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Saltwater Aquarium Maintenance

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Fishless cycling is the process of cycling a tank, or establishing a biological filter in a fishless aquarium.

The biological filter, or nitrogen cycle, naturally occurs over the first 4-6 weeks after a tank is set up. Cycling a tank is necessary to keep the water free of pollutants and the fish healthy, but while the filter is establishing itself, fish are exposed to toxic levels of ammonia and nitrite and often succumb to disease and death. Fishless cycling removes fish from harm by establishing the biological filter before fish are introduced to the aquarium.

If your goal is faster cycling or larger bio loads, I’m afraid you may be disappointed. Fishless cycling is not designed for this, and rarely can either of these be realistically achieved any better than traditional cycling. Both require a certain amount of time. However, there is one main difference. Here is where I get into my philosophy, so bear with me, but I really think you need to understand this to justify your use of this method. Fish have rights. Just like any living animal which is in our care, that animal was at one point, whether domesticated or not, taken from its natural environment. At that point, we took on the responsibility as aquarists to provide a suitable and favorable environment for our fish. One way to do this is by utilizing fishless cycling.

Have you ever gotten a new tank, set it up, put some fish in, and battled dangerously high levels of ammonia or nitrite for a month? Well it happens and its frustrating. But think about the fish that are in there. That is there home. What if we pumped carbon monoxide into your home for a month. You probably would not fair well. Same concept. So as well as helping the fish, this will help you in the long run as far as keeping healthy fish for life. Large public and private aquariums use this process to minimize health risks to their fish.

A major opinion that I have run into is that fishless cycling is unnatural. These people say that adding "chemicals" to your aquarium is wrong. Well, certainly subjecting your fish to high levels of ammonia and nitrite is not natural. Do a little environmental research and test any fish bearing pond. See if you ever find levels as high as in a cycling tank, or even any at all. Well, you won’t. So do not let anyone discourage you with this argument, it is invalid.

Method

To use the fishless cycling method simply add 4-5 drops of pure ammonia per 10 gallons of water to a fishless tank. Do this once a day until nitrite becomes measurable. At that point cut back to 2-3 drops per 10 gallons of water, per day. When nitrite and ammonia are both at zero, and nitrate is measurable, the tank is cycled. A substantial water change of 25% or more is advised, then your tank is ready for a full complement of fish. Some factors to consider:

The tank has to be well oxygenated as the bacteria require oxygen

The ammonia used should be free of any perfumes and additives

Do not treat the water with conditioners that remove ammonia

Water changes are only necessary if the ammonia and nitrite levels are far off level, which should only occur if more than 5 drops is used per 10 Gallons of water. After the cycle has been completed use activated carbon to remove any possible perfume or additives, which might have been in the ammonia.

After stocking your tank with fish, general maintenance of the aquarium is all that is required. The bacteria will adjust to the fish load and if you plan to add new fish the bacteria will have to adjust again.

Keep in mind to feed your tank with ammonia until you introduce fish. The waste generated by your fish will then provide the tank with all that is needed to balance the environment.

With this method, all aquarium types can be cycled in a very short period of time.

Professionals use the ammonia drop method to keep live sand and rock alive, which they sell in their stores.

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