Healthy Aquariums from Schmeg.com

   

Fish wastes, leftover food, and all other organic matter that accumulate in a tank don't just simply disappear like magic.
There are organisms in nature that decompose the material into either toxic elements or beneficial elements. Obviously, for a healthy aquarium, we strive for the good organisms that work with us and not against us. And the process in which these organisms work is called the Nitrogen Cycle.

Nitrate is a much less toxic form than it's dangerous cousins, nitrites, but that doesn't mean we should let it accumulate. Nitrates, in large amounts, can lead to excessive algae growth. To keep nitrates, ammonias, and other toxic water parameters stable, we make partial water changes and the cycle starts all over again.

The nitrate cycle will automatically start when you add a little bit of ammonia to the tank. There are many ways to do this and most people add a fish. This may not be your prefered way, as it requires carefully monitoring the tank for anywhere from two weeks to a month. Ammonia and nitrates will spike at alarming amounts when the nitrogen cycle is establishing itself, meaning that you will also have to do many emergency water changes.

Another way is to start the nitrogen cycle fish-free. This can be done by adding an aquatic plant like anacharis (which is found easily and inexpensively). The leaves that fall off will provide the ammonia and they feed off the ammonia spikes, so it will keep the ammonia lower. Another way is by adding a little fish food, or a piece of shrimp, or by buying a commercial bacteria starter like Cycle. Another way is to add a handful of gravel from an established tank or squeeze out the media sponge from an established tank into the uncycled tank, as long as the tank that it comes from is healthy.

When your tank is established, there are things that can also make your nitrogen cycle crash by killing off the good bacteria. These are things you should avoid, at all costs. One is changing all the media of your filter in one go, or turning off the filter and cleaning it out. In most filters, most your good bacteria live in the filter media. Instead, you should break down the chores: one week you will change one cartridge of your filter, another week you'll change the other (if applicable), and then the next week, you'll siphon the gravel. If your filter has a sponge, always clean it out in old tank water; this keeps the good bacteria from dying, completely.

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