# Fishless cycling for dummies :)



## Ony (Oct 19, 2012)

*I Keep reading posts from people who do not understand the nitrogen cycle or who would like to know more about fishless cycling. Here's my take on the subject. Hopefully its an easy read and makes things a bit clearer.
*

*Fishless cycling*

Fishless cycling is a method of setting up an aquarium that replicates what happens in nature and ensures a healthy environment for your aquatic pets. There are other methods but they are costly, difficult, ineffective or a combination of the above. 
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Why bother?*

If you don’t cycle your new pet will be exposed to relatively high levels of toxic ammonia and nitrites. Ammonia and nitrite poisoning is not always fatal but it can still cause permanent damage as well as unnecessary stress and discomfort. Symptoms include chemical burns, difficulty breathing and opportunistic fungal/bacterial infections.
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The theory*

Most filters make use of naturally occurring friendly bacteria as ‘biological filtration’. The filter itself only provides a suitable home for these bacteria and does not directly ‘clean’ the water. You can find much prettier pictures out there but to summarise:


*Ammonia** (fish wee) --> beneficial bacteria --> Nitrite --> beneficial bacteria --> Nitrate*
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A ‘mature’ filter contains a significant and diverse colony of these very useful bacteria. With fishless cycling you will have the filter in this state *before* the fish are added to the tank. Luckily for us it’s quite simple; all the bacteria need to grow is a constant supply of oxygen, space to grow and some ammonia.
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Ok, lets get started!*

You will need:
About 3-6 weeks of patience
An aquarium with working filter and filter media
Ammonia (soap and fragrance free)- Shop bought will be about a 10% solution.
A measuring device- can be a 5ml measuring cap for aquarium ferts or baby syringe bought from a pharmacy. It doesn’t matter what you use as long as it measures in ml.
Liquid tests for ammonia and nitr*i*tes- This is absolutely *vital.* Dip strip tests are not accurate enough and pet shop visits will not be practical.


1. Set up your aquarium- You can also add plants and decor at this stage. If you have a heater crank it up to about 28*C while you cycle.
2. Add declorinator- Chlorine will kill your bacteria! Tapsafe or similar products will do fine but make sure that if your water supply contains chloramine that you use a product that neutralises both chlorine and chloramine. 
3. Add ammonia- Aim for about 4ppm of ammonia in the tank. That would be 4ml per 100liters but there are online calculators to work out how much you need for your tank. 
4. Wait- After a few days test the tank water for ammonia and top back up to 4ppm if levels have dropped.
5. Repeat- Test every day for ammonia and top up as required. After about 2 weeks start testing for nitr*i*tes too. Expect them to be high and stay high for a while!
6. Once the ammonia is consistently 0 (or very close, it can be hard to tell on the tests) up your testing regime to top up the ammonia every 12 hours.
7. Ammonia and nitr*i*tes are 0 within 12 hours of topping up. Well done you made it! Keep it up for a few days to make sure the cycle is really finished and then do a big water change (80% ish). Ideally leave the tank for 24 hours between the water change and getting your new aquatic friends but remember to feed the bacteria up until 12 hours before your new pet arrives. You don’t want to starve the bacteria you have waited so long to establish.
8. Keep testing daily for a week or so just to be sure your new pets are safe.
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FAQ*

