Thank you. I learned about the nitrogen cycle after I lost my fish and had to start over. Yesterday I bought a bubbler, a plant, and added (topped) off the tank with water conditioner. The tank was horribly cloudy. This morning it was almost clear so in a better place. This was absolutely valuable !
TTHHAAANNKKK YOUU SOO MMMUUUCHH. This is the most accurate guide on how to cycle your tank.THANK YOU. Now I know how to have beneficial bacteria's in my aquarium without worrying that my fish will die.
I know this is random and doesn’t have anything to do with the video but I just got a strange burst of happiness and wanted to let you know that you all are beautiful people. And yes I love the giraffe painting.
takes about 4 weeks plus too properly set up a tank the proper way , only way too go in my opinion . I use a pinch of fish food and monitor it for some time . this gal has got it spot on . wish more people would take the time too cycle there tanks the natural way . Thanks Heidi good advice .
Thank you! Very helpful information. Our fish are dying even though we cycled it first. But then Ammonia started rising for some reason and no nitrites. I don't know if the tap water has too much chlorine that killed the bacteria even though we add water conditioner. I think we should put the water in a bucket first, then add the conditioner, then add in the tank. Otherwise, fresh tap water with high chlorine will probably kill the bacteria.
Nice vid Heidi. You hit all the high points. Starting on my second new tank, doing a fish-in cycle. So far none have died. I think moderation is the key. Fewer fish initially , feed them less often, test and change the water daily. Your video has helped me understand the nitrogen cycle and how to start up a new tank. Thanks!
Nice video...I'm a beginner and I'm learning day by day. My tank have 40 days cyclying, and now I'm going to add fish...little fish like platy and molly. I like your videos because English is easy to understand. thank you.
You explained this so good! I just got a 30 gallon tank for my fish. I was just planning on filtering it and not do anything cuz I saw that on some fish forums. I stumbled across this video and now I'm now halfway through the nitrogen cycle! I'm very excited to put my fish in!
What you have said is correct but there is another aspect to this which is as important but generally overlooked. There is a direct correlation between the fish that you have in your tank, the mount of waste that they produce (and therefore the amount of ammonia that is produced) and the amount of bacteria living in your filter. Once your tank is cycled and you have a couple of fish in your tank there will be a certain amount of bacteria in your filter. The amount of bacteria is entirely dependent upon how much fish waste and ammonia your fish produce. A small number of fish will only produce a small amount of ammonia which will in turn only sustain a small amount of bacteria; bacteria will not survive unless they have a constant supply of ammonia to feed them. If you suddenly introduce far more fish into the tank you are instantly increasing the amount of ammonia produced but you cannot instantly increase the amount of bacteria in the filter, it takes a while for them to multiply and 'catch up'. I have seen this a number of times where someone massively increases the bioload by adding a lot of new fish at once and a couple of days later they fish start dying because the filter cannot keep up with the increase in the ammonia levels. They are surprised and wonder why this happens when their system is already cycled and their tank is not overstocked. Yes, it's cycled but only to the point of supporting the amount of fish currently in the tank. The answer is to increase the number of fish gradually, just a couple at a time and test your water frequently after adding more stock. If you increase gradually you are giving your bacteria time to multiply and deal with the gradual increase in ammonia.
I've been watching your other channels since you became pregnant with Irene and I love you and your family! I loved when you started showing videos of your fish and now I'm so excited you have a fish channel! You've inspired me to start a micro aquarium for myself and after doing lots of research (on top of your videos) I went on and bought everything needed for my new hobby (besides the fish of course). I just put it altogether and added in the ammonia to start the nitrogen cycle (which I had no idea about before you told me and I've owned many betas before). I'm so excited to get the process going and hopefully be able to add fish soon! Thanks so much!
+Court clark aw I'm so glad that this video was helpful! I figured the people on the vlog channel were probably sick of hearing about fish lol. So here we are. You're going to love your new tank. What kind of fish are you planning?
Heidi's Fish Tank I'm thinking either cardinal or neon tetras and endlers. I was thinking of possibly adding my beta to the tank as well but I'm not sure if that will make the 10 gallon tank too crowded.
+Court clark you could do a school of cardinals with a betta in a 10. Worst case you can add a divider. Craft mesh is .79 cents at hobby lobby and works great.
sherickoos I know even though I know alot about the cycle it's always nice to hear it again just to make sure you don't miss anything or you can find out new things that might not have been available before
You shouldn't feel too bad about losing a few fish because you didn't know any better when you were young because it got you to the point where you learned what to do and you not only did what was correct, you shared what you learned and helped others by sharing what happened. When I started out about 15 to 20 years before you were even born I had to learn by visiting the NY aquarium and asking scientists about what they "think might be good" because back then no one know what was going on. I still own a few "TFH" books from back in the late 60's and early 70's and I bring them out every few years to show people how stupid we were about the hobby back then. I say stupid because there are pictures of saltwater fish in one gallon fish bowls. Because I took the time to hang out and take notes from specialists and draw out graphs on the water chemistry and how the ammonia just appeared out of nowhere. once we figured how that happened then we had to figure out how and why it disappeared and then by 1976 we finally figure it all out and we didn't have to keep getting trucks of salt water coming in every morning. we just had to figure out how to grow this poison eating bacteria in a closed environment. and the government wanted to know how to use this to help the army out by getting this poison eating bacteria out to where Russia was using poisonous gases to hurt our men (YEA, back then the government was either using every scientist available to make weapons for themselves or to help defeat weapons made by others) life was funny to me back thenLOL by 1986 I was the first, and today one of the only four people to successfully breed clutches of Mandarin fish (to me still one of the best looking marine fish)
I have a planted aquarium now....I rarely test the water but add about 20% new water every 2 wks. I always use that special water declorinator to the water I add and my fish are alright.
loved this video, great info- really helpful! could you please do a video on filter cartriages, how to change them, and how to clean a filter without jeopordising the beneficial bacteria inside?
Just clean it in the water you collect when doing a water change. Chlorine from the tap water you are going to use to replace the tank's water will kill the bacteria so just make sure not to wash the media using the new tap water! Squeezing the sponge and rinsing the bio media bags etc should be good once a couple weeks during water changes.
