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Nitrogen Cycle, and What It Has to do with Your Tropical Fish Tank.

You’ll find a lot of information about this online, so let’s include it again.  I can’t stress how important this cycle is.  In this article, you’ll hopefully understand how important it is to cycle your aquarium BEFORE you go out and buy fish, and how important it is to have a testing kit, making sure your aquarium is ready for inhabitants.  Also, we’ll talk about products to help the process along.

The Nitrogen Cycle is the process by which ammonia is eventually broken down into nitrates.  There is a reason why many starter tanks come with instructions that tell you to leave the tank running once prepared without fish for three or four days – to introduce helpful bacteria into your tropical fish tank.  Three or four days, however, is not long enough.  The process can take up to six weeks.

See, fish waste and other decomposing matter release ammonia into the aquarium, which breaks down into either NH3 (un-ionized ammonia) or NH4 (ionized ammonium), the former of which is toxic.  This will attract bacteria which will convert the ammonia into nitrites, which is also toxic.  Starting to see why we need to cycle, first?  After this, another bacteria will come along and change the nitrites into nitrates, which is also toxic to fish, but is neither on the same level as the others, and can be rid of by doing simple things like doing partial water changes, which you’ll have to do eventually, anyway.  This is also another reason why aquarist like live plants – they actually use up a lot of nitrate.  In saltwater tanks, live rock would perform this role.

Now some people will tell you the best way to cycle your tropical fish tank is to get a fish you don’t mind losing, like goldfish or danios, and expose them to the harmful, and often times deadly, chemicals for the sake of getting your aquarium together faster.  As you can probably tell, I don’t approve of this process at all.  There is no need to sacrifice a fish so you can have other fish any sooner.  Even if they survive, first of all you’re stuck with an animal you didn’t want to begin with, and there is always the possibility that the stress of the nitrification cycle lowered it’s immune system, thereby exposing it to disease which it has now carried over to your newly introduced fish.

Instead, you can start your process with fish food, instead.  Or use sand or gravel from a cycled tank.  The problem with this method is if the tank is already contaminated with disease, so it’s a little risky in that sense.  You can also use someone’s filter to bacteria in your newly cycling tank.  There are also products that claim to add the bacteria to your aquarium so you can use them right away, but I’ve never used them, so I don’t feel comfortable suggesting one.  Also, if you keep the temperature up in your tropical fish tank, say around 80 degrees, you should be able to create an environment where bacteria can flourish as opposed to a colder temperature.

Lastly, test, test, test.  A testing kit is a good investment when it comes to keeping fish. You can test often for raised levels of harmful amounts of ammonia, nitrate, nitrites, and the like, which is essential when cycling an aquarium.  You’ll be able to tell how far along you are in the process with a test kit, and when it’s safe to begin adding your fish.  Remember, without any aid from cycled aquariums or other products, the process can take up to six weeks.  Which gives you plenty of time to research the appropriate fish to put into your tank.