I’m about three weeks in and my nitr*i*tes haven’t dropped at all even though the ammonia is dropping really quickly.
*This is fairly normal, the nitrites seem to stay the same for ages and then suddenly drop to 0 over a couple of days. To try and speed things up you can do a 50% water change and then top the ammonia back up to 4ppm. 
*
Its all gone wrong and I already have fish/phibs in the tank what should I do?
*Unfortunately the only way to fix this is with elbow grease. Fingers crossed you did most things right and it’s only a ‘mini cycle’. This is when you already have lots of bacteria but for some reason not quite enough to deal with your current bioload. Either way you have to remove the ammonia and nitrite build up with water changes. Change up to 50% of your water at a time and replace it with dechlorinated tap water warmed to tank temperature with hot water from the kettle. Keep going until nitrites and ammonia are under 0.25 ppm. Repeat as needed but try to leave at least a few hours between water changes. A very helpful tip here is to have some Seachem Prime on hand. It is mainly used as dechlorinater but at higher doses also binds up ammonia/nitrite. If you are using Prime this way you can allow the combined ammonia/nitrite to reach 2ppm before it gets dangerous. That’s a lot fewer water changes and will give your filter an easier time catching up.**
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The instructions on my filter say to change the media every X months, will I lose my bacteria?
*Changing the filter media should only be done when the media starts to fall apart. When you do need to change or remove media try to take only 25% at a time so that you keep most of the bacteria. The exception to this rule is carbon which should be replaced as instructed. You usually only get a small amount of this with the filter and I personally prefer to replace it with bio-media like sponge.*

My API nitr*i*te test goes purple but then changes to blue really fast and I haven't even shaken it yet. Is my cycle finished?
*No it’s a known issue with the test and it means your nitrites are so high they are completely off the chart.**
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How do I clean my filter?
*Rinse in used tank water and get it back into the filter (and the filter back on) fairly quickly. Never allow the media to dry out and never use chlorinated water.*

Why haven’t you mentioned nitr*a*tes?
*Nitrate tests are notoriously inaccurate, temperamental and difficult to use so I left them out. If you want to measure nitrates you can and you should expect to see nitrates go up as the nitrites go down. High nitrates have been shown to be damaging to fish but some fish are more/less sensitive to them than others than others. Generally aim for between 20-40ppm (lower if possible) once the fish are in. **
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Can I seed the filter with water from my friend’s aquarium?
*It wouldn’t make much difference as most of the bacteria live in the filter media but it would still expose your new fish to any nasties lurking in your friend’s tank. If you are confident that your friend’s tank is healthy ask for small piece of mature filter media as that would significantly speed your cycle. If the filter media is sponge it’s easy to cut a piece off and replace it with a new fragment. Filter media should be transported in a damp plastic bag and put into the new filter as quickly as possible. 
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I’m upgrading/starting another tank, do I need to do this all over again?
*When upgrading a tank you can either move the old filter over and run both together or put the old mature media into the new filter. Both methods work and you don’t need to cycle as all the bacteria is safe and doing its thing in the new tank. If you are going from one to two tanks you can use mature filter media as suggested in the answer above. Do not remove more than 25% of the media from the old tank. Even a tiny bit of mature filter media in the new filter will drastically reduce the time it takes for the new tank to cycle. 
*
Can I turn my filter off overnight?
*No! Never turn the filter off if you don’t have to and definitely not for more than an hour. The friendly bacteria will *


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## AshMashMash (Oct 28, 2007)

Not read it word-for-word but all good 

There is a sticky already though....


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## Ony (Oct 19, 2012)

I found that post a bit difficult to follow and not nearly colourful enough. I thought that if I wrote my own here it would save me from continuously linking to another forum.


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## adlerabel (Mar 14, 2013)

hi,
there are great post of fishless cycling, you give me great information about fishless cycling and nitrogen cycling. your post is very informative for me and peoples. Thanks...
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## Plantyblk (Nov 19, 2012)

hi im cycling my tank and ammonia is at 1ppm and the nitrites are 0ppm and the nitrates are at 5-10ppm whats happened? is it cycled or what should I do


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## RubyRoo12 (Jun 20, 2012)

good post :2thumb: very easy to follow


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## Ony (Oct 19, 2012)

Plantyblk said:


> hi im cycling my tank and ammonia is at 1ppm and the nitrites are 0ppm and the nitrates are at 5-10ppm whats happened? is it cycled or what should I do


You aren't cycled if you are still reading ammonia within 12 hours of adding it. Top the ammonia back up to 3 or 4 ppm and test again tomorrow. Its impossible to confidently say from one result how close you are to finishing the cycle but I'm guessing from the low nitrates and nitrites that you are only a few days in? You should expect the cycle to take no less than 3 weeks and probably a bit longer.


