Proper Cycling

[yikai]

Decided to create this sticky to help new reefers get through this period. We all know about cycling, but do we all know exactly what to do? What exactly is cycling? How long? Why? This is a very important step in a successful marine set-up. Firstly, let's start with the basics.

What is Ammonia, Nitrite and nitrate? This is afterall, what we want to understand during our cycling process. Cycling a system is crucial in establishing the nitrogen cycle, and cultivating the important bacteria needed for the nitrogen cycle. Harmful ammonia (NH3) is converted to still harmful nitrite, (NO2), and is then eventually converted into harmless, but still harmful in high amounts, nitrates (NO3). In certain cases, NO3 is converted into harmless nitrogen gas (N2).

In the cycling process, ammonia accumulates and chemo-autotrophic bacteria will start to utilize it. As these bacteria increases, NH3 drops, and NO2 increases. This spike in NO2 triggers the second group of bacteria to form. These then utilize the NO2 and NO3 is released as a by product. This marks the end of the Nitrogen cycling in most tanks. The final product, NO3, then accumulates to incredulous levels unless removed physically, i.e water change, or chemically, i.e AZ-NO3, denitrator, nutrient export i.e chaeto, fuge. In some cases, anaerobic bacteria convert the NO3 into harmless N2 gas. This is difficult to achieve in most aquarium as anaerobic sites are needed to provide refuge for these bacteria. Such sites include deep within liverocks, or a deep sand bed. (which will not be discussed here).

Cycling the tank is important in establishing these useful bacteria, for your tank. The longer you cycle, the more the bacteria population. This results in a stable tank with enough beneficial bacteria to maintain low NH3 and NO2 concentrations in your tank.

The magic ingrediant to cycling is TIME, and PATIENCE. No matter WHAT you use, bacteria etc, time and patience is the key to a good cycling. It takes a few weeks for bacteria to be thoroughly established. BE PATIENT! <img src="http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Take the time off to read up on livestock, corals and make a list of what you would like to get! The time will fly right pass, and you get a good cycled tank, plus a wealth of knowledge while waiting for the tank to cycle. Add liverock and livesand to your tank while cycling. This will allow a place and source of beneficial bacteria. Also, during cycling, your liverock will have time to mature and grow wonderful stuff, such as sponges, beneficial macroalgae, tunicates, feather worms and maybe even some hitchhiker corals!

Next step, is kicking off the cycling process. Of course, we need to start off with some ammonia, to get the cycling process started. There is plenty of ammonia in liverock when u first introduce it into your system. Ammonia from die-offs from the liverock will be a source. If you are afraid it might not be enough, adding in some fish food or a small piece of market prawn will work well. I do not advocate using livestock for cycling processes. Some people start off with damsels and other wildlife. please do not do this. Spare a thought for the poor fish. just because they are hardy enough to withstand the horrible conditions of cycling, it is not humane to put them through it. Why risk the life of the fish, or the fact that the fish could introduce a disease to your tank before you even start adding in real lifestock!? Damsels are also very aggressive, and if they survive the cycling, they will kill your future inhabitants and it will be a pain to remove them.

How are you going to test if your cycling is over? Test kits! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" /> track the cycling process by using test kits. Ammonia will start spiking first, and when it drops to 0, NO2 will start increasing. When NO2 decreases, you will see an increase in NO3. cycling is complete when NH3, and NO2 drop to zero. the final product will be some/lots of NO3. Doing water changes to reduce the NO3 will be good before adding livestock. Your first inhabitants can be some clean up crews to clear off algae that might have grown during the cycling.

Congratulations. You have gone though your cycling process. Take care not to overstock your tank so soon. You might risk distrupting the delicate balance.

Add in new livestock slowly to allow more bacteria to recolonize to cope with the new increase in bioload.

Happy reefing, and hope this article is of use to the new reefers

[rosleyjimaen]

Decided to create this sticky to help new reefers get through this period. We all know about cycling, but do we all know exactly what to do? What exactly is cycling? How long? Why? This is a very important step in a successful marine set-up. Firstly, let's start with the basics.

