Bro you deserve a ton more subs I just scrolled threw the comments and you're "helpful af" reaching out to everyone(saving the day) so to speak👍🏾👍🏾 I just subbed
@@TrafishAquatics it's the truth you're like an teacher and we're in class taking notes, also what's the name of the cycle product you mentioned at the end of the video? I did like the worst amateur thing last night as I've never owned fish before and ordered red belly piranhas and am only going to pick up a 55gal tank in a couple hours sooo yes I REALLY "jumped the gun" on this one smh
Yes seriously! I'm in so many aquarium groups, forums, I've asked people to break it down to me like a child and still it was so confusing to me. This was so helpful
Been about 6 years since I first setup my 65 gallon tank. I sold my house and had one built and have been about 10 months no tank. Just set it back up 3 days ago and was trying to remember how to get the cycle started. Thanks for the upload!
tysm! i'm getting a 10 gallon tank for my betta soon and was really confused on cycling, and nothing seemed to make sense, but this video actually helped so thanks a lot!
I think the only thing missing from this video (or maybe I missed it myself) that was super helpful for me starting out is that there are technically two bacteria colonies present. The one that turns ammonia into nitrites and the one that turns nitrites into nitrates. If you see ammonia falling but not nitrites, and vice versa, your tank is still not cycled yet. Both of those need to be raised and lowered in the tank naturally and end at 0 before you can introduce your fish!
this was an awesome video. i tried to find other videos but they were so long and didn't make it this simple. I started my 75 gallon tank cycle a few days ago, can't wait to add my fish!
This video helped me so much to understand what I thought was a complicated process, so thank you. I am currently attempting to seed a sponge filter in a 5 gallon, fishless , planted tank. My goal is to move the sponge filter to a 20 gal after it’s gifted to my son for Christmas in hopes that it will “instant” cycle. Everything seems to be moving in the right direction, I think the plants are helping to speed the process up.
I‘m 100% new to this, and your video is by far the best i've found on the subject. All the others left me with more questions and this video answered them all. Legend!
@@TrafishAquatics Tra...I've been with you since I started my 29gal almost a year ago. YOU were the one that helped me get my tank cycled but you've created a monster!! I just got another tank!!! lol
He's always on target Mitch! Make sure you sub his channel for the future because fish keeping is ALWAYS a learning thing!! Best of luck in your new hobby!!
Currently I've been cycling for 2 weeks. My question is do I add food daily. Or do I stop when I have the desired amount of ammonia? Also should I do water changes? And how often?
Hey i have a question. I started fishless cycling with aquarium plants in it and introduced decholorintor as well as API quickstart in it. I did a water test 2 days later and find that there are no ammonia as well as nitrite but there was a 10 ppm of nitrate. Could you explain how can there be nitrate if there are no ammonia to begin with?
Thank you so so much I'm going to get an Axolotl and didn't know what cycling was so I was about to put him inside a uncycled tank and also it is so quick with the fish food!
I’m a little bit confused about cycling. Is cycling to do with the filter, the tank, or the water? If it’s the water, then when you do water changes, do you have to recycle that water? Or do you cycle and the filter is the thing that’s getting cycled? I’m sorry I’m a bit dumb
Cycling is about the establishing of nitrafying bacteria, at first the bacteria blooms and is suspended in the water column which causes the typical cloudy water, after a few weeks this bacteria settles down on your filter media and substrate and any hard surface that is submerged. The basic premise is to encourage the growth of this bacteria and do as little as possible to prevent its growth
I love you. Me and my husband are getting into fish keeping o have seen countless videos and your just made it click with me... I subscribed thank you so much for the info
Got a great video idea for you. Can you cycle two identical tanks, seeding with ammonium chloride, so fishless of course. But with one tank turbo start and the other tank just let time take its course? Adding ammonium chloride (the same amount in each tank) when needed to keep the ammonia up. Would be interesting to see if fritz truly does speed up the cycling process
do i dechlorinate the water with conditioner before the starting the cycle? and also once the cycle is finished and want a water change, i also have to dechlorinate the water before adding?