More info on fish-in cycle would be helpful. When I thought I had disease, I tossed too much of my filter media and then started the cycle over. Big mess. More specific tips - like an actual regimen, on how to keep fish safe.and uninjured during spikes. Thank you!
Ive been doing a fishless cycle since march 1st and its the 13th today. My ammonia wont get past 1.0ppm and my nitrites are at .50ppm an my nitrate is at 20ppm do i keep ghost feeding my tank until the cycles done or do i stop ghost feeding since i have nitrate levels. Or do i ghost feed until the cycle is done and get fish. That’s where i get confused. This morning i decided to top off my tanks since a bout 1 inch of water has evaporated, so i filled up a bucket and put some prime in there and filled up my tank. I heard this was fine and wouldn’t mess up my cycle. Am i good on that too?
Heidi this was so helpful I did not understand the cycle but I do now I've had my tank for about 3 week all fish are fine I guess I got lucky but I want to keep them happy and alive so I will start testing my water I have fake plants do I need to do anything because of that thanks
antione geeston I would say no (I’m a fish owner) I own a red devil cichlid it is almost impossible to get rid of all waste and also cleaning especially 100% cleaning (which is what you would have to do) is very stressful so I would say no and only clean you tank once a month unless it looks clean when you stir the rocks up. (At least that’s what I do)
Awesome giraffes! Also, if one decides to add clear ammonia to initiate a nitrogen cycle, then what quantity should be preferable per gallon of a tank capacity? Thank you!
Just had the move my 40 Gallon fish tank from one room to another . I just left about 5 gallons of the old water in a bucket and put it back in plus the dirty filter from old tank (well same tank just moved). I do need to test water. 24 hours later zero dead fish. 5 in there now.
Can I have fish (tetra glofish) in the tank while it completes cycling? It's been cycling for 72 hours and water is testing safe,but I'm very new to fish keeping and unsure.
what i do is keep ceramic media in 2ltr bottles so that they grow bacteria and then i add them to a tank when im setting it up or if i need to change the media for what ever reason
ok so during the cycle how often after adding the ammonia do you check the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. very 2 days 3 days once a week until you get nitrate .
Do you have any advice for someone moving with an established tank? Obviously we have to remove all water. Are we going to be completely starting over with bacteria or will our decorations and filter carry over some of the good bacteria that we have. Starting our tank was rough and the last time we moved we actually lost a fish due to a swim bladder issue. We're not 100% sure that was related to moving but because it was only a few days after we assume it was because of that. We have 1 fan tailed gold fish in a 25 gallon tank. (I know it is less than you recommend, it was a rookie mistake but it's what we have for now)
Place all your sponges in a container of water from your aquarium. Add an airstone from a battery powered airpump and this should keep the water moving around the filters
hey, so I'm going to be putting my goldfish into a 20 gallon (he's in a 10 gallon at the moment) do you think if I put most the water from his 10 gallon into the 20 gallon and the plants from his 10 gallon, do you think there will be enough good bacteria?
Thank you so much for great videos! My question is I’m in middle of cycling my saltwater tank and its been about a month! I feed my 3 puffer fishes once a day and seems that ammonia keep going up when nitrite and nitrate is at 0. People say when you water change to get rid of ammonia you are stepping back to 1st step of cycling and like this your tank doesn’t cycle! My question is im changing about 20% water every 2-3 days to bring ammonia level down so my fish wont die! Is my tank still going to cycle like this even im changing 20% water every few days? Thanks a lot for your help 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Got it. Thank you. Yeah, it seems that there's quite a few things different between Freshwater and Saltwater, it gets a little intimidating when it comes to making that plunge on which tank and fish I want to invest in.
Heidi's Fish Tank. I had no clue about fish keeping when we got our first fish. We got two feeder fish from a fall festival. Within days they both died.😣 We were all sad and that is what started our fish keeping. My daughter wanted glofish so we have two tetra glo's, in a 2.5 gal tank. What was a free gift has now turned into 100$ of unexpected buys. We still don't have test strips. Thanks for your video. My question is, for my small tank I bought the 3i filter. It's so big in our little tank. Do you have a reccommendation of a filter that is smaller? We are only a week into this venture. We bought a Beta last night, he is in his own tank.
Heidi's Fish Tank I hate that people don’t go further with the complete nitrogen cycle. Everyone is taught in fish keeping that it stops at nitrates and then you simply change your water but honestly plants break down nitrates into nitrogen and oxygen gas and that is released back into the tank and out into the air. The air we breathe is like 78% nitrogen but no one ever talks about that and how if you stock your tank with beneficial bacteria, have tons of surface area for that bacteria to grow, enough plants to break down the nitrates then you don’t have to do water changes as often as ppl seem to want to do them. I think it’s better for the fish not to create major changes in nitrogen levels can be more harmful in some cases. It’s important for hobbyists to use enough media to harbor enough bacteria to break down the waste of their fish, it’s important not to over stock your fish if you can’t support their waste habits and it’s important not to over feed those fish if you can’t support their waste habits, and it’s also beneficial to have enough plants in your tank so when you get to the nitrates mark in your cycle the plants will convert that NO-3 into nitrogen and oxygen gases which complete the full nitrogen cycle and will keep a much better chemical balance in your tank than water changes will. It’s important to know your tank, to know the type of water you have in your area of the world as to whether it’s hard or soft can make a different in the types of plants and fish you’re best suited to keep. I wish these other aspects to why ppl have harder times keeping fish would be addressed as well. It’s not always about water changes. If we’re gonna create these natural worlds in our homes I think it’s best to mimic nature and fully understand her processes when we address these things it’s better to give ppl the actual complete picture. Like seriously most ppl don’t know that the majority of the air we breathe isn’t even oxygen. The most important part is nitrogen literally 78% of our air is nitrogen then oxygen and carbon. So it’s so important to include that plants remove these nitrates in the water and the byproduct of them doing so is nitrogen and oxygen gas which is the pearling you see in planted tanks. That’s released back to the fish to breathe and out into the air. Not saying you’re wrong because you can only give the information that you’re taught but there is more to it and that’s something that I think should be shared more and would be helpful to so many ppl who rely on water changes and will stress themselves and their fish by doing water changes so often when all they really need to do is rely on their plants to do their natural job. Balancing your tank will help it maintain itself and the average hobbyist in my opinion will experience more happiness being able to actually enjoy their tank than always having to do maintenance that nature will do for them.
