Cycling your tank

This sticky focuses on fishless cycling as it is the safest and most harmless way to establish your tank while keeping your fish happy and healthy. For cycling with fish, please refer to this article: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Advantages of the fishless cycle:

The advantages of this process over the traditional method of cycling a tank using a few small, hardy fish to get the bacterial colonies up and running all result from "front-end loading" the tank. The amount of ammonia added is far above that generated by a reasonable number of cycling fish, resulting in faster growth of the bacterial colonies, and larger colonies when you're finished.

In practical terms, this means that your tank cycles faster (reports of anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks, depending on the fish tank...compared to average of 4-6 weeks for traditionally cycled tanks), and that you can fully stock a tank when the cycle is complete. This latter point is of particular interest to keepers of African cichlids or other aggressive fish. If these fish are all added together as juveniles, they are much more tolerant of each other than if they're added in small groups after the first fish have established their territories.

Of course, another big advantage is that no fish are subjected to high ammonia or nitrite concentrations, eliminating mortalities and ammonia/nitrite related illnesses which frequently occur in new tanks.

Alternative Recipe:

While the original recipe works quite well (4-5 drops NH3 / 10 gal / day until nitrite peaks, then reduce to 2-3 drops / 10 gal / day), it does NOT take into account varying concentrations of ammonia that are available. ACS grade ammonia, which I was using, is ~28% NH3, while most household cleaner grades vary from 4-10%, a fairly wide variation in concentration. Bottles that have been left open for long periods of time will be lower in concentration, as the NH3 gas escapes back into the atmosphere.

With that in mind, I'd like to propose a different recipe, which was suggested by D_Man and others (thanks!): Add ammonia to the tank initially to obtain a reading on your ammonia kit of ~5 ppm. Record the amount of ammonia that this took, then add that amount daily until the nitrite spikes. Once the nitrite is visible, cut back the daily dose of ammonia to ½ the original volume.

One advantage of this method is that the ammonia spike occurs immediately... when adding 4-5 drops/10 gal/day, it could take 4-5 days before the ammonia reaches the same levels. This should result in an acceleration of the entire process, though by how much (on average) remains to be seen.

Sources of Bacteria:

While it is probable that the bacteria required for the conversion of ammonia and nitrite to nitrate exist at very low levels in most uncycled tanks, it greatly accelerates the process to inoculate the tank with a large dose of healthy bacteria to get things started.

Good sources of beneficial bacteria are ranked from best to least:
1) Filter material (floss, sponge, biowheel, etc.) from an established, disease free tank.
2) Live Plants (preferably potted, leave the rockwool on until cycling is finished). Crypts or amazon swords are good choices, and not too demanding.
3) Gravel from an established, disease free tank. (Many lfs will give this away if asked nicely)
4) Other ornaments (driftwood, rocks, etc.) from an established tank.
5) Squeezings from a filter sponge (any lfs should be willing to do this...)

There are also a number of commercial bacterial supplements (Cycle, Stress-Zyme, etc.) available. IMHO, without getting on a soapbox, these have very little to no effect, and are best left on the shelf. If you want to try it, go ahead, but I believe that any of the above options will be more effective, and most if not all of them will be cheaper.

Sources of Ammonia:

The most difficult part of the fishless cycling procedure, according to many postings on the message boards, involves finding a good source of Ammonia. Ammonia used should be free of surfactants, perfumes, and colourants. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to ACS grade ammonium hydroxide. Always read the ingredients on the bottle.

The best sources for Pure or Clear Ammonia are discount grocery stores or hardware stores. Often, the no-name brand is the stuff you're looking for.

Some other people have reported success with the following brand names of ammonia: Top Crest or Whirl Clear Ammonia. To paraphrase RTR: If it doesn't list the ingredients, or say Clear Ammonia (or Pure Ammonia or 100% Ammonia, or Pure Ammonium Hydroxide), then leave it on the shelf and look elsewhere.

Shake the bottle if you're not sure about it... ammonia with surfactants will foam, while good ammonia will not.

Water Changes and Ammonia Removing Chemicals:

A large water change (50-70%) should be done before adding any fish to the tank to lower nitrate levels, which can be a pain to bring down later. When changing the water during a fishless cycle, do NOT use dechlorinators that also sequester ammonia, such as the very popular Amquel.