Yes to both, you always want to dechlorinate your water, however when adding the new water to a cycled aquarium you can remove old water then add the treatment to the tank and add water back in, the treatment will work almost instantly as water is being added back in to remove the chlorine/chloramine
if i was to put a sponge filter plus biomedia from an already established tank into my new tank, should i use this method as well to inlarge my bacteria colony along with lets say seachem stability? thanks
What can I use to test for ammonia? This is my first time doing a fishless cycle and I dont have anything to test Also, if I do a water change won't that completely restart the cycle?
For a fishless cycle the water change won't make you have to restart it but it will slow the process down. Generally for fishless Cycling you don't do any changes until the very end, unless ammonia gets too high like 6 ppm or more, to remove nitrates before adding fish to make sure the levels are good. For testing I usually use the API master test kit, this kit is the most widely used by aquarium keepers, which you can get here amzn.to/2VHXwdV
It took me a while to understand about cycling and to cycle a tank for my axolotl but cycling without a fish is not hard and its so much better!!!!! I cycled mine with Seachem stability, It took me 2 months but I loved every moment of it???? 😂 I dont know but I loved the responsibility.
hello! Am i supposed to keep on adding fish pellets until the ammonia and nitrite level go to 0? please respond! :D Some people say that I should keep my filter, heater and oxygen thing on while it's cycling.. should i? or is it going to interfere with thee cycling process
@@TrafishAquatics sorry to bother but i have another question.. Should I cycle my aquarium before planting a dwarf hairgrass carpet in my fish tank or should i plant the grass then cycle the fish tank?
when i do my 20 percent water change, should i de-chlorinate and or treat the water i replace into the tank? or is it ok just to fill the tank back up and leave it? thank you!
Thank for your the helpful video. ☺️ A question that i have is let’s say you fill up your aquarium then you use your dechlorinator. If i decide to add live bacteria from a bottle when is the time to do that? 1 day after using my dechlorinator? And also if i use live bacteria from a bottle do i have to use fish food in order to produce ammonia and start my cycle? Thanks
Dechlorinator usually works pretty quickly and usually has all chlorine and chloramines removed within 2 minutes, You can add your bottled bacteria anytime after that, and yes you would need an ammonia source of some kind to be able to help the bacteria survive
I dont know if this is an effective way, but after a week of cycling I put in some live plants from an established tank and a few rocks and it seemed to speed things up a bit. I couldn't tell you how long because I didn't think about tracking the time. But it didn't feel as long as what I've done before. I'm about to start a new betta tank AND a guppy tank for my son. Maybe I'll test both ways and see which is faster? My wife wants a betta sorority tank so maybe ill try my way with the plants and rocks from an established tank, the regular way with fish food or a piece of shrimp, and then the turbo bacterial culture. Idk
Without having a test kit is going to be extremely difficult to be able to determine if a tank is indeed cycled or not. However two good identifiers would be if you've had a bacterial bloom in the past or recently, If you've never seen a bacterial bloom chances are the tank isn't cycled, The blooms would last a few weeks so it would be pretty obvious. The second is if you tank smells like ammonia then you would be in the cycling process, once the smell went away then it would be a fair assessment that you would either be close or finished. But there's no true way of knowing for sure without testing.
Hey! I got a new aquarium, added river sand, planted some plants, didn't introduce fish yet because I think I should wait for a week to 10 days atleast. Should I add activated carbon to the top filter sponge now itself? Or should I wait for 7 days to add? Please help. Thanks for the awesome video!
There's no need for activated carbon, You should add a little bit of ammonia to make sure that you have bacterial colonies established that can convert that ammonia into nitrite and then nitrate before adding fish. Otherwise the fish could suffer ammonia poisoning.
I don't have any test kit, is there a way to know if my tank is cycled that I can add any fish? Thank you. I'm planning to buy a tank soon so I'm planning everything early and thank you for you vids, it's very informative.
Not really, there is only one visual indicator which is cloudy water but you can have elevated ammonia and nitrite and have clear water also, a test kit is the easiest and best way
Hey i just watched your video do i use something to get the chlorine & chloramines of first or could the fritz turbo do all that and if not do i mix them all together or different times.
