cycle?

[not so master reefer]

I am really new to this hobby. my question is...
1) how can you determine if your tank is cycling?
2) what are the sign when its done cycling?

[rickztahone]

I am really new to this hobby. my question is...
1) how can you determine if your tank is cycling?
2) what are the sign when its done cycling?

it depends how you are doing your cycle. if you are doing fishless then you have to be adding ammonia. when you add 5ppm of ammonia and it is gone in 24hrs you are fully cycled which usually takes about 6-8 weeks. i have not read when you are cycled with a cycle using fish but i would imagine it would be around the same time frame and you would need hardy fish that create a good enough fish load

[Eddie]

A little phrase from Carol Roberts. She contributes to the forum every single day.


Your tank is cycled when you start showing nitrAte.

NitrIte and ammonia should be zero in a fully cycled tank, but nitrIte can be zero in an uncycled tank too. Ammonia will show no matter what, but the nitrIte will not begin to show until the good bacteria grow enough to convert the ammonia to nitrIte.

So if you have zero nitrates, your tank is not cycled yet.


Eddie

[not so master reefer]

does this mean that if ammonia or nitrite is there, the tank is not yet cycle?
is is possible to have 0 ammonia,nitrite and nitrate?does this mean the tank is cycled?

[not so master reefer]

and does this mean that if your tank has been fully cycled, you will not get ammonia and nitrite anymore? sorry for asking too much...

[seanyuki]

I do the opposite :p



You don't really need benefitial bacteria in the start.....really

You can have the tank running and put in discus and try to feed slowly for the first 2 weeks ...gradually reaching to normal feeding rate or the rate you prefer. By then, the biological filtration will be establishes and working effectively bi itself.

If you were to use a filter media or any equipment from another tank or another culture, you might just accidently innoculate disease from the other fishes to your further discus and that disease may not be harmful to the existing because the fishes there already got the immune but introducing it to the new discus might just make the discus sick if not mortality.

Just my 2 cents


Cheers
Francis:)

[dwilder]

imo i would not put discus in an uncycled tank unless i was prepared to do 100% water changes every day

[not so master reefer]

yes its always better to put a fish in a cycled tank. can someone aswer my question?thanks guys!

[seanyuki]

I am doing 80% water change daily not 100 %. for new arrivals.


Cheers
Francis :)


imo i would not put discus in an uncycled tank unless i was prepared to do 100% water changes every day

[not so master reefer]

80% daily??? wow isnt that going to kill the bacteria that you should have in your tank?

[bluesky5683]

I agree with the way seanyuki did! if I am setting up a new tank with new filter media, I will set the water temp to 88 and just put in the discus then doing 75%-80% WC daily for at least 2-3 weeks and only feed them 2-3 times daily!

[not so master reefer]

A little phrase from Carol Roberts. She contributes to the forum every single day.



So if you have zero nitrates, your tank is not cycled yet.


Eddie


are you saying that if ammonia or nitrite is there, the tank is not yet cycle?is it possible to have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate?does this mean the tank is cycled? and lets say my tank has been cycled, do i still have to worry about ammonia and nitrite? sorry for asking too much...

[not so master reefer]

I agree with the way seanyuki did! if I am setting up a new tank with new filter media, I will set the water temp to 88 and just put in the discus then doing 75%-80% WC daily for at least 2-3 weeks and only feed them 2-3 times daily!

i heard that if you do that, the cycle will take more time to finish. whats the purpose of the 80% wc everyday? what i know is you need to have ammonia then nitrite then it will turn to nitrate and its fully cycled.

[Chad Hughes]

are you saying that if ammonia or nitrite is there, the tank is not yet cycle?is it possible to have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate?does this mean the tank is cycled? and lets say my tank has been cycled, do i still have to worry about ammonia and nitrite? sorry for asking too much...

A typical cycled aquarium will show zero ammonia, zero nitrite and trace nitrate. To clear it up a bit, if you put brand new water in a bare tank and test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, you'll have zero on all readings. The only caveaut is if your tap water contains nitrates. It happens.

None the less, if you are cycling your tank you'll go through stages of high levels. The first stage will have high ammonia readings with little or no nitrite and probably zero nitrate. The next step would be high ammonia with elevated nitrite and zero to trace nitrate. Eventually you'll see ammonia come down a bit, nitrite spike high and will start to see nitrate become elevated. Finally you'll see ammonia and nitrite fall off to zero and the only reading that you will get will be nitrate.

This is when you know that the levels of bacteria in your filter have colonized and are present within sufficient numbers to support a biological load on the tank (fish). Hope this helps!

Best wishes!

[Chad Hughes]

i heard that if you do that, the cycle will take more time to finish. whats the purpose of the 80% wc everyday? what i know is you need to have ammonia then nitrite then it will turn to nitrate and its fully cycled.

If you are changing nearly 100% of your water every day, it's not as important to have an extremely established biological filter. Over time it will become established, but the water changes do not allow the waste to accumulate to the point that you'll need biological filtration. Hope that makes sense!

Best wishes!

[mmorris]

I do not recommend that someone without a lot of experience put discus in a tank that is not fully cycled. You need biological filtration. You need to grow the bacteria in your filter media that will convert the ammonia to nitrite, and the bacteria to convert the nitrite to nitrate. I think it is possible to have a tank without nitrates, if the tank is understocked and it is heavily planted. I could be wrong there though. Assuming you are buying your discus from a reliable source and not from the lfs, you might ask to buy a cycled sponge from them. Then, you can put the sponge in the filter and voila! A cycled tank! You want to be sure to have the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph test kits and check your water daily for a while once the discus have arrived.

[dwilder]

discus as most fish are sensitive to ammonia so without a cycled tank you have to do heavy water changes or the ammonia levels will build up and harm and possibly kill your fish

[Eddie]

are you saying that if ammonia or nitrite is there, the tank is not yet cycle?is it possible to have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate?does this mean the tank is cycled? and lets say my tank has been cycled, do i still have to worry about ammonia and nitrite? sorry for asking too much...

Pretty much if you have evidence of ammonia or nitrite your filter is not cycled or is still going through the cycle process.

If you have zero nitrate, your tank is not cycled. If you do a 100% WC, and then check for nitrate obviously you should not have nitrates but that really depends on if there are already nitrates in your water source.

This is turning out to be alot harder than it needs to be. What are you trying to do exactly?


Eddie

[KDodds]

To know if your tank is cycled, you must be testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You must add a nutrient source. This can be live fish, pure ammonia, or dead flesh (I prefer cocktail shrimp). You must test to determine if ammonia and nitrite spike (both should hit at least 5ppm) and return to 0ppm. Nitrate is the byproduct of the nitrogen cycle in tanks that do not employ denitrification filtration methods (DSBs, sulfur denitrators, etc.). Just because I tank does not test for nitrate does not mean that it is not cycle, particularly if it is a heavily planted tank. You can "test" whether or not the tank is cycled by adding more nutrient source (ammonia, another shrimp, etc.) If ammonia and nitrite levels are 0ppm after a 24-48 hour period, it's a safe bet that the tank has completed cycling. And, if it hasn't, the "test" is just fuel for truly cycling. You should NOT, however, "test" a cycle if there are fish in the tank.