I have heard from at least one individual who did everything right with regards to cycling her tank using this method... the tank cycled quickly, then she did a water change, then added a reasonable fishload the following day with more than adequate filtration, and observed both an ammonia and a nitrite spike. The only explanation that I could think of after questioning her extensively led back to the Amquel. In a normal, established fish tank, the ammonia is being generated nearly constantly... in a fishless cycle however, the ammonia is added as a daily dose...
IMO, it's conceivable (though not really provable unless a lot more people experienced identical problems) that the Amquel temporarily deprived the bacteria of its food source, causing a minor die-back in the colony at the worst possible time... right before adding her fish. To be on the safe side, use a simple chlorine/chloriamine remover which does not affect your ammonia levels.

By similar logic, any other ammonia removing chemicals (eg. Ammo-lock) or resins (Amrid) should also be avoided while cycling... they will affect the cycle, extending it's duration or otherwise adversely affecting the bacterial colonies.

Too Much Ammonia?:

It IS possible to add too much ammonia to the tank (generally several times the amounts suggested in either recipe), as some individuals discovered by mistake (thanks Boozap). What happens in this case is that the ammonia will spike very far off the chart then the nitrite will spike as well (also way off the chart), and it will continue to spike for a very long time.

Why? There are a couple of possibilities... the first is that the filter media and surfaces in the tank or oxygen levels are simply insufficient to grow and maintain a bacterial colony massive enough to convert all of the ammonia and all of the nitrite to nitrates.

Another likely possibility is that the ammonia levels are high enough to inhibit growth (through a biofeedback mechanism) of the bacteria rather than promoting it. The solution is quite simple, however. If you realize that you've added way too much ammonia simply do a water change, or if necessary a series of water changes to bring the ammonia and/or nitrite levels back into the readable range on your test kit. Then proceed as normal with daily additions of ammonia until the tank is cycled.

Other Uses:

Fishless cycling is also very applicable to hospital/quarantine or fry growout tanks... when not in use, a maintenance dose of ammonia (eg. 2-3 drops/10 gallons) can be added daily to keep the tank cycled and ready for new fish indefinitely. Simply stop the addition the day before you want to buy your fish, take ammonia and nitrite tests to be certain that the levels are still zero, and do a water change to reduce nitrates.




Copied with permission; Article by Chris Cow. Ph.D. Organic Chemistry

I like to resonablely plant a tank; then pee in it. Great way to cycle although probably easier for the boys out there. Urine has high levels of amonia plus some protiens and other organic and inorganic salts. Do it once a day for a week. Wait a week. Then put in your priceless leopard skin discus. Works every time.
Lilydog

LILY DOG!!! that is freakin genious!!! I will be pissing in my 80gal tall for sure! hahahaha.... i hate puttin drops of ammonia in a tank... pee is organic, thats genious! Thanks for the two cents!

Honestly, I speed my cycles up pretty quick in new tanks by taking set up tank water to the new tank.... like doing a reall good cleaning on an older tank, and dumpin a few loads of fish waste in the new tank.... cycle is done within a week. Wont make the tank water yellow like peeing in it would....plus I drink too much, my fish would be drunk... lol

I gotta question for you guys and girls! Some of you already know my story.

I have a 72gal that I got used and It came with two magnum 350's with used moist media still in it. Also it had crushed coral that I mixed with some silica sand. I didn't think there was enough coral. The fish were taken out two weeks ago and It was without water for almost two days.

The second tank is 20gal I got it used as well, it went without fish and water for two days. I added a used filter with all new media and used the gravel that was already in it.

Do I have to do a complete cycle?? What test should I perform to know when their ready for fish!?

I want to order some fish with you guys but don't want to rush it and kill them all!

Please help!

If you start cycling now, you will have it cycled and safe enough for when the fish arrive So start now to be safe

So just add ammonia and take appropriate test as directed above and I'll be good to go!?

Pee contains urea and urea is caustic to aquatic life. Make sure you change alot of water before adding any fish.

I have used Bio-Zyme to cycle a tank, and it was done in a week. Now I just keep an extra filter or an extra sponge in my filters so I am able to seed a new tank.

Why not just use a dead prawn that you get from the store? Its easy and more effective.

to be honest, I dont think I would be able to pee in my tank... lol, its sounds like a cool idea though! Ive always had established tanks to pull media/water from to start the cycle in a new tank.... but if I was settin up a brand new one, and had no established tanks, I would probably do a fish cycle.... get some feeder fish from a local LFS... but then you got to worry about disease too.... well, just get filter media from a pet store or a friend!

I started a new tank last month with only the live plants from another tank thinking the roots and leaves would harbor enough bacteria for a proper headstart. I added fish the next week and had a slight ammonia spike but never any nitrites and so far very little to no nitrates. The filters are brand new and so is the gravel and bogwood. So far after almost a month no dead fish and the plants are still living and I added more from the GSAS meeting last night. I would say a complete tank cycle in just about 3 weeks. Pee free and dead prawn free tank.