I added tap water from the bathtub into my new 29 gallon fish tank (With water conditioner to make tap water safe) and i added driftwood and im on day 3 of letting my new tank cycle with no fish. The water turned into a tea color which i think is from the driftwood and now the surface is getting a bit foamy. Do you know if that is normal? Do i need to do a water change?
If you are ghost feeding and fishless Cycling there is no need to do a waterchange until the cycle is complete and your only showing nitrates, removing ammonia in an uncycled tank will slow the cycling process and make it take much longer.
@@TrafishAquatics hes question was "how often should he ghost feed?" I felt like you missed that part? And even in the video it wasnt explained properly.
@@AxTenTen I feed my tank twice a day for 6 to 8 weeks with my fishless cycle. That's what works for me. On average it takes my tank 6 weeks to completely cycle. On week 7 I do a 50% water change. And on week 8 another 50% water change. And I clean the substrate. I personally clean the front panel and one of the side panels. I leave the other two panels and other surface areas covered without you for the shrimp and plecos. My tanks are good to go after that.
GreenEyzz Washington GreenEyzz Washington 1 second ago I have a question not a comment, I was setting up my aquarium to cure before I put my fish in and I never got my fish, but I kept the filter going and a month down the line,.I noticed this slime ( real gooy stuff ) on my aquarium surface and the decorations etc. I now have cleaned everything out including rocks, decorations and the aquarium filter. So this does not happen again, what actually happened?
Hello! Really helpful video. I was wondering what is your opinion about I Love Fish Filter Boost? I have started cycling my 5 gallon aquarium with a fish in it, using the Filter Booster... And another thing bothers me - shall I make water changes while the aquarium is still cycling? I mean - if the bacteria is building on the gravel, if I vacuume it - I will destroy the bacteria... It's an adventure cycling a tank 😅 Thanks!
personally I've never used that product so I can't form an educated opinion on it. While you're doing a fish in cycle if you have to do any water changes that's all you should do is change water and try not to disturb the filter or substrate, If you're able to get any seachem prime This will help detoxify elevated levels of ammonia and nitrite to help protect your fish while you're doing the cycling process.
If you do a natural cycle with ammonia dosing/ghost feeding it takes 6-8 weeks, or you can get a bottle of fritz turbo start 700 and it will cycle nuch faster in about a weeks time
Hi! this was such a helpful video! I have a new 10 gallon tank that I want to cycle. I just added some fish food in there today and added some Seachem Stability ( one capful as directed on the label for the first day and then i have to add half a capful every day for 7 days as directed) so do I add fish food also every day? Should I test the water tomorrow with Master kit? Not sure how long it takes for Ammonia to form in the water. ( I have another 5 gallon betta tank that i didnt cycle...because I was a cluless dumbo, So while Im doing tons of water changes for that tank I want to cycle this new 10 gallon the right way so I can take some filter media from it and add to the 5 gallon eventually to ease my pain!)
Your welcome, You'll want to ghost feed every 3-4 days to keep ammonia levels elevated enough for the tank to cycle, it will take a few days before ammonia becomes present durring a test. Give it a week before testing to give it time, no sense in testing over and over if it's a bit to early 😁
I am in the process of setting up my 150 gallon and have a sponge filter extra in my 100 gallon so when I am about to cycle my new one I am going to put my bio sponge filter in my new tank
I'm putting fish food everyday for the past 4 days. I still have 0 ammonia, 0 NO3 & NO2.. The only difference is that the water is extremely blurry. (It's a 40 Litre tank and I have some plants in it like anubias and one lava stone) I have put water prime for NH3 and bacteria. What am I doing wrong? Shouldn't the ammonia increase by now ?
@@TrafishAquatics Thank you so much for replying you're very helpful! One more thing, should I add bacteria regularly or it's not necessary at this point?
It would likely be enough to start it but it depends on how long it releases ammonia for, If it's not enough to sustain the full 6-8 weeks of the cycle you would have to add an additional ammonia source
Would adding more surface area for the bacteria speed up the process? Like adding a sponge over the intake and bio Rings or balls in the hang on the back filter?