What is Ammonia, Nitrite and nitrate? This is afterall, what we want to understand during our cycling process. Cycling a system is crucial in establishing the nitrogen cycle, and cultivating the important bacteria needed for the nitrogen cycle. Harmful ammonia (NH3) is converted to still harmful nitrite, (NO2), and is then eventually converted into harmless, but still harmful in high amounts, nitrates (NO3). In certain cases, NO3 is converted into harmless nitrogen gas (N2).

In the cycling process, ammonia accumulates and chemo-autotrophic bacteria will start utilize it. As these bacteria increases, NH3 drops, and NO2 increases. This spike in NO2 triggers the second group of bacteria to form. These then utilize the NO2 and NO3 is released as a by product. This marks the end of the Nitrogen cycling in most tanks. The final product, NO3, then accumulates to incredulous levels unless removed physically, i.e water change, or chemically, i.e AZ-NO3, denitrator, nutrient export i.e chaeto, fuge. In some cases, anaerobic bacteria convert the NO3 into harmless N2 gas. This is difficult to achieve in most aquarium as anaerobic sites are needed to provide refuge for these bacteria. Such sites include deep within liverocks, or a deep sand bed. (which will not be discussed here).

Cycling the tank is important in establishing these useful bacteria, for your tank. The longer you cycle, the more the bacteria population. This results in a stable tank with enough beneficial bacteria to maintain low NH3 and NO2 concentrations in your tank.

The magic ingrediant to cycling is TIME, and PATIENCE. No matter WHAT you use, bacteria etc, time and patience is the key to a good cycling. It takes a few weeks for bacteria to be thoroughly established. BE PATIENT!

Take the time off to read up on livestock, corals and make a list of what you would like to get! The time will fly right pass, and you get a good cycled tank, plus a wealth of knowledge while waiting for the tank to cycle. Add liverock and livesand to your tank while cycling. This will allow a place and source of beneficial bacteria. Also, during cycling, your liverock will have time to mature and grow wonderful stuff, such as sponges, beneficial macroalgae, tunicates, feather worms and maybe even some hitchhiker corals!

Next step, is kicking off the cycling process. Of course, we need to start off with some ammonia, to get the cycling process started. There is plenty of ammonia in liverock when u first introduce it into your system. Ammonia from die-offs from the liverock will be a source. If you are afraid it might not be enough, adding in some fish food or a small piece of market prawn will work well. I do not advocate using livestock for cycling processes. Some people start off with damsels and other wildlife. please do not do this. Spare a thought for the poor fish. just because they are hardy enough to withstand the horrible conditions of cycling, it is not humane to put them through it. Why risk the life of the fish, or the fact that the fish could introduce a disease to your tank before you even start adding in real lifestock!? Damsels are also very aggressive, and if they survive the cycling, they will kill your future inhabitants and it will be a pain to remove them.

How are you going to test if your cycling is over? Test kits! track the cycling process by using test kits. Ammonia will start spiking first, and when it drops to 0, NO2 will start increasing. When NO2 decreases, you will see an increase in NO3. cycling is complete when NH3, and NO2 drop to zero. the final product will be some/lots of NO3. Doing water changes to reduce the NO3 will be good before adding livestock. Your first inhabitants can be some clean up crews to clear off algae that might have grown during the cycling.

Congratulations. You have gone though your cycling process. Take care not to overstock your tank so soon. You might risk distrupting the delicate balance.

Add in new livestock slowly to allow more bacteria to recolonize to cope with the new increase in bioload.

Happy reefing, and hope this article is of use to the new reefers

Hi bro, can advice what test kit to buy??? just doing the set up.

[yikai]

Hi bro, can advice what test kit to buy??? just doing the set up.

hey. you can try Salifert. very good brand and accurate IMO.

[navyseal09]

hi

i just started my cycling process after reading your post . i bought a bottle of bacteria start up pills and added it in and i was wondering is it useful? or can you advise me should i put in market prawn too?

[Ketchup]

market prawn will kick start the cycling. If you don't use market prawn, some people use starter fish, which i strongly disagree.

