Cycling an Aquarium is the first thing you need to think about when getting new fish. So if you're looking to buy fish for the first time, you might either be 1 of 2 things: You might not have a clue what I'm talking about, and have stumbled upon this information whilst researching how to set an aquarium up, or you might know what I'm talking about, and you're looking for as much information on this "cycle" as you possibly can! I'm here to help with both of these scenarios.
So! Let's get into it. What is the Nitrogen Cycle? Why is it important?
The Nitrogen Cycle, in it's simplest terms, is a 3 step process that turns fish waste into something non-toxic essentially. There will be 3 main components you will hear me say a lot. That will be
1. Ammonia (this is extremely toxic to fish, and it doesn't take much for it to poison the fish. It can also burn fish, giving them red/inflamed gills and, worst case scenario, will kill them)
2. Nitrite (I've written the end part in bold. There's a little bit of confusion and mix ups happen and you'll see why when we get on to the next compound! Nitrites are just as toxic and harmful as ammonia. Both of these need to be at a level of 0 in the tank. If either of these sit at above 0, it's a sign that your tank is still cycling and I wouldn't advise fish go in yet)
3. Nitrate. (Nitrates are non-toxic at lower levels, and it can be kept in check via water changes.)
So how does ammonia (fish waste) turn into nitrites, and then how does it convert into nitrates? Easy! There's helpful bacteria that love to reside in your filters that do this for you. There's 2 types of bacteria that will do this. The first one will help convert the harmful ammonia into nitrite, and the second one will convert the still harmful nitrite into nitrate. Getting the bacteria to start is the hard part.
Fishless Cycling with an Ammonia Solution
The safest way to ensure your tank is cycling the way it should be (before adding any fish) is by getting a bottle of Ammonia and adding this to the tank and encouraging the bacteria to start residing in your filter. I recommend getting Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride for this. Most dip-stick test kits do not test for ammonia so the recommendation here is to get a liquid test kit. API do liquid test kits, and NT Labs do liquid test kits. These are a little more pricey, but they last a lot longer than the dip-stick tests and are far more accurate, which saves money in the long run.
Now, I'm going to throw out another term that might be a little confusing to begin with. What you're looking for is to have around 3ppm (parts per million) of ammonia in your tank. How do we know how much ammonia to add to get 3ppm? Thankfully there is loads of resources out there to help you! I've done a few calculations myself which may help you get in the right direction. If none of these suit you, I'd recommend searching up "Ammonia Calculator for Aquariums" and checking out the results. What we're looking to do is figure out how much water is in your aquarium, and based on how many litres your tank can hold, we will know how much ammonia to correctly dose. (Household ammonia will hold a different percentage of ammonia to Dr Tims. Typically, there will be between 5-10% ammonia in these types of cleaners. I'm basing the below calculations on an ammonia solution of 6%)
For a 50 Litre aquarium, you're looking at around 2.5ml
75 Litres = 3.8ml
100 Litres = 5ml
150 Litres = 7.5ml
200 Litres = 10ml
Now that you have your measurements, you can add in your ammonia. Congrats! You have sucessfully dosed your tank with ammonia, which will kickstart this process.
The next step will be due the following day. You added your ammonia, what you're looking to do now is use the test kit to see how much ammonia is in the tank. We're aiming for 3ppm, as stated above, but anywhere between 2-5 is good. If you have less than 2ppm, it's time to bring the online calculators back out! I suggest these because they're super easy to input the numbers into, and you will get accurate results. You'll be looking to try and dose the tank up to 3ppm again, and you will be using the ammonia liquid tests every day to ensure that it doesn't drop below 2ppm. This encourages to bateria to reside, as they have a food source, and it also ensures that the bacteria doesn't die off as you're continiously repleneshing their food source (ammonia)
Once you've done that for around a week (this process takes about 4 weeks from start to finish) it's time to start testing for nitrites! This is the exciting part. Once you gain a reading for nitrites, you then know that your cycle is taking place. You will continue dosing the tank to get ammonia up to 3ppm, and your nitrites should start to rise as well. Continue testing the tank daily for ammonia, and every second day test for nitrites.
After a week of doing this, you should see your nitrites falling. This is excellent! This means it's time to test for nitrates! You're nearly there. Now that you're at this stage, you can see the finish line. Your next steps should be continuing to dose the tank with ammonia so that it reaches 3ppm.
When to stop dosing the tank? Your cycle will be completed when it can successfully covert 2ppm of ammonia to the completed compound (nitrate) within 24hrs. Once you have reached that stage, it is now safe for fish to be added and for ammonia to stop being dosed. A fully cycled aquarium will have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. I suggest that once you see the tank drop from 3ppm ammonia, to 1ppm ammonia, zero nitrites and you have nitrates, you can stop dosing the aquarium and then go and collect your fish the day after. Remember, during this process, don't do water changes as this removes the ammonia you're adding. I'd do the water change only if your tank has a large amount of nitrates, and you are collecting your fish. Once they're in, their bioload should be able to be controlled by the bacteria that you managed to grow! Well done :)
You might also be on this page because you have your fish, and are now panicking because you had no idea that the nitrogen cycle was a process until you bought your fish! Please don't panic, we are here to help! We are more than happy to recieve messages from people who are in need of helping their fish. You can message us on Facebook, Instagram or you can use the message feature on our website. We will be with you as soon as we can be, and we can talk you through your process about how to keep your underwater friends healthy.