Would it speed it up, no. Bacteria can only reproduce so fast and it only grows to meet an equilibrium with the bio load of the tank. Adding more surface area increases a filters biological capability by allowing more bacteria to colonize if the need arises.
Great video bro! Very informative and to the point. I’m a complete newbie, got my tank and equipment and will start to cycle soon. I got recommended microbacter7, but I’m confused when to add it in? Have you used it before? Any comments about the product?
I've heard that it's a descent product however I don't have any first hand experience with it so I can't make any personal comments about it. Though you would need to have an ammonia source present before adding it in otherwise any benefit of the product would be wasted.
i had a tank setup 3 weeks ago i added fish food for fishless cycle the water test came to 0 amonia 0 NItrate and 0 Nitrite is the tank ready or the cycle has not began?
You need to ghost feed every 3-4 days to keep an ammonia source present to be able to have bacteria colonize, if you only fed once there likley wasn't enough ammonia produced to start the cycle, the tank will be ready when readings of ammonia and nitrite are 0 and nitrate reads anywhere from 10 and higher
You need to ghost feed every 3-4 days to keep an ammonia source present to be able to have bacteria colonize, if you only fed once there likley wasn't enough ammonia produced to start the cycle, the tank will be ready when readings of ammonia and nitrite are 0 and nitrate reads anywhere from 10 and higher
Trafish Aquatics will do so thank you for replying so quickly your video have been very helpful to me also do I need to do a water change I observed that my tank is getting cloudy .
Enjoying all the advice from everyone and definetly holding on to each unique experience. Like anything new we are experimenting with the environment. Fritz 7 and Complete have started with live plants (annubias crypts bacopa sword) When do i need to change the water? I understand allowing bacteria to grow, algae is created and allowing plants to settle in. I like that you said atleast a week after all this to get some form of basic system. So change water if i see something impacting the plants? So testing the water for ammonia and what else?
Test the water for ammonia nitrite and nitrate, with a fishless cycle you don't change water until the ammonia is processed all the way to nitrate. Once the nitrate levels go above 40 ppm you can do a what're change to lower the nitrate.
This is where I got slightly confused. I was told to put a pinch of food in and wait around 2 days and test for ammonia (not adding more food) if it was still at zero when it was tested again to add a bit more food then wait another 2 days and test again. So do I put a little food in everyday or every 2 days
Have you used ATM Colony? And if so how is it compared to the product your recommending? Just got into the hobby, Day 3 of attempting to cycle a 40g breeder tank (planted with bio-soil) Worried pH is too high to get bacteria started? Out of tap is 7.4, but after I do a dose of Seachem Prime my pH is jumping to 8 (which I guess makes sense since chlorine is acidic, its removal would push me more towards the "basic" or "alkaline" end of the scale). Do I have any other options other than a pH down to get my pH under control? And how long before I should be expecting to see trace amounts of Nitrite(s) and/or Nitrate(s)?
I changed my betta to a hospital tank so I decided to start the tank fresh. I didn’t not know it was going to take this long to cycle the tank. My betta has recovered but her tank is not ready. The nitrites are super high. What can I do to expedite the process?
Hi I have a 40gallon tank that hasn’t cycled and my 8 goldfish have been in there for 2 months now. 😔They are getting sick on me. So I decided to put them in a 20gallon that I have on the side and decided to try the fishless cycling. Do I add ammonia since they’ve been in there and it was 2ppm or leave it alone? Also i took them out this morning and raised the temperature now I see a white layer of debris all over my sponge filter, artificial plants, rocks etc... what is it? My last question would it help it I got a bigger filter that does double the job since goldfish are known to be poop machines
The white layer that you're seeing is likely just some kind of biofilm so it shouldn't be harmful to anything and will eventually go away. While the tank is cycling You want to try and keep your ammonia at 1-2 ppm until the bacterial colony is established themselves. Once the tank is capable of handling 1-2 ppm in 24 to 48 hours The tank is cycled. You may not need a larger filter if you're able to increase the biological capabilities of the current filter, I would suggest watching my video on upgrading a filter here to see if this is something you're able to do. One thing I do want to note though is eight goldfish in a 40 gallon is extremely heavily stocked so even if everything is cycled and you have large filters and everything you may still have issues in the future. th-cam.com/video/avKoScxaGbY/w-d-xo.html
I am using my own sponges, added media rings, have been using the api conditioner, amo-lock, stress zyme, accu clear. I first started with 4goldfish and someone was about to throw the other 4 away. I felt bad so I took them. I know 8 goldfish and 1 Cory is a lot. I’m just gonna have to deal with it. Thank you for your help I appreciate it
Hi! Thank you for an informative video. I am a newbie when it comes to this hobby. Bought an aquarium already and planning to have it aquascape with live plants. My newbie question is:During the fishless nitrogen cycle process, should we clean the tank and change water?