[raydiative]

the market prawn will decompose fast which kicks off the cycling by introduction ammonia...

[jackywongto]

hi

i just started my cycling process after reading your post . i bought a bottle of bacteria start up pills and added it in and i was wondering is it useful? or can you advise me should i put in market prawn too?

hi Navy, you added bacteria but you need some waste inside to kickstart the ammonia cycle too.

Else the bacteria does not have sufficient waste to sustain and will die off too.

Either throw in market prawn or fish food in the tank.

cheers!

[navyseal09]

OH ic ! woot i just added three market prawn into my tank. Thanks for the Advise . Hope every thing will run well.

How often do i need to test the water when cycling tank??

[vurbul]

OH ic ! woot i just added three market prawn into my tank. Thanks for the Advise . Hope every thing will run well.

How often do i need to test the water when cycling tank??

Wah. So many you put. I tested mine twice a week for the first 3 weeks.

All the best.

[jackywongto]

How big is your tank navy?

As a guide, u can test about twice a week for 2 -3 weeks then weekly.

[navyseal09]

How big is your tank navy?

As a guide, u can test about twice a week for 2 -3 weeks then weekly.

my tank size is 3x2x2 . so i think i will start testing the water from next week onwards .my tank will be FOWLR .which i dont really need a chiller right?

[navyseal09]

market prawn will kick start the cycling. If you don't use market prawn, some people use starter fish, which i strongly disagree.

Starter fish meaning they place fish inside the cycling tank? i thought we are not suppose to place any Live stock into tank during cycling? or i'm wrong about that

[jackywongto]

my tank size is 3x2x2 . so i think i will start testing the water from next week onwards .my tank will be FOWLR .which i dont really need a chiller right?

Nope. But keep the water ard 29 deg cel

start a tank thread when done

[comycus]

Starter fish meaning they place fish inside the cycling tank? i thought we are not suppose to place any Live stock into tank during cycling? or i'm wrong about that

Don't do that. Cruel and unnecessary.

Anyway even if keeping fowlr, you might wanna considering some way to cool down your tank temperature. Hot season's coming up, you can expect your tank to hit >32 degrees if there's no chiller/fan installed. Add in the heat generated from your pumps... not advisable bro. Chiller is always a good investment.

[navyseal09]

Don't do that. Cruel and unnecessary.

Anyway even if keeping fowlr, you might wanna considering some way to cool down your tank temperature. Hot season's coming up, you can expect your tank to hit >32 degrees if there's no chiller/fan installed. Add in the heat generated from your pumps... not advisable bro. Chiller is always a good investment.

haha nah i'm not doing that. was curious thats y i asked . yah will consider a chiller maybe in the later part . for now maybe will install a fan.

[yikai]

haha nah i'm not doing that. was curious thats y i asked . yah will consider a chiller maybe in the later part . for now maybe will install a fan.

Hi navy. In order to kick start cycling, a food source needs to be present for bacteria to start working.

to put it very simply, there are three kinds of bacteria. I wont go into scientific details here to prevent confusion.

Bacteria A consumes ammonia to form nitrites.

Bacteria B consumes Nitrites to form nitrates.

Bacteria C consumes nitrates to form nitrogen gas. however, bacteria C cannot tolerate oxygen, and thus can only live in places where there is no oxygen, like deep within the sand or deep in liverock. unfortunately bacteria C is very difficult to cultivate, and that's why nitrates are the end of the breakdown process in most tanks. Rarely does it get converted to nitrogen gas.

To begin cycling, bacteria A needs ammonia to grow. That is why people put market prawn. As the prawn decays, ammonia is produced, and bacteria A can convert it to nitrites. This is where your question is answered. Instead of prawn, some people put damsel fish. Fish produce waste, and the waste will become ammonia. But as you can see, this is unnecessary and cruel.

As the ammonia builds up, more bacteria A grows and then more ammonia is converted to nitrite.

As nitrite builds up, bacteria B starts converting it to nitrates. and then, more bacteria B starts producing.

