Mike’s Fish Tank – Cycle

This is the time of year when a lot of people have fish tanks/aquariums for the first time. Here is some info that should help all the new fish tank owners. Keep in mind this information is basically for 10 gallon tanks and up. Any tank under 10 gallons is very hard on fish. The reason being it is very hard to get a decent filter or heater for those small tanks.

You will probably hear the word CYCLE the tank often.

What it means when we say a tank has to cycle. There is a good bacteria that forms when fish are put into an aquarium. The bacteria that grows lives off the urine the fish produce, also known as ammonia. This bacteria eats the ammonia and converts it to nitrites. There is another bacteria that eats the nitrites, it is commonly referred to as nitrifying bacteria.That bacteria produces nitrates. The ammonia and the nitrites are the two things that are bad for fish.

The nitrates are not as bad and those you get rid of by doing a water change. Siphoning the bottom of your fish tank is important. 20% or so once a month will help keep nitrates in check. Doing too many water changes can actually be bad because you are disturbing the growth of the beneficial bacteria.That is also why it’s a bad idea to completely clean everything in the tank. You will kill that nitrifying bacteria and you do not want to do that.Overfeeding your fish can cause higher loads of ammonia if the food sits on the bottom of the tank and decays. That can affect your good bacteria too.

Ammonia and nitrites can kill fish if they are too high. That is why it is so important to go easy on how many fish you put in a newly set up tank. For example if you put 12 fish in a newly setup 10 gallon tank, thats 12 fish producing ammonia and with no good bacteria in your tank yet, they are swimming in high concentrations of ammonia. It also causes your tank to  be cloudy. Do just a few fish until the ammonia eating bacteria has grown, then go slow until your nitrite eating bacteria has grown. all in all I tell people it’s going to take 4 to 6 weeks until your tank is cycled and you have all the beneficial bacteria you need. Go to our website and there are starting a tank care sheets. They will give you more helpful hint.

Pets A Plenty is located on Rte 281 Cortland, across from Tops Market in the TJ Nails Plaza. 753-9213. Open 7 days a week. We now have a website. www.petsaplety.biz. check it out. I post care sheets, coupons, new animal arrivals, contests and more. Any questions, email me at friskyy@hotmail.com

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