Nope if there's no fish there's nothing to get harmed by the ammonia or nitrite levels, therefore changing water or cleaning the tank will only show down the cycling process
@@TrafishAquatics thank you! I have started cycling the tank (without fish, adding fish pellets). I read somewhere that we need to maintain the ammonia at 3ppm for several days. When the ammonia becomes 0, do i continue to add fish pellets until the ammonia and nitrite are both 0? Thanks.
Hi. I might be late but can someone help me? I started a new 10g fish tank but I’m overwhelmed by different ways people add ammonia in their tanks to start the cycle. Can someone recommend me an easy and effective way to put ammonia in my tank?
Been a little over a week cycling a 80 gallon tank. Used the fritz ammonia and fluval cycle. Within a week ammonia is gone and last few days have not seen the nitrites go lower. Stuck at about 1 ppm and nitrates around 40ppm. Wondering if this is normal?
I have one more question, my ammonia is now at the 0.25 to 0.50ppm so do I stop adding fish food to the tank or continue until I see Nitrites? Thank you!
I’ve been stuck in the ammonia spike phase with ammonia levels at 4. I have been at this spike for two weeks now and no nitrites. I acquired this through ghost feeding. Also, I have been adding Microbe Lift Special Blend for beneficial bacteria daily. I am wondering if I should do a partial water change and if the ammonia levels are too high and stalling the cycle? My Ph is between 6.8 and 7.2.
So I set up a new 20 gallon tank and was curious if I would be able to take a moss ball from a current tank to help with the cycle cause it’s been in a tank. Would that work or would ghost feeding be better than that.
The moss ball would help bring established bacteria into the new tank however without a food source the moss ball could die off. So if you aren't already you would probably have to add a liquid fertilizer to the new tank just for the moss ball. That being said any bacteria that gets brought over from the moss ball would still have to be fed and ammonia source to be able to keep it alive so it can establish the new tank.
I absolutely believe in that, I have another video entirely dedicated to it, which is why I didn't really mention it here as this video is more for a traditional fishless cycle
So how this is going to work is you're going to ghost feed or add fish food to the tank, You would use the API master test kit to test your water every few days looking for ammonia to show up. Once ammonia shows up then you're going to start testing for nitrite and nitrate, eventually there will be no ammonia present no nitrite present and only nitrate and at that point the tank is cycled. You do a water change normally weekly about 25% of the amount of water in the tank.
There is no need to do water changes during a fishless cycle. when you start the aquarium and first fill it you can add enough ammonia to get the tank up to 1-2ppm ammonia and let it run with the filter running and heater on at 78-80 degrees, the bacteria will naturally begin to grow and bloom and colonize the aquarium to process the ammonia into nitrite and then nitrate. this process can take 6-8 weeks on average but for some it can be faster or slower also.
I’m a first time fish owner and on day 3 after adding my betta, I woke to a dead fish. I followed the store owner’s advice on when/how to add the fish, clearly my first mistake. What do I do now? Clean the tank and start over, replace 50% of the water? I keep finding conflicting info. Really appreciate any help you can give!