Finally, a stable healthy population of both bacteria A and B will be achieved. And they will convert these harmful chemicals to safe nitrate for you to remove via water change or other nutrient export.

Nitrates are safe but are toxic in very very high amounts, in the hundreds of PPM. so don't worry too much about it unless you are keeping SPS.

Hope this helps!!

This is the summarized, version of my original article above. Hope it's easy to understand and i hope it helps you

[brandontzr]

Hi navy. In order to kick start cycling, a food source needs to be present for bacteria to start working.

to put it very simply, there are three kinds of bacteria. I wont go into scientific details here to prevent confusion.

Bacteria A consumes ammonia to form nitrites.

Bacteria B consumes Nitrites to form nitrates.

Bacteria C consumes nitrates to form nitrogen gas. however, bacteria C cannot tolerate oxygen, and thus can only live in places where there is no oxygen, like deep within the sand or deep in liverock. unfortunately bacteria C is very difficult to cultivate, and that's why nitrates are the end of the breakdown process in most tanks. Rarely does it get converted to nitrogen gas.

To begin cycling, bacteria A needs ammonia to grow. That is why people put market prawn. As the prawn decays, ammonia is produced, and bacteria A can convert it to nitrites. This is where your question is answered. Instead of prawn, some people put damsel fish. Fish produce waste, and the waste will become ammonia. But as you can see, this is unnecessary and cruel.

As the ammonia builds up, more bacteria A grows and then more ammonia is converted to nitrite.

As nitrite builds up, bacteria B starts converting it to nitrates. and then, more bacteria B starts producing.

Finally, a stable healthy population of both bacteria A and B will be achieved. And they will convert these harmful chemicals to safe nitrate for you to remove via water change or other nutrient export.

Nitrates are safe but are toxic in very very high amounts, in the hundreds of PPM. so don't worry too much about it unless you are keeping SPS.

Hope this helps!!

This is the summarized, version of my original article above. Hope it's easy to understand and i hope it helps you

Hi Lemon. This helps me to really get the idea. it's a very simplified version, easy to understand. THanks!

[navyseal09]

Hi navy. In order to kick start cycling, a food source needs to be present for bacteria to start working.

to put it very simply, there are three kinds of bacteria. I wont go into scientific details here to prevent confusion.

Bacteria A consumes ammonia to form nitrites.

Bacteria B consumes Nitrites to form nitrates.

Bacteria C consumes nitrates to form nitrogen gas. however, bacteria C cannot tolerate oxygen, and thus can only live in places where there is no oxygen, like deep within the sand or deep in liverock. unfortunately bacteria C is very difficult to cultivate, and that's why nitrates are the end of the breakdown process in most tanks. Rarely does it get converted to nitrogen gas.

To begin cycling, bacteria A needs ammonia to grow. That is why people put market prawn. As the prawn decays, ammonia is produced, and bacteria A can convert it to nitrites. This is where your question is answered. Instead of prawn, some people put damsel fish. Fish produce waste, and the waste will become ammonia. But as you can see, this is unnecessary and cruel.

As the ammonia builds up, more bacteria A grows and then more ammonia is converted to nitrite.

As nitrite builds up, bacteria B starts converting it to nitrates. and then, more bacteria B starts producing.

Finally, a stable healthy population of both bacteria A and B will be achieved. And they will convert these harmful chemicals to safe nitrate for you to remove via water change or other nutrient export.

Nitrates are safe but are toxic in very very high amounts, in the hundreds of PPM. so don't worry too much about it unless you are keeping SPS.

Hope this helps!!

This is the summarized, version of my original article above. Hope it's easy to understand and i hope it helps you

Hi lemon

yah i got the idea now . really appreciate it thank you so much.During cycling i have put charcoal into my filter is it ok ? will it disrupt the cycling ? i place the charcoal in order to eliminate the smell.

[poomoon]

Hi navy. In order to kick start cycling, a food source needs to be present for bacteria to start working.

to put it very simply, there are three kinds of bacteria. I wont go into scientific details here to prevent confusion.