Oh I forgot to add that anaerobic bacteria can break down nitrates and phosphates in your water as well but they require carbon to do so. And I want to also add that activated carbon in tanks doesn’t help with inorganic chemicals in the water of our tanks it only addresses organic material or compounds in our tanks such as phenols and tannins. Inorganic compounds would be your ammonia and nitrites & nitrates. So for ppl that have tannins in their water and they’re trying to remove them activated carbon would be the best chemical solution to get or keep your water crystal clear. Especially if you have natural woods in your tank they help a lot but you want to keep activated carbon at the end of the filter process or bacteria will colonize them which isn’t bad but when the pores fill up so the active part of the carbon is reduced or essentially inactive at that point so you replace it with more carbon but you loose that beneficial bacteria in the process so it’s best to be careful with your placement of different media. Activated carbon is a fancy way to say that its porous carbon so it’s more surface area per weight than regular carbon.
I had never heard of it! I haven't kept fish for years because I thought I was so bad at it. I've been researching over the past few weeks online & watching a ton of videos. Last week I bought a 6g tank intended for a betta, I'm on day four of my fishless cycle waiting for a spike. Your videos are great & so informative.
What do I do in cases of sudden ammonium and NO2 spikes in well established tanks? Besides water change that is. Can it be caused by something other than decaying fish or excess food lying around? Asking to prep myself for something like that, since I'm getting a tank soon.
thanks a lot, this video is fantastic also. since you brought me here, ill just ask: should i transfer the water to my new 20 gallon tank as well? or just the media with fresh water? thanks!
Just the media should be fine but keep the media wet(in old tank water)while you transfer it. Are you planning on reusing the substrate and decorations too?
As slow and simple as you explaned this ,its still way over the heads of newbys ....they need to understand that they MUST have bacteria to have a healthy system , most of them scrub everything down destroying the bacteria thinking the fish need everything "clean" ....a wise old fish keeper once said .."Forget about keeping your fish alive ..instead keep the benificial bacteria alive ..and your fish will thrive"
Question: We are newbies and bought some Koi and didn’t know about the cycle ... we have been cramming information like crazy to keep them safe. My question is does the prime halt the cycle or does the water changes? Our ammonia was around a 3 on the test strips ... now it’s down to a 1 but the Nitrites are around 3 and the Nitrates are about 70 ... we have been using a chemical bacteria to speed it up and a few small water changes a day if needed. I just don’t want to halt the cycle with prime ... thank you for the information
Adam Head no prime does not halt the cycle. It temporarily converts ammonia to ammonium which is safe for fish but it still feeds the bacteria. You need to dose it daily though because it only helps for 24 hrs. How big is your tank or are you doing this in a pond? Koi are hardy and if you continue to do the right thing will likely survive the cycle BUT they get enormous(3ft) and will eventually need a pond.
Thanks for the information ... we have 6 Koi in a temporary “tuff stuff” 110 gallon tank until our pond is finished. They range in size of 4 to 8 inches.... We are making a little over 4000 gallon pond 😀 We are excited it we should of did a little more research before hand.
how long the cicle take . because i m new to fishkepping . let me stay the story behing . i got 3 fish 1 koi wich i buy 1 comet goldfish wich i buy as well and one common goldfish which my ex winnit at carnaval like that start for me this fishkepping and i was kepping them for one week in a 12 litter food container now befor jummping all off you about over stokking an bla bla . lisen after i bouth a 32 litter 7 gallon food container and now will be like 3 weeks in there from when they are in the container . for filtering im using one air 380 spoundge filter and a small one 300 l-ph wich containe a small spoundge and half is fill with some activ carbon prewash . i m doing about 37.5 % about 10 litter from 30 every 3-4 day's sometime every 2 day . i feed them 1 time pe day and they sems to be fine they verry active and also they like to play with the moss ball . i m not using a substrate wet because is more eazy to maintain . i use dechlone for removing the chloride from the water . and filter aid and light they have enought 6 strip cold withe and i have a small paper test to see how is the ph nd is ok 7-8 but now i like to ask the question if they wil be ok for the next month in there . you know more that's the reazon i ask . thanks and nice video loot ok thing on this channel
Chani P sometimes the bottled bacteria can help it move a little quicker but it isn’t instant like they claim. I’ve had the best luck with bio spira from instant ocean but I’ve never tried it in freshwater. The quick start by API didn’t do much in my experience.
Im using the api and no it didnt help in 1 day but it has helped me tremendously thru the cycle. I got it down to a week with careful application in my 20 gallon. That was just my personal experience.
I wish the steps are more detailed in a chronological manner, I heard a lot of ammonia and nitrate repeatedly and then testing the water, so in short, do not drain the tank to keep the beneficial bacteria and then use the tester to check when to change about 50% of the water?
Please help. I am cycling my 200l tank for 7 weeks now and have only seen a ammonia spike to 2ppm that have now dropped to .5ppm. I have nitrates between 5-10ppm BUT I have never seen a Nitrite spike? I test my water every morning, could I have missed the Nitrite spike? I've also tested my tap water for Nitrates to be sure there isn't any in the tap water and it reads 0ppm. Am I almost cycled or has something gone terribly wrong? Using API mtk
Are there live plants in there? Did you add any cycled media or bacteria starter to it? Sometimes if you add cycled media it does skip or sometimes live plants will consume them so quickly you don’t see the spike.