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## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

We used to use a similar method in the Fish shop we had, but as ammonia can be dangerous in the wrong hands there is an easier method than using that.

Get a lump of beef...yips...beef. About 2sq inches or equivalent. Do not use mince

Put it into a stocking and weigh it down to the bottom of the tank...its going to rot and produce alll the ammonia your tank will need.

Leave it there for 7 days.

Once 7 days are up...test tank water. Your ammonia should be off the scale by now

As long as you do not disturb that stocking there will be not smell from the tank.

once ammonia levels have peaked. put a plastic bag under the water, let it fill up and gently lift the stocking into the bag...tie the bag under the water and bin it.

You now have a tank chock full of ammonia and it will take approx 2 weeks from then to cycle fully. But once those ammonia readings have dissapeared. and you have already had nitrite readings that are very hight. Your looking for nitrate now. Once that it there your done. Tank cycled.


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## Ony (Oct 19, 2012)

You can do the same thing with prawns or fishfood but its hard to produce the right amount of ammonia. Too much and it stops/slows the growth of the useful bacteria especially the nitrite converting ones. Too little and you will get a mini cycle once fish are added. Plus if there is no ammonia for a long period at the end of the cycle the ammonia converting bacteria will die off.

Not saying its a bad method but (like all methods) it has its pitfalls.


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## Patto96 (Apr 18, 2013)

Good. This is for freshwater right.

Freshwater

Ammonia is not needed. If I was to do that I would first buy your substrate, make it inert i.e. not live plants or rock which will dissove e.g. limestone (yes I have seen it done). Then add a small pinch of fish food. This should set it all off. Naturally algae will build up in your tank. This is good, add a bit more after the second week or so. Cycle for about a month, but make sure the tank has just nitrate and no nitrite or ammonia, add plants, add fish go!. Each time add only a pinch, not much is needed at all. Water changes is not needed, and rarely speeds it up unless you directly add ammonia.

For Marine, no addition of any food is needed. First buy your Live Rock, put it into your tank. Let the algae build up and after about 4-6 weeks your tank should be fully cycled. Add a wide variety of snails then your fish. Do not change water. Doing this slows the process. DO NOT ADD ammonia. All the nitrates, nitrite and ammonia will be found in some of the naturally found decaying organisms in the Live rock (LR)

For freshwater the cycling works fine. There is no true way. There are only two ways to get nitrates out either by having a lot of plants/macro algae (freshwater/marine) or weekly water changes. Reverse Osmosis water is prefrable in marine, but is not needed. Just add plenty of macro algae and you will be fine.

You will still need to cycle the tank even if you are just switching tanks. Bacteria would have died in transit, or in parameter changes. It is best still to wait until there is no ammonia or nitrite.

So always check nitrite, ammonia and nitrate before you add any further stock. It is best in a freshwater aquarium to cycle, add plants, a few fish and a few snails. Never add too many fish at once, this is because the amount of ammonia will increase, and you need to allow your bacteria in your filtration to increase in population to cope.

Another element not linked to cycling is phosphate. This is found in all food. With excess it can cause algae blooms. Adult fish because they are not growing as much consume less phosphate than juvenile fish. So even an adult fish of one species and a juvenile of another species although exactly the same size the adult fish will release more phosphates and therefore is more a bio-load than the juvenile fish of the same size. Of course a 1'' adult fish wont have as much bio-load than a 3'' juvenile. Phosphate is removed by water changes and plants/algae.

What you said was good, but there are many methods. And none are the true way, but plenty are wrong and yours is not. Good work


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## Gazza1587 (Sep 29, 2013)

Thank you for a good post will help me a lot in setting up my tank.

Really like the information and help on this forum. :2thumb:


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