Bacteria A consumes ammonia to form nitrites.

Bacteria B consumes Nitrites to form nitrates.

Bacteria C consumes nitrates to form nitrogen gas. however, bacteria C cannot tolerate oxygen, and thus can only live in places where there is no oxygen, like deep within the sand or deep in liverock. unfortunately bacteria C is very difficult to cultivate, and that's why nitrates are the end of the breakdown process in most tanks. Rarely does it get converted to nitrogen gas.

To begin cycling, bacteria A needs ammonia to grow. That is why people put market prawn. As the prawn decays, ammonia is produced, and bacteria A can convert it to nitrites. This is where your question is answered. Instead of prawn, some people put damsel fish. Fish produce waste, and the waste will become ammonia. But as you can see, this is unnecessary and cruel.

As the ammonia builds up, more bacteria A grows and then more ammonia is converted to nitrite.

As nitrite builds up, bacteria B starts converting it to nitrates. and then, more bacteria B starts producing.

Finally, a stable healthy population of both bacteria A and B will be achieved. And they will convert these harmful chemicals to safe nitrate for you to remove via water change or other nutrient export.

Nitrates are safe but are toxic in very very high amounts, in the hundreds of PPM. so don't worry too much about it unless you are keeping SPS.

Hope this helps!!

This is the summarized, version of my original article above. Hope it's easy to understand and i hope it helps you

This is a very good summary, concise and clear bro !

[comycus]

I hope you mean activated carbon rather than charcoal. There's a difference. Charcoal is only limited to removing heavy metals and odors, while carbon helps to remove organics too.

What smell are you trying to remove?

[navyseal09]

I hope you mean activated carbon rather than charcoal. There's a difference. Charcoal is only limited to removing heavy metals and odors, while carbon helps to remove organics too.

What smell are you trying to remove?

mine is not activated carbon just charcoal i bought from normal aquarium shop.

after i added the water into my tank with live rock in it .dunno why the water smell like 5hit. thats y i place charcoal in my filter after an hour the smell is gone. after that i came across some reefer bro post in their thread that when the prawn decomposed there will be smell so not to get nag by my parents i put in the charcoal to prevent the smell coming out . Just in case!! lol

[jackywongto]

Sometimes there are some dieoffs from rocks so the water does smell. Uncured LR will smell more. Takes a while for the foul smell to go away. I guess if the purpose is to remove the smell and the charcoal works, then it's fine. But after tank is cycled, maybe switch to carbon.

[yikai]

Hi Lemon. This helps me to really get the idea. it's a very simplified version, easy to understand. THanks!

You're welcome bro! Good to help new members get used to the idea of cycling as many people see little importance in this vital step

Hi lemon

yah i got the idea now . really appreciate it thank you so much.During cycling i have put charcoal into my filter is it ok ? will it disrupt the cycling ? i place the charcoal in order to eliminate the smell.

putting charcoal is fine for now. Switch to activated carbon will be better. It removes stains, odours and certain levels of organics, as well as minerals and unwanted metals. Get better brands as the quality of carbon is better. Carbon contains many many many tiny pores inside and the better brands will have better quality carbon. Personally i like using Rowa.

This is a very good summary, concise and clear bro !

thanks! feel free to ask for help in the future

[navyseal09]

yah i have just switch from charcoal to activated carbon . so i hope my cycling will be done soon .. lol read up a lot on fishes super eager to put them in to my tank... but have to wait...

[yikai]

yah i have just switch from charcoal to activated carbon . so i hope my cycling will be done soon .. lol read up a lot on fishes super eager to put them in to my tank... but have to wait...

Not everything on the internet applies to real life! maybe you may want to list what fishes you are interested in, along with your tank size? Some might not be suitable due to certain reasons that the internet does not specify. anyway if you would like any help, don't hesitate to ask or post! I will definitely render my services and advice whenever possible and i'm sure many of our members here will too!

As for now, let's not continue to discuss in this thread. This thread is a pinned topic on cycling. Any questions on carbon, fish etc that is not related to cycling should be posted in the other sections appropriate for it.