I had a tank with a bunch of stuff left. I left water in there for a few months with no fish but constant flow and removed some water and stuff then added about half of the salinity of a clowns standards. Then I recently slapped a clown in after getting the salinity perfection. Then used a weeee bit of ammonia and had some really high nitrate. Then slapped a bit of meds and it went down quickly. My first ever clownfish is living happily in my current bare bottom. I am grabbing a thing of substrate and lowlight coral. ^^ Though I have waaaay to many freshwater fish that are ahem...freakishly huge? *Redtail...Oscars...FLOWERHORNS* ahem. I an currently building a tank currently tht is 8 foot by 9 foot. Enough room for em all do yay :p
my tank was cycling for 5 days i got fish yesterday and found ouut about this today ..i hope my black windows live i had bio balls in the tank i guess ill be fine
Water changes wont hurt the cycle ..unless you see a white cloudyness ..dont change the water if you see that ..that is the bacteria sending out white spores to try and populate the rest of the tank ..if you change the water at this time you are slowing down the bacterias efforts to cover everything in the tank ..if you see a bacterial spore bloom wait atleast 3 days till the clowdyness disappears before doing a water change ....// ....often times even if you are already cycled with some fish in ..and then ADD fish you will see a clowdy bacteria bloom a couple days later ..thats the bacteria trying to expand to accomidate the higher fish load..do NOT change the water to get rid of the clowdyness ..that clowdyness is your friend ..once it settles on surfaces and starts growing the tank can handle more fish load than ever before
My first fish died because I didn't know about the nitrogen cycle or anything about fish. I'm going back into the fish hobby but my tank always has a little bit of nitrate even if I do %20 water changes 5.0 is that ok.
Are you asking about doing 20% at 5.0 nitrates or 5.0 ammonia? If your ammonia is 0 and your nitrite is 0 you let your nitrates get higher than 5.0(unless you have a saltwater reef tank). I change mine at 40 nitrates in my freshwater tank.
Filzah Abdul yep, this video is true for all fish tanks if uou are planning to keep aquatic pets in them (fresh or salt water). This is great advice, and i wish i had known this before struggling to keep my bait shrimp like this.
Filzah Abdul pretty much, i had no substrate before adding sand for their shelter, and i had no plants (these are saltwater shrimp im referring to, but this vid applies to saltwater tanks too)
I cycled my tank with a shrimp from the grocery store lol the ammonia spiked and then nitrites came and both ammonia and nitrite disappeared but I did not have and still have never had any nitrate reading. With my fish and CUC my ammonia stays little to none and no nitrites but again NO NITRATES. I've had the tank up for months and it's all good but wth lol
Most aquariums aren’t running the right kind of environment for the nitrogen cycle to reach the point of converting all of the way to nitrogen gas. However running a deep sandbed or things like marine pure is a great way to help that end goal. Most people will have to rely on water changes though.
Chris The Hobby Guy hey I’m thinking of starting a fish tank so all this info of water was putting me off of a salt water tank so does this water chemistry apply to both salt water and fresh
Do water changes reset the nitrogen cycle? Because i know new tank syndrome can cause the water to become cloudy, and ive been trying to get rid of the cloudyness. Do water changes affect it in any way?
Generally fish bowls are too small to be kept easily but there are people who are successful with larger bowls like 3 gallons if you add something like a sponge filter so that you can have a place for beneficial bacteria and a heater. But even then I would do a betta and not ever a goldfish(they get enormous!)
rushii Simms these bacteria occur in nature in your house and are basically everywhere. so if you let your tank and filter run for long enough time they will settle in your tank and filter biomedia, guaranteed. bottled bacteria don't bring anything new to your tank. they just contain some chemicals that accelerates the growth and replication of these bacteria. if you want your tanks to cycle fast, ask your local fish store for some biomedia in their mature tanks and put it in your tank. those biomedia should be absolutely riddled with nitrifying bacteria. and make sure you buy some testing strips (highly recommend API 5 in 1 Test Strip) to see when your cycle is done.
Nitrate is not the final completion of the nitrogen cycle. A full nitrogen cycle would be using anaerobic bacteria and plants to consume nitrate and oxidise it to nitrogen gas and NO.
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Thank you. I learned about the nitrogen cycle after I lost my fish and had to start over. Yesterday I bought a bubbler, a plant, and added (topped) off the tank with water conditioner. The tank was horribly cloudy. This morning it was almost clear so in a better place. This was absolutely valuable !
TTHHAAANNKKK YOUU SOO MMMUUUCHH. This is the most accurate guide on how to cycle your tank.THANK YOU. Now I know how to have beneficial bacteria's in my aquarium without worrying that my fish will die.
I know this is random and doesn’t have anything to do with the video but I just got a strange burst of happiness and wanted to let you know that you all are beautiful people. And yes I love the giraffe painting.
The absolute best lesson on the Nitrogen cycle. One thing I haven’t seen is this explained with the test kit.
You explained this very well, Thank You.
I’m so glad that it’s helpful.
takes about 4 weeks plus too properly set up a tank the proper way , only way too go in my opinion .
I use a pinch of fish food and monitor it for some time . this gal has got it spot on . wish more people would take the time too cycle there tanks the natural way .
Thanks Heidi good advice .
Thank you! Very helpful information. Our fish are dying even though we cycled it first. But then Ammonia started rising for some reason and no nitrites. I don't know if the tap water has too much chlorine that killed the bacteria even though we add water conditioner. I think we should put the water in a bucket first, then add the conditioner, then add in the tank. Otherwise, fresh tap water with high chlorine will probably kill the bacteria.
Nice vid Heidi. You hit all the high points. Starting on my second new tank, doing a fish-in cycle. So far none have died. I think moderation is the key. Fewer fish initially , feed them less often, test and change the water daily. Your video has helped me understand the nitrogen cycle and how to start up a new tank. Thanks!
Nice video...I'm a beginner and I'm learning day by day. My tank have 40 days cyclying, and now I'm going to add fish...little fish like platy and molly. I like your videos because English is easy to understand. thank you.
You explained this so good! I just got a 30 gallon tank for my fish. I was just planning on filtering it and not do anything cuz I saw that on some fish forums. I stumbled across this video and now I'm now halfway through the nitrogen cycle! I'm very excited to put my fish in!
What you have said is correct but there is another aspect to this which is as important but generally overlooked.
There is a direct correlation between the fish that you have in your tank, the mount of waste that they produce (and therefore the amount of ammonia that is produced) and the amount of bacteria living in your filter. Once your tank is cycled and you have a couple of fish in your tank there will be a certain amount of bacteria in your filter. The amount of bacteria is entirely dependent upon how much fish waste and ammonia your fish produce. A small number of fish will only produce a small amount of ammonia which will in turn only sustain a small amount of bacteria; bacteria will not survive unless they have a constant supply of ammonia to feed them. If you suddenly introduce far more fish into the tank you are instantly increasing the amount of ammonia produced but you cannot instantly increase the amount of bacteria in the filter, it takes a while for them to multiply and 'catch up'.
