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The Water Cooler
General Discussion
anybody have an aquarium?
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<blockquote data-quote="Werewolf" data-source="post: 1752009" data-attributes="member: 239"><p>Partially right.</p><p></p><p>The cycle goes like this. Fish waste - primarily liquid breaks down into ammonia. A kind of bacteria breaks down the ammonia into nitrites. Anothe type of bacteria break down the nitrites into nitrates.</p><p></p><p>Ammonia in concentrations higher than about 5 PPM kills fish. Nitrites kill fish. Nitrates - anything under 40PPM is OK though can cause stress in some fish. Nitrates less than 20 PPM is the goal.</p><p></p><p>The bacteria needed to perform the ammonia to nitrite to nitrate cycle are everywhere. They'll get into your water just from the air in your home. They will be captured in the part of your filter meant to hold them. I like the ceramic rings but many use a coarse fibrous material - both work well.</p><p></p><p>You will need a test kit to check ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels.</p><p></p><p>To cycle your tank you will want to add enough ammonia to your water to get a level of 2 or 3 PPM. There are calculators to figure out how many drops needed in a tank of a given size to achieve that level. We're talking drops here not spoonfulls. It will take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks to properly cycle a tank. I once did it in 10 days - still haven't figured that one out. Usually takes 3 to 4 weeks for me. Patience grasshopper. If you try to go to fast you will regret it.</p><p></p><p>Each day you will test your ammonia level and once you see it start to go down you will know that the ammonia eating bacteria are present and doing their job. After you test your water each day you will add more ammonia to feed the ammonia eaters and beginn testing for nitrites. During this time you may notice your water taking a milky cast. don't worry about that - it is a good thing. What you are seeing is a bacterial bloom. It means the little critters are breeding and that's whay you want.</p><p></p><p>Each day before adding ammonia you should see 0 PPM of ammonia and some level of nitrites. Feed the ammonia eaters with the right amount of ammonia to get the level to 2 - 3 PPM.</p><p></p><p>Next day make sure ammonia is again at 0 and you have nitrites. Eventually you will see the level of nitrites start to go down and at that point you will begin to see nitrates going up. You've got the nitrite eaters doing their job.</p><p></p><p>Keep up the routine until nitrites are at 0 and ammonia are at 0 and nitrates are going up.</p><p></p><p>Congrats! You've got a cycled tank you can put fish in.</p><p></p><p><strong>PH</strong>: You're gonna see a lot of stuff about PH. If you're doing freshwater fish and aren't interested in breeding them you can pretty much ignore it. The pH of your tank water is gonna pretty much depend on what it comes out of the tap at. Where I am in OKC it runs 7.5. Fish don't care what pH they're in (except for breeding) as long as it is stable (doesn't go up or down) much. ONe thing you don't want to do is fall into the trap of thinking my fish need 6.8 and trying to use pH adjusters to get there, buffers etc. You'll be chasing your tail forever and doing nothing but stressing out the fish.</p><p></p><p><strong>TEMP:</strong> Pick a temp. Again kind'a depends on the fish but for most freshwater fish (except goldfish) anything between 72F and 78F is fine. Again just make sure you keep the temp stable.</p><p></p><p><strong>FOOD:</strong> A pinch a day or even eveyother day is plenty! Most folks new to aquariums tend to overfeed. Mucks up the tank and it doesn't help the fish - heck they can even get bloated and/or constipated from over feeding.</p><p></p><p><strong>PLANTS:</strong> Recommended but not necessary. Plants can help reduce nitrates but won't eliminate them (the only way short of using expensive cartridge type and sump filters to get rid of nitrates is to do weekly partial water changes - not that big of a deal once you get used to it).</p><p></p><p>Lots of good forums for the aquarists out there. Find one you like and ask questions. You'll find that the hardcore aquarists think of their fish like the rest of us think of our dogs or cats. It can get pretty wierd sometimes especially when a 10 cent fish dies and the owner has a freaking meltdown over it. Just Don't do what I did and comment that "it's just a freakin' fish. It didn't even know it was alive for kriste's sake".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Werewolf, post: 1752009, member: 239"] Partially right. The cycle goes like this. Fish waste - primarily liquid breaks down into ammonia. A kind of bacteria breaks down the ammonia into nitrites. Anothe type of bacteria break down the nitrites into nitrates. Ammonia in concentrations higher than about 5 PPM kills fish. Nitrites kill fish. Nitrates - anything under 40PPM is OK though can cause stress in some fish. Nitrates less than 20 PPM is the goal. The bacteria needed to perform the ammonia to nitrite to nitrate cycle are everywhere. They'll get into your water just from the air in your home. They will be captured in the part of your filter meant to hold them. I like the ceramic rings but many use a coarse fibrous material - both work well. You will need a test kit to check ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. To cycle your tank you will want to add enough ammonia to your water to get a level of 2 or 3 PPM. There are calculators to figure out how many drops needed in a tank of a given size to achieve that level. We're talking drops here not spoonfulls. It will take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks to properly cycle a tank. I once did it in 10 days - still haven't figured that one out. Usually takes 3 to 4 weeks for me. Patience grasshopper. If you try to go to fast you will regret it. Each day you will test your ammonia level and once you see it start to go down you will know that the ammonia eating bacteria are present and doing their job. After you test your water each day you will add more ammonia to feed the ammonia eaters and beginn testing for nitrites. During this time you may notice your water taking a milky cast. don't worry about that - it is a good thing. What you are seeing is a bacterial bloom. It means the little critters are breeding and that's whay you want. Each day before adding ammonia you should see 0 PPM of ammonia and some level of nitrites. Feed the ammonia eaters with the right amount of ammonia to get the level to 2 - 3 PPM. Next day make sure ammonia is again at 0 and you have nitrites. Eventually you will see the level of nitrites start to go down and at that point you will begin to see nitrates going up. You've got the nitrite eaters doing their job. Keep up the routine until nitrites are at 0 and ammonia are at 0 and nitrates are going up. Congrats! You've got a cycled tank you can put fish in. [B]PH[/B]: You're gonna see a lot of stuff about PH. If you're doing freshwater fish and aren't interested in breeding them you can pretty much ignore it. The pH of your tank water is gonna pretty much depend on what it comes out of the tap at. Where I am in OKC it runs 7.5. Fish don't care what pH they're in (except for breeding) as long as it is stable (doesn't go up or down) much. ONe thing you don't want to do is fall into the trap of thinking my fish need 6.8 and trying to use pH adjusters to get there, buffers etc. You'll be chasing your tail forever and doing nothing but stressing out the fish. [B]TEMP:[/B] Pick a temp. Again kind'a depends on the fish but for most freshwater fish (except goldfish) anything between 72F and 78F is fine. Again just make sure you keep the temp stable. [B]FOOD:[/B] A pinch a day or even eveyother day is plenty! Most folks new to aquariums tend to overfeed. Mucks up the tank and it doesn't help the fish - heck they can even get bloated and/or constipated from over feeding. [B]PLANTS:[/B] Recommended but not necessary. Plants can help reduce nitrates but won't eliminate them (the only way short of using expensive cartridge type and sump filters to get rid of nitrates is to do weekly partial water changes - not that big of a deal once you get used to it). Lots of good forums for the aquarists out there. Find one you like and ask questions. You'll find that the hardcore aquarists think of their fish like the rest of us think of our dogs or cats. It can get pretty wierd sometimes especially when a 10 cent fish dies and the owner has a freaking meltdown over it. Just Don't do what I did and comment that "it's just a freakin' fish. It didn't even know it was alive for kriste's sake". [/QUOTE]
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