# cycle



## croatian2 (Mar 17, 2011)

how can I tell if my tank is cycled?
I am in my second week and levels are good....however I have ammonia chips in the filter at the moment.
Fish are doing well and I have tested the water a few times with good readings.
Any tips would be great!


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

The only way is through testing. What are your readings for ammonia, nitrtie, and nitrate? Personally, I don't think ammo chips are such a good idea for a cycling tank. They are more used for spikes and although during a cycle ammonia will spike, the reasons that it occurs are different. IMO, you should remove them.


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## rtbob (Jul 18, 2010)

Here is the brief version of my answer: Your tank is done cycling when the ammonia/nitrite levels have both spiked and returned to zero and you have nitrates present.

The following is my "I'm bored and have nothing to do for an hour but answer this question and drink lots of coffee version".

You have chosen what is known around these parts as a "With Fish Cycle" hence referred to as "WFC". When going this route one should completely set up their tank with cleaned substrate, all the decorations and dechlorinated water. Don't forget your filter and, if required a heater (in your case a heater is needed). Side note: There is a build called the "Beaselbob" where a filter is not even needed and I will refer you to the expert whom the build is named after for more info on this version.

Next you should wait until the temp of the water stabilizes and the water clears up. 

What Now?

Now the fun part, a trip to the pet store! The first thing you should buy is a liquid test kit. Many here use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Do not buy the type of test kit that uses strips of paper that are dipped into the water as they are not as accurate.

A good liquid test kit is very important. During a WFC you must test your water daily. You will need to test the Ammonia and Nitrite levels. Don't worry about the Nitrate level yet. Testing for Nitrate should begin at some point after Nitrite has been detected. 

Frequent water changes must be done to keep the ammonia/nitrites levels down to non-lethal levels.

What fish to cycle with and how many?

This will depend on several factors. How big is your tank? What type of setup are you going for? ie: Peaceful Community, Semi Aggressive Community, Species Tank, just to name a few. 

Many use Zebra Danios for the task of WFC. I would recommend 2-3 Danios per 10 gallons (US) of water (37.85 L ).

In your case it appears that you have "jumped the gun" and went ahead with stocking your tank. It is than even more important (if that is possible) to monitor your water parameters.

Your fish (Danios included) will experience detrimental effects due to the presence of ammonia and nitrite during a WFC. These effects may not be apparent if frequent water changes are performed. Some of your fish may die during this time no matter what you do. This is why some prefer "Fishless Cycling" (FLC) over "With Fish Cycling" (WFC).

Some things you can do to "Speed up the cycle".

Squeeze a filter insert from an established, disease free tank into something and add this yucky looking water into your tank. It is very important that your "something" be clean, well rinsed and preferably dedicated for aquarium use only.

Add some of the substrate from a established, disease free tank (I feel another acronym coming on here!) either into a filter sock or directly into your tank.

Rocks, decorations from a EDFT (there it is!) also contain beneficial bacteria and may help quicken the WFC process.

There are bacteria in a bottle products that may also help. Dr. Tim's Bio-Spira, Tetra SafeStart and Seachem Stability are three I have read about that seem to be effective.
Some people claim these products do nothing to help the cycle while others swear by them. It is recognized by most that using things from a EDFT is by far the best way to go.

In your specific situation where you are using a filtering substance to remove ammonia may help save your fish from ammonia toxicity.

It may also prevent your bacteria from establishing hence causing your tank to take a very long time to finish cycling (if it ever does). I have to agree with jrman in that this should be removed. Water changes should be used to keep the ammonia levels safe.

I'm confident that others will chime in with their advise/experiences with WFC. Please feel free to point out any errors or things I left out.


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## slurik (Dec 19, 2010)

2 problems.

Order of severity.

1) what are "good" readings in your opinion?
2) you are inhibiting your nitrogen cycle using ammonia chips. 

Summary: your tank is not cycled.

Explanation: You are removing the initial step from your nitrogen cycle. Ammonia is required for bacteria to consume in order to produce nitrite. 

Likewise Nitrite is required for bacteria to produce Nitrate.

I saw no mention of a spike, which you do need to see happen to be confident your tank has cycled. I agree, remove your ammonia removal media, however I still would not call the tank cycled until I saw nitrates accumulate. 

To do this without compromising any lives, just feed the tank as if you had 1 imaginary fish. This will produce wastes required for the cycle to begin, then monitor for your spike, first ammonia, then nitrite, then nitrate spikes, do a regular water change and begin to stock slowly.

Using media as suggested from an established tank, in my own humbled opinion is >>>THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE<<< to establish a new tank.


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## croatian2 (Mar 17, 2011)

slurik said:


> 2 problems.
> 
> Order of severity.
> 
> ...


I had my ammonia spike last night to 1.0 so I did a 25 percent water change.
However I did not check my nitrates yet.
I saw the high ammonia and wanted to do the wter change right away.
I will test everything again tonight.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

It's not wrong to do the water change with a level of 1, but may have not been necessary. Ordinarily, you never want that kind of level in your tank. However, during the cycle you need to maintain _some_ ammonia. This is ti help drive the cycle to the next phase. Plus, you may find it is too hard to keep it that low further down the road. This is why it is important to remove the ammo chips.


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## slurik (Dec 19, 2010)

Ok, sounds like it could verywell be cycled with the fact you did get the ammonia spike. However I'd still remove that media, as mentioned its the beginning state of your cycle, and it will fuel the biological processes. 

When I cycle a tank, I'll watch for an ammonia spike, then watch it convert to nitrite, by the time nitrates starts to show up I dont see any ammonia, or hardly any at all to the point my eyes start to question if the colour of the substance actually changed or if I cant see that well, so the amount is absolutely minimal, if not non-existant. Soon after, the nitrites will then stoop down to a very minimal level, from 3.0 to about 0.5 ppm, by this time I would be reading about 20ppm nitrate, which is "safe" but triggers me to do a small water change (10%), and begin to stock slowly.

The importance of stocking slowly is that you only have the capacity to handle the wastes in your tank now... which is nothing... This is why I reccomend pretending you have an imaginary fish to feed, as it will produce some waste to improve the colonies of bacteria. However, once you place one fish into your system, the bacteria grow to accomodate 1 fish, then when you add your second, you must permit the system to "catch up" biologically. In the early days of stocking your fish, you will see ammonia popping up, this is just the nitrogen cycle doing its catch - up, and as long as you do stock slowly, the ammonia level will be so slight it can be disregarded. 

These substances are in every water body on earth, theres always a "bit" of ammonia fueling these processes, its only when it gets to be highly concentrated (indicated by your test kit's "stress/danger" range) that it actually becomes a problem.


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