I have seen this a number of times where someone massively increases the bioload by adding a lot of new fish at once and a couple of days later they fish start dying because the filter cannot keep up with the increase in the ammonia levels. They are surprised and wonder why this happens when their system is already cycled and their tank is not overstocked. Yes, it's cycled but only to the point of supporting the amount of fish currently in the tank.
The answer is to increase the number of fish gradually, just a couple at a time and test your water frequently after adding more stock. If you increase gradually you are giving your bacteria time to multiply and deal with the gradual increase in ammonia.
Peoples number one problem is no patience,and no research done.
Hi! I just subscribed! I'm a newbie with fish keeping and my channel has now become my learning adventure with fish and all that comes from it!
You were really helpful, I just bought a fish and I didn’t know anything about this... I hope with this I could have my fish living for a long time ✨
I've been watching your other channels since you became pregnant with Irene and I love you and your family! I loved when you started showing videos of your fish and now I'm so excited you have a fish channel! You've inspired me to start a micro aquarium for myself and after doing lots of research (on top of your videos) I went on and bought everything needed for my new hobby (besides the fish of course). I just put it altogether and added in the ammonia to start the nitrogen cycle (which I had no idea about before you told me and I've owned many betas before). I'm so excited to get the process going and hopefully be able to add fish soon! Thanks so much!
+Court clark aw I'm so glad that this video was helpful! I figured the people on the vlog channel were probably sick of hearing about fish lol. So here we are. You're going to love your new tank. What kind of fish are you planning?
Heidi's Fish Tank I'm thinking either cardinal or neon tetras and endlers. I was thinking of possibly adding my beta to the tank as well but I'm not sure if that will make the 10 gallon tank too crowded.
+Court clark you could do a school of cardinals with a betta in a 10. Worst case you can add a divider. Craft mesh is .79 cents at hobby lobby and works great.
Nice video! I knew about the nitrogen cycle but it was great to watch! Thanks for the info!
sherickoos I know even though I know alot about the cycle it's always nice to hear it again just to make sure you don't miss anything or you can find out new things that might not have been available before
Derrick Schneider man! Can you help me out
You shouldn't feel too bad about losing a few fish because you didn't know any better when you were young because it got you to the point where you learned what to do and you not only did what was correct, you shared what you learned and helped others by sharing what happened.
When I started out about 15 to 20 years before you were even born I had to learn by visiting the NY aquarium and asking scientists about what they "think might be good" because back then no one know what was going on. I still own a few "TFH" books from back in the late 60's and early 70's and I bring them out every few years to show people how stupid we were about the hobby back then. I say stupid because there are pictures of saltwater fish in one gallon fish bowls.
Because I took the time to hang out and take notes from specialists and draw out graphs on the water chemistry and how the ammonia just appeared out of nowhere. once we figured how that happened then we had to figure out how and why it disappeared and then by 1976 we finally figure it all out and we didn't have to keep getting trucks of salt water coming in every morning. we just had to figure out how to grow this poison eating bacteria in a closed environment. and the government wanted to know how to use this to help the army out by getting this poison eating bacteria out to where Russia was using poisonous gases to hurt our men (YEA, back then the government was either using every scientist available to make weapons for themselves or to help defeat weapons made by others) life was funny to me back thenLOL
by 1986 I was the first, and today one of the only four people to successfully breed clutches of Mandarin fish (to me still one of the best looking marine fish)
I have a planted aquarium now....I rarely test the water but add about 20% new water every 2 wks. I always use that special water declorinator to the water I add and my fish are alright.
loved this video, great info- really helpful!
could you please do a video on filter cartriages, how to change them, and how to clean a filter without jeopordising the beneficial bacteria inside?
Just clean it in the water you collect when doing a water change. Chlorine from the tap water you are going to use to replace the tank's water will kill the bacteria so just make sure not to wash the media using the new tap water! Squeezing the sponge and rinsing the bio media bags etc should be good once a couple weeks during water changes.
U explain very well. Thank you!
More info on fish-in cycle would be helpful. When I thought I had disease, I tossed too much of my filter media and then started the cycle over. Big mess. More specific tips - like an actual regimen, on how to keep fish safe.and uninjured during spikes. Thank you!
Great Video, thanks I understand the process now and the importance.
I use seachem stability and the key is u have to shake up the bottle vigorously. It will come out cloudy.
Ive been doing a fishless cycle since march 1st and its the 13th today. My ammonia wont get past 1.0ppm and my nitrites are at .50ppm an my nitrate is at 20ppm do i keep ghost feeding my tank until the cycles done or do i stop ghost feeding since i have nitrate levels. Or do i ghost feed until the cycle is done and get fish. That’s where i get confused. This morning i decided to top off my tanks since a bout 1 inch of water has evaporated, so i filled up a bucket and put some prime in there and filled up my tank. I heard this was fine and wouldn’t mess up my cycle. Am i good on that too?
For the fish food method, do I just put the food in the fish tank and leave it in there or what should I do otherwise? Can I use flakes?
Can you help me... I bought three danios (neon) thinking to use them as cyclers? I don’t want them to die! So I feel so bad
Heidi this was so helpful I did not understand the cycle but I do now I've had my tank for about 3 week all fish are fine I guess I got lucky but I want to keep them happy and alive so I will start testing my water I have fake plants do I need to do anything because of that thanks
When u clean your tank do U remove all the waste that u see in your tank to keep the waste down
antione geeston I would say no (I’m a fish owner) I own a red devil cichlid it is almost impossible to get rid of all waste and also cleaning especially 100% cleaning (which is what you would have to do) is very stressful so I would say no and only clean you tank once a month unless it looks clean when you stir the rocks up. (At least that’s what I do)
Awesome giraffes! Also, if one decides to add clear ammonia to initiate a nitrogen cycle, then what quantity should be preferable per gallon of a tank capacity? Thank you!
Thank you for explaining!
Just had the move my 40 Gallon fish tank from one room to another . I just left about 5 gallons of the old water in a bucket and put it back in plus the dirty filter from old tank (well same tank just moved). I do need to test water. 24 hours later zero dead fish. 5 in there now.
Can I have fish (tetra glofish) in the tank while it completes cycling? It's been cycling for 72 hours and water is testing safe,but I'm very new to fish keeping and unsure.
