cycle the tank, it will always take at least a month, usually takes 1-2 months. But what most pet shops don’t tell you is that you need to start the cycling process yourself, a full tank with a filter on is not going to start anything. To start cycling your tank, you need an ammonia source. 30 years ago, people used fish food. To do this, add a small pinch of fish food and test for ammonia every other day if ammonia is still under 3ppm (parts per million) add another small pinch of fish food. When you are about a week into the process, start testing for nitrites and nitrates. However, it is recommended to now use bottled ammonia. To do this, dose the tank to 4ppm (parts per million), there are plenty of online calculators to do this. I will link one HERE. Then it’s about monitoring the other perimeters too until the cycle is complete. Your filter and tank are cycled with the beneficial bacteria when the tank will be low of ammonia and nitrite and nitrate starting to build up.
Can I use water from a cycled tank?
Many people make this mistake, you could transfer 50% water from a cycled tank with fish into an uncycled tank then introduce fish right? Nope! This in-fact is very unnecessary and does more harm than good. You’d be adding in more ammonia into an uncycled tank which would slowly burn the fish inside-out and could even kill the fish.
What are the beneficial bacteria?
Beneficial bacteria, also known as nitrifying bacteria (nitrifiers) consists of two bacteria species. Both separate, but dependent. While the first nitrifiers show as soon as ammonia is present to convert the ammonia into nitrite and then the second nitrifiers show as soon as nitrite is present to convert the nitrite into nitrate which is removed through water change.
Here is the aquarium nitrogen cycle process:
You put food into the tank, the fish eat the food and any leftover food rots into ammonia and the fish produces ammonia from the food which is highly toxic to fish. Next, beneficial bacteria or nitrifiers turns the ammonia into nitrite which is still toxic but not as harmful as ammonia. Then, the other beneficial bacteria or nitrifiers appear to convert the nitrite into nitrates which are finally removed through water change.
Graph image by www.fishaholic.net
Comments