Remove the fish and just work on a fishless cycle for now, no need to clean the tank unless you want to as any of the organic matter the fish left behind will turn to ammonia and help the tank cycle
If you have no ammonia to start the turbo start want produce any nitrates because the bacteria have nothing to consume, if your starting with nothing you can add a couple fish with the turbo start to get things going or a product like dr Tim's ammonium chloride
I have a 400L tank, it's had water in it for a week now with no fish or food. The ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all zero and have always been zero. I used api quick start too. Nothing is happening. I have large gravel and also 5 large rocks in there. Has it already cycled? I'm confused.
No, Generally speaking a cycle takes approximately 6 to 8 weeks to happen, cheaper bacterial starters like the API quick start are usually just sugar water since life bacterial colonies have a very short shelf life. essentially the sugar water gets added to the tank and eventually breaks down and becomes ammonia which will then be a food source for the bacteria and it will begin to colonize but you have to make sure that you continue adding and ammonia source to the tank to allow the bacteria to colonize properly otherwise it will starve out and die and the tank will not cycle. when a tank has an established nitrogen cycle you will have zero ammonia zero nitrite and elevated nitrates
I have started ghost cycling and everything at 0 but my water was really cloudy now clear my number still at 0 its been 2 1/2 weeks does that normally happen.
Bro you deserve a ton more subs I just scrolled threw the comments and you're "helpful af" reaching out to everyone(saving the day) so to speak👍🏾👍🏾 I just subbed
Thanks man, I really appreciate it lol
@@TrafishAquatics it's the truth you're like an teacher and we're in class taking notes, also what's the name of the cycle product you mentioned at the end of the video? I did like the worst amateur thing last night as I've never owned fish before and ordered red belly piranhas and am only going to pick up a 55gal tank in a couple hours sooo yes I REALLY "jumped the gun" on this one smh
I like Fritz turbo start 700
@@TrafishAquatics alright thanks a lot I'll check that out right now
@@TrafishAquatics (koo
The only video that helped me- thanks for dumbing it down
Your welcome!
The u
Yes seriously! I'm in so many aquarium groups, forums, I've asked people to break it down to me like a child and still it was so confusing to me. This was so helpful
You're welcome!
Fr
It's been 13 years so I cycled a tank so this really helped. I've just started cycling my 29 gallon.
Glad it was helpful
Been about 6 years since I first setup my 65 gallon tank. I sold my house and had one built and have been about 10 months no tank. Just set it back up 3 days ago and was trying to remember how to get the cycle started. Thanks for the upload!
Your welcome! Glad your getting back into aquariums!
tysm! i'm getting a 10 gallon tank for my betta soon and was really confused on cycling, and nothing seemed to make sense, but this video actually helped so thanks a lot!
Your welcome, I'm glad it was helpful!
You are describing me right now! This video is a life saver
@@Chloe-kz4pf You're very welcome
Make sure you are completely cycled before adding your betta. I lost mine. :(
@@fruitygal2236 quick question- how dyou know when its fully cycled??
I think the only thing missing from this video (or maybe I missed it myself) that was super helpful for me starting out is that there are technically two bacteria colonies present. The one that turns ammonia into nitrites and the one that turns nitrites into nitrates. If you see ammonia falling but not nitrites, and vice versa, your tank is still not cycled yet. Both of those need to be raised and lowered in the tank naturally and end at 0 before you can introduce your fish!
Thank you for the short and useful video. My son and I learned exactly what we needed to know to set up our tank.
Glad it was helpful
this was an awesome video. i tried to find other videos but they were so long and didn't make it this simple. I started my 75 gallon tank cycle a few days ago, can't wait to add my fish!
That's awesome! If you have any questions or issues let me know and I'll try to help you out
@@TrafishAquatics thanks I appreciate that :D
This video helped me so much to understand what I thought was a complicated process, so thank you. I am currently attempting to seed a sponge filter in a 5 gallon, fishless , planted tank. My goal is to move the sponge filter to a 20 gal after it’s gifted to my son for Christmas in hopes that it will “instant” cycle. Everything seems to be moving in the right direction, I think the plants are helping to speed the process up.
Sounds like you are on the right path 👍
I‘m 100% new to this, and your video is by far the best i've found on the subject. All the others left me with more questions and this video answered them all. Legend!