Use Seachem Stability in your tank and you can add fish on day 1...works perfect.
Omg, finally someone to can explain it thankyou so much after weeks of searching finally found you.
Amazing defines subscriber 🥰🥰
So should I get my tank set up and run it for a week with real plants than add the fish? Also what gravel or sand do you recommend ?
what i do is keep ceramic media in 2ltr bottles so that they grow bacteria and then i add them to a tank when im setting it up or if i need to change the media for what ever reason
Thanks so much! Also, I love the giraffe painting and love your lace headband!!
ok so during the cycle how often after adding the ammonia do you check the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. very 2 days 3 days once a week
until you get nitrate .
Can Aquarium plants survive the cycle? I haven’t gotten my betta yet (so glad I saw this video first) but I did get a live plant.
yes they can depending the plant.
make sure to quarantine the live plant first though
Do you have any advice for someone moving with an established tank? Obviously we have to remove all water. Are we going to be completely starting over with bacteria or will our decorations and filter carry over some of the good bacteria that we have. Starting our tank was rough and the last time we moved we actually lost a fish due to a swim bladder issue. We're not 100% sure that was related to moving but because it was only a few days after we assume it was because of that. We have 1 fan tailed gold fish in a 25 gallon tank. (I know it is less than you recommend, it was a rookie mistake but it's what we have for now)
Ashtin Roepke solid gold aquarium did a video on this
Place all your sponges in a container of water from your aquarium. Add an airstone from a battery powered airpump and this should keep the water moving around the filters
can i use dried leaf to create amonia?
This was a great video! Thanks!
Hi, how much and how often should i add fish food to fishless cycle my 80 ltr fresh water aquarium? X
hey, so I'm going to be putting my goldfish into a 20 gallon (he's in a 10 gallon at the moment) do you think if I put most the water from his 10 gallon into the 20 gallon and the plants from his 10 gallon, do you think there will be enough good bacteria?
Thank you so much for great videos! My question is I’m in middle of cycling my saltwater tank and its been about a month! I feed my 3 puffer fishes once a day and seems that ammonia keep going up when nitrite and nitrate is at 0. People say when you water change to get rid of ammonia you are stepping back to 1st step of cycling and like this your tank doesn’t cycle! My question is im changing about 20% water every 2-3 days to bring ammonia level down so my fish wont die! Is my tank still going to cycle like this even im changing 20% water every few days? Thanks a lot for your help 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Do all these same rules apply between saltwater and freshwater tanks?
SwankeyMonkey in my experience, yes, these still apply. I also got similar info from my local fish store
Got it. Thank you.
Yeah, it seems that there's quite a few things different between Freshwater and Saltwater, it gets a little intimidating when it comes to making that plunge on which tank and fish I want to invest in.
Did you know about the nitrogen cycle? What is your favorite way to cycle your tank?
Heidi's Fish Tank. I had no clue about fish keeping when we got our first fish. We got two feeder fish from a fall festival. Within days they both died.😣 We were all sad and that is what started our fish keeping. My daughter wanted glofish so we have two tetra glo's, in a 2.5 gal tank. What was a free gift has now turned into 100$ of unexpected buys. We still don't have test strips. Thanks for your video. My question is, for my small tank I bought the 3i filter. It's so big in our little tank. Do you have a reccommendation of a filter that is smaller? We are only a week into this venture. We bought a Beta last night, he is in his own tank.
Heidi's Fish Tank I hate that people don’t go further with the complete nitrogen cycle. Everyone is taught in fish keeping that it stops at nitrates and then you simply change your water but honestly plants break down nitrates into nitrogen and oxygen gas and that is released back into the tank and out into the air. The air we breathe is like 78% nitrogen but no one ever talks about that and how if you stock your tank with beneficial bacteria, have tons of surface area for that bacteria to grow, enough plants to break down the nitrates then you don’t have to do water changes as often as ppl seem to want to do them. I think it’s better for the fish not to create major changes in nitrogen levels can be more harmful in some cases. It’s important for hobbyists to use enough media to harbor enough bacteria to break down the waste of their fish, it’s important not to over stock your fish if you can’t support their waste habits and it’s important not to over feed those fish if you can’t support their waste habits, and it’s also beneficial to have enough plants in your tank so when you get to the nitrates mark in your cycle the plants will convert that NO-3 into nitrogen and oxygen gases which complete the full nitrogen cycle and will keep a much better chemical balance in your tank than water changes will. It’s important to know your tank, to know the type of water you have in your area of the world as to whether it’s hard or soft can make a different in the types of plants and fish you’re best suited to keep. I wish these other aspects to why ppl have harder times keeping fish would be addressed as well. It’s not always about water changes. If we’re gonna create these natural worlds in our homes I think it’s best to mimic nature and fully understand her processes when we address these things it’s better to give ppl the actual complete picture. Like seriously most ppl don’t know that the majority of the air we breathe isn’t even oxygen. The most important part is nitrogen literally 78% of our air is nitrogen then oxygen and carbon. So it’s so important to include that plants remove these nitrates in the water and the byproduct of them doing so is nitrogen and oxygen gas which is the pearling you see in planted tanks. That’s released back to the fish to breathe and out into the air. Not saying you’re wrong because you can only give the information that you’re taught but there is more to it and that’s something that I think should be shared more and would be helpful to so many ppl who rely on water changes and will stress themselves and their fish by doing water changes so often when all they really need to do is rely on their plants to do their natural job. Balancing your tank will help it maintain itself and the average hobbyist in my opinion will experience more happiness being able to actually enjoy their tank than always having to do maintenance that nature will do for them.
Oh I forgot to add that anaerobic bacteria can break down nitrates and phosphates in your water as well but they require carbon to do so. And I want to also add that activated carbon in tanks doesn’t help with inorganic chemicals in the water of our tanks it only addresses organic material or compounds in our tanks such as phenols and tannins. Inorganic compounds would be your ammonia and nitrites & nitrates. So for ppl that have tannins in their water and they’re trying to remove them activated carbon would be the best chemical solution to get or keep your water crystal clear. Especially if you have natural woods in your tank they help a lot but you want to keep activated carbon at the end of the filter process or bacteria will colonize them which isn’t bad but when the pores fill up so the active part of the carbon is reduced or essentially inactive at that point so you replace it with more carbon but you loose that beneficial bacteria in the process so it’s best to be careful with your placement of different media. Activated carbon is a fancy way to say that its porous carbon so it’s more surface area per weight than regular carbon.
