New Guy Question!

[drpraetorius]

I feel stupid, being a saltwater convert. I have so many questions! But I will only ask one. What do people and places mean by saying that fish are perfect for cycling tanks? What is a cycling tank?I haven't heard of that before.

 

[crystain]

Cycling is a term used to describe the process of establishing a stable biosystem in a tank that can process toxic dissolved ammonia to nitrite, nitrate, and then nitrogen gas....this is known as the nitrogen cycle.
To provide fuel for the cycle, some people place a hardy fish (such as a damsel fish) in the tank, whose wastes create ammonia. Many people on this last use live rock to fuel the cycle. Some have even recommended using a frozen cocktail shrimp.
Hppe this helps some.

 

[trying4reef]

Being new to the salt water world I feel your fustration. as crystain said the nitrogen cycle starts when you add ammonia (either by fish live rock or both) to the tank. The process takes time! thats the biggest factor. depending on what water you started with could be longer but it toke my tank 4 1/2 weeks to cycle I used live rock and damsels cuase I couldn't stand seeing the tank empty for a month but unfortunatly one of my damsels didn't make it. Hope this helps, welcome to the wonderfull world of SWF and best of luck!!

 

[tzetze]

I used live sand and live rock to cycle my tank, I didnt want to deal with the damsels. In a week I was adding critters to the tank. If you use damsels, or just live rock the cycling process takes too long. Buy a good live sand and cut down your time waiting. You will more than likely need to remove your damsels when you want to add other fish. They are very territorial. Just be sure to test the water to be sure the cycling is complete.

 

[ren]

Yes raw shrimp i have 4-rotten now lol- baking in my 54gl. Sunday was 2 weeks Ammonia spiked and dropped back to zero last week, just waiting for the trites to get back to zero - still at 5 for now though