¿Beginner Tank?
- Thread starter KilledByQTips
- Start date
What you want to do to cycle a tank, you have two options to get this done as quickly as possible. I'm going to assume you have access to an established tank.
Fishless Cycle: Go to the store and buy some pure ammonia (no suds, no coloring, no fragrance, double check to make sure), and add this to your tank water as soon as you get it set up. You want to raise the level of ammonia to 5.0 (you really should buy a test kit too if you want to keep fish) and the temperature to around 85ish. Next, you want to "seed" your tank with bacteria from an already established healthy tank. You can do this many ways, one simple way is to buy your gravel ahead of time, stick some of it into a nylon stocking, and then bury the stocking in the gravel of the established tank for a couple weeks. That way, when you pull the stocking out, the gravel you put in there will have bacteria established on it (make sure when you transfer this to your tank that you keep it in TREATED TANK WATER, or the bacteria will die off. Simply put this gravel in your new tank, with the ammonia, and let it cycle on its own. Make sure to add a couple drops of ammonia every other day to keep the levels at around 5.0. There is a great sticky note in the beginners forum on cycling a tank fishlessly. This is the most humane way to cycle since ammonia and nitrite levels can get very high in your fish water and poison them.
Second way is to cycle with fish. Again, do the gravel/nylon stocking thing and add that gravel to your tank, no ammonia this time. Now you want to add maybe 5 danio to start with in a 30 gallon. Take your trusty test kit and test your water for ammonia and nitrites everyday. Do water changes daily or every other day to keep those levels down, otherwise you'd just be killing your fish. Once your ammonia and nitrite reach 0 and you have some nitrates, your tank is fully cycled and you can start adding more fish. I would suggest no more than 2 new fish a week. If you add too many too quickly, you may throw your tank into another cycle, and that is never good.
Good luck ,and keep us posted on your progress!
Fishless Cycle: Go to the store and buy some pure ammonia (no suds, no coloring, no fragrance, double check to make sure), and add this to your tank water as soon as you get it set up. You want to raise the level of ammonia to 5.0 (you really should buy a test kit too if you want to keep fish) and the temperature to around 85ish. Next, you want to "seed" your tank with bacteria from an already established healthy tank. You can do this many ways, one simple way is to buy your gravel ahead of time, stick some of it into a nylon stocking, and then bury the stocking in the gravel of the established tank for a couple weeks. That way, when you pull the stocking out, the gravel you put in there will have bacteria established on it (make sure when you transfer this to your tank that you keep it in TREATED TANK WATER, or the bacteria will die off. Simply put this gravel in your new tank, with the ammonia, and let it cycle on its own. Make sure to add a couple drops of ammonia every other day to keep the levels at around 5.0. There is a great sticky note in the beginners forum on cycling a tank fishlessly. This is the most humane way to cycle since ammonia and nitrite levels can get very high in your fish water and poison them.
Second way is to cycle with fish. Again, do the gravel/nylon stocking thing and add that gravel to your tank, no ammonia this time. Now you want to add maybe 5 danio to start with in a 30 gallon. Take your trusty test kit and test your water for ammonia and nitrites everyday. Do water changes daily or every other day to keep those levels down, otherwise you'd just be killing your fish. Once your ammonia and nitrite reach 0 and you have some nitrates, your tank is fully cycled and you can start adding more fish. I would suggest no more than 2 new fish a week. If you add too many too quickly, you may throw your tank into another cycle, and that is never good.
Good luck ,and keep us posted on your progress!
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