I had never heard of it! I haven't kept fish for years because I thought I was so bad at it. I've been researching over the past few weeks online & watching a ton of videos. Last week I bought a 6g tank intended for a betta, I'm on day four of my fishless cycle waiting for a spike. Your videos are great & so informative.
What do I do in cases of sudden ammonium and NO2 spikes in well established tanks? Besides water change that is. Can it be caused by something other than decaying fish or excess food lying around? Asking to prep myself for something like that, since I'm getting a tank soon.
Thank you for all the info!!
thanks for that i did not know about all and yes very help full ..
Can i use water from tank that has been running for 2 months?
how long will i wait after i add the fish food before i can add my betta?
thanks a lot, this video is fantastic also. since you brought me here, ill just ask: should i transfer the water to my new 20 gallon tank as well? or just the media with fresh water? thanks!
Just the media should be fine but keep the media wet(in old tank water)while you transfer it. Are you planning on reusing the substrate and decorations too?
I learned so much, thank you!
is this only for salt water
Do you recommend putting putting live plants in before or after the cycle?
Before. It will help the process.
Thank you
As slow and simple as you explaned this ,its still way over the heads of newbys ....they need to understand that they MUST have bacteria to have a healthy system , most of them scrub everything down destroying the bacteria thinking the fish need everything "clean" ....a wise old fish keeper once said .."Forget about keeping your fish alive ..instead keep the benificial bacteria alive ..and your fish will thrive"
Question: We are newbies and bought some Koi and didn’t know about the cycle ... we have been cramming information like crazy to keep them safe. My question is does the prime halt the cycle or does the water changes? Our ammonia was around a 3 on the test strips ... now it’s down to a 1 but the Nitrites are around 3 and the Nitrates are about 70 ... we have been using a chemical bacteria to speed it up and a few small water changes a day if needed. I just don’t want to halt the cycle with prime ... thank you for the information
Adam Head no prime does not halt the cycle. It temporarily converts ammonia to ammonium which is safe for fish but it still feeds the bacteria. You need to dose it daily though because it only helps for 24 hrs. How big is your tank or are you doing this in a pond? Koi are hardy and if you continue to do the right thing will likely survive the cycle BUT they get enormous(3ft) and will eventually need a pond.
Thanks for the information ... we have 6 Koi in a temporary “tuff stuff” 110 gallon tank until our pond is finished. They range in size of 4 to 8 inches.... We are making a little over 4000 gallon pond 😀 We are excited it we should of did a little more research before hand.
What advice to have for people that don't use a tank.?
Get a tank
How do you know when to change your tank
Thanks defo will help alot of ppl
good info. and a new sub
Can you add Prime while your fish are in it?
How much ammonia should I add per gallon when cycling a tank?
Thanks
What if you just add pond water?
how long the cicle take . because i m new to fishkepping . let me stay the story behing . i got 3 fish 1 koi wich i buy 1 comet goldfish wich i buy as well and one common goldfish which my ex winnit at carnaval like that start for me this fishkepping and i was kepping them for one week in a 12 litter food container now befor jummping all off you about over stokking an bla bla . lisen after i bouth a 32 litter 7 gallon food container and now will be like 3 weeks in there from when they are in the container . for filtering im using one air 380 spoundge filter and a small one 300 l-ph wich containe a small spoundge and half is fill with some activ carbon prewash . i m doing about 37.5 % about 10 litter from 30 every 3-4 day's sometime every 2 day . i feed them 1 time pe day and they sems to be fine they verry active and also they like to play with the moss ball . i m not using a substrate wet because is more eazy to maintain . i use dechlone for removing the chloride from the water . and filter aid and light they have enought 6 strip cold withe and i have a small paper test to see how is the ph nd is ok 7-8 but now i like to ask the question if they wil be ok for the next month in there . you know more that's the reazon i ask . thanks and nice video loot ok thing on this channel
Does water conditioner work to help keep ammonia away?
No water conditioner doesn't help keep ammonia away.
How do you know when your tank is at 40 parts per million cycle
You mean the Nitrate? You test the water with test kit its safe at 0ppm up to 40ppm I keep mine at 25ppm.
Can I use the “quick start” in a bottle to set up a new tank ?
Chani P sometimes the bottled bacteria can help it move a little quicker but it isn’t instant like they claim. I’ve had the best luck with bio spira from instant ocean but I’ve never tried it in freshwater. The quick start by API didn’t do much in my experience.
Im using the api and no it didnt help in 1 day but it has helped me tremendously thru the cycle. I got it down to a week with careful application in my 20 gallon. That was just my personal experience.
Can someone simplify it for me . Just tell me what to put in my tank and where I can buy test strips
How do I cycle my tank if my tap water after has high levels of ammonia?
Excellent. Thanks.
I wish the steps are more detailed in a chronological manner, I heard a lot of ammonia and nitrate repeatedly and then testing the water, so in short, do not drain the tank to keep the beneficial bacteria and then use the tester to check when to change about 50% of the water?
Please help. I am cycling my 200l tank for 7 weeks now and have only seen a ammonia spike to 2ppm that have now dropped to .5ppm. I have nitrates between 5-10ppm BUT I have never seen a Nitrite spike? I test my water every morning, could I have missed the Nitrite spike? I've also tested my tap water for Nitrates to be sure there isn't any in the tap water and it reads 0ppm. Am I almost cycled or has something gone terribly wrong? Using API mtk
Are there live plants in there? Did you add any cycled media or bacteria starter to it? Sometimes if you add cycled media it does skip or sometimes live plants will consume them so quickly you don’t see the spike.
Heidi's Fish Tank it is heavily planted, I use seashem prime, no cycled media
If your ammonia has dropped and is heavily planted I would guess that’s why.
Heidi's Fish Tank thanx doll x
thank you honey!
Im trying a fishless cycle but I have to leave, is it okay if I just leave the sponge filter and not turn it on?
Koala Turtle you need to leave the filter on. What do you mean by “not turn in on”? Do you mean the light?
Heidi's Fish Tank sorry I meant the airpump! Lol
If you are referring to the air pump that is connected to the sponge filter yes, that needs to be on at all times even when you aren’t there.
I had a tank with a bunch of stuff left. I left water in there for a few months with no fish but constant flow and removed some water and stuff then added about half of the salinity of a clowns standards. Then I recently slapped a clown in after getting the salinity perfection. Then used a weeee bit of ammonia and had some really high nitrate. Then slapped a bit of meds and it went down quickly. My first ever clownfish is living happily in my current bare bottom. I am grabbing a thing of substrate and lowlight coral. ^^ Though I have waaaay to many freshwater fish that are ahem...freakishly huge?
*Redtail...Oscars...FLOWERHORNS* ahem.
I an currently building a tank currently tht is 8 foot by 9 foot. Enough room for em all do yay :p
my tank was cycling for 5 days i got fish yesterday and found ouut about this today ..i hope my black windows live i had bio balls in the tank i guess ill be fine
I was wondering about how long will it take to cycle a 5 gallon tank?
Fishless
Smaller tanks are harder but about 48 hour. Test test test the water and you will know
will water changes ruin the cycle?
Katie marchand no they won’t.
Water changes wont hurt the cycle ..unless you see a white cloudyness ..dont change the water if you see that ..that is the bacteria sending out white spores to try and populate the rest of the tank ..if you change the water at this time you are slowing down the bacterias efforts to cover everything in the tank ..if you see a bacterial spore bloom wait atleast 3 days till the clowdyness disappears before doing a water change ....// ....often times even if you are already cycled with some fish in ..and then ADD fish you will see a clowdy bacteria bloom a couple days later ..thats the bacteria trying to expand to accomidate the higher fish load..do NOT change the water to get rid of the clowdyness ..that clowdyness is your friend ..once it settles on surfaces and starts growing the tank can handle more fish load than ever before
so i definitely had nitrates starting in my tank, and then bam back to 0 wtf happened. maybe my dechlorinator is not working and killed my bacteria
I don’t get it .!
My first fish died because I didn't know about the nitrogen cycle or anything about fish. I'm going back into the fish hobby but my tank always has a little bit of nitrate even if I do %20 water changes 5.0 is that ok.
Are you asking about doing 20% at 5.0 nitrates or 5.0 ammonia? If your ammonia is 0 and your nitrite is 0 you let your nitrates get higher than 5.0(unless you have a saltwater reef tank). I change mine at 40 nitrates in my freshwater tank.
Rachel did say 'nitrate' in her question to you!
a lot of people use seachem safe
sigh i still dont rly uds.....what if i have zero live plants and glass stones will my tank still have these things?
Filzah Abdul yep, this video is true for all fish tanks if uou are planning to keep aquatic pets in them (fresh or salt water). This is great advice, and i wish i had known this before struggling to keep my bait shrimp like this.
Sam Sadowitz regardless of whether u have nonlive plants/substrate?
Filzah Abdul pretty much, i had no substrate before adding sand for their shelter, and i had no plants (these are saltwater shrimp im referring to, but this vid applies to saltwater tanks too)
Lysofoss bacteria works really well
Good to know. I’ve always had very good luck with biospira in saltwater but have still not found a good one for freshwater.
I have a water conditioner that detoxifies ammonia nitrate and nitrite
I cycled my tank with a shrimp from the grocery store lol the ammonia spiked and then nitrites came and both ammonia and nitrite disappeared but I did not have and still have never had any nitrate reading. With my fish and CUC my ammonia stays little to none and no nitrites but again NO NITRATES. I've had the tank up for months and it's all good but wth lol
Saltwater btw
Heidi, you are forgetting about the bacteria that take nitrate and turn it into free nitrogen which is easier for plants to use.
Most aquariums aren’t running the right kind of environment for the nitrogen cycle to reach the point of converting all of the way to nitrogen gas. However running a deep sandbed or things like marine pure is a great way to help that end goal. Most people will have to rely on water changes though.
I mean ho often
I LOVE YOUR PAINTING I LOVE GIRAFFES TOO!
They are my daughter’s favorite and my sister in law is an artist so she made that for her.
Heidi...great video...your friend "CHRIS THE HOBBY GUY''
Chris The Hobby Guy hey I’m thinking of starting a fish tank so all this info of water was putting me off of a salt water tank so does this water chemistry apply to both salt water and fresh
Chris The Hobby Guy and if it does I’m a beginner but really want a salt water tank
Do water changes reset the nitrogen cycle? Because i know new tank syndrome can cause the water to become cloudy, and ive been trying to get rid of the cloudyness. Do water changes affect it in any way?
BossCrazyRoss The cloudy water will go away on its own.
I think that is caused by algae
Can u say me about fish bowls and i am a beginner so pls help
Generally fish bowls are too small to be kept easily but there are people who are successful with larger bowls like 3 gallons if you add something like a sponge filter so that you can have a place for beneficial bacteria and a heater. But even then I would do a betta and not ever a goldfish(they get enormous!)
Heidi's Fish Tank oh thank u so much
i use the bacteria in a bottle type stuff, then use fish food and water changes.. i don't like fish in cycles..
did that help cycle your tank ? I'm starting my first aquarium so that why I'm asking which bottled bacteria you used? thankss
rushii Simms
these bacteria occur in nature in your house and are basically everywhere. so if you let your tank and filter run for long enough time they will settle in your tank and filter biomedia, guaranteed. bottled bacteria don't bring anything new to your tank. they just contain some chemicals that accelerates the growth and replication of these bacteria. if you want your tanks to cycle fast, ask your local fish store for some biomedia in their mature tanks and put it in your tank. those biomedia should be absolutely riddled with nitrifying bacteria. and make sure you buy some testing strips (highly recommend API 5 in 1 Test Strip) to see when your cycle is done.
love the giraffe painting:)
Thanks my sister in law is such a good artist and loves making things for the kids.
FULL cycle includes anaerobic bacteria causing nitrates to change into nitrogen also ammonia 10 drops per gallon is ideal range
Good thing i found u!
I’m glad you did. I hope this helped.
Oh
Nitrate is not the final completion of the nitrogen cycle. A full nitrogen cycle would be using anaerobic bacteria and plants to consume nitrate and oxidise it to nitrogen gas and NO.
i like the painting