Thank you
@@TrafishAquatics Tra...I've been with you since I started my 29gal almost a year ago. YOU were the one that helped me get my tank cycled but you've created a monster!! I just got another tank!!! lol
He's always on target Mitch! Make sure you sub his channel for the future because fish keeping is ALWAYS a learning thing!! Best of luck in your new hobby!!
Yea that happens lol
Currently I've been cycling for 2 weeks. My question is do I add food daily. Or do I stop when I have the desired amount of ammonia? Also should I do water changes? And how often?
No water changes until aftet nitrate starts showing up and the water has cleared up. If you hit 2ppm ammonia you can stop adding food
Thank you for this, Im leaning towards fishless cycling and this video helps a lot for newbies like me thanks
Your welcome
Been looking for answers to this that make sense-yours is the only one that’s helped me! Thank you!
Your welcome!
Hey i have a question. I started fishless cycling with aquarium plants in it and introduced decholorintor as well as API quickstart in it. I
did a water test 2 days later and find that there are no ammonia as well as nitrite but there was a 10 ppm of nitrate. Could you explain how can there be nitrate if there are no ammonia to begin with?
Did anything you put in your tank come from an older, established tank? Like the plants or decorations?
Thank you so so much I'm going to get an Axolotl and didn't know what cycling was so I was about to put him inside a uncycled tank and also it is so quick with the fish food!
Your welcome! With an axolotl make sure you get a 20 long minimum, they like the length over the height.
I’m a little bit confused about cycling. Is cycling to do with the filter, the tank, or the water? If it’s the water, then when you do water changes, do you have to recycle that water? Or do you cycle and the filter is the thing that’s getting cycled? I’m sorry I’m a bit dumb
Cycling is about the establishing of nitrafying bacteria, at first the bacteria blooms and is suspended in the water column which causes the typical cloudy water, after a few weeks this bacteria settles down on your filter media and substrate and any hard surface that is submerged. The basic premise is to encourage the growth of this bacteria and do as little as possible to prevent its growth
Should I add a live plant while ghost fish cycling?
100% would help the cycle, adding floaters too!
Thank you for a informative straight to the point video on this subject!
I love you.
Me and my husband are getting into fish keeping o have seen countless videos and your just made it click with me... I subscribed thank you so much for the info
Your welcome, im glad theyre helpful to you!
Best video I’ve found on cycling 👍🏼 is fritzzyme 7 the same thing as turbo start? Claims to do the same
Basically yes but its not as concentrated, some people have trouble cycling with that one, Amazon and chewy have the turbostart 700
Im a newbie, I used the API quick start and the fluid is clear like water and doesnt smell. Did I just waste 9 buxs?
can you put live plants in it while you’re waiting for it to cycle?
Absolutley, it will actually help it to cycle faster because the plants will introduce bacteria
i found this video very helpful. thank you!
Your welcome
Hi! Just a quick question- would you suggest a small or large sponge filter for a 10 gallon?
The smaller one will be good!
Okay, thanks!
Thank you! I was slowly cycling a 20g and after watching this and getting Fritz 700 it’s almost finished in just a few days!
Glad to hear!
@@TrafishAquatics how much pellets should i put in my aquarium while cycling it?
That depends, How big is the tank?
@@TrafishAquatics its a 10 gal
2-3 pellets every 2 days
I just subscribed and hit the bell I love to see you guys who actually answers questions.
Thank you
Thank you, Travis. Very helpful.
Most helpful video out there. Thanks so much!
Got a great video idea for you. Can you cycle two identical tanks, seeding with ammonium chloride, so fishless of course. But with one tank turbo start and the other tank just let time take its course? Adding ammonium chloride (the same amount in each tank) when needed to keep the ammonia up. Would be interesting to see if fritz truly does speed up the cycling process
do i dechlorinate the water with conditioner before the starting the cycle? and also once the cycle is finished and want a water change, i also have to dechlorinate the water before adding?
Yes to both, you always want to dechlorinate your water, however when adding the new water to a cycled aquarium you can remove old water then add the treatment to the tank and add water back in, the treatment will work almost instantly as water is being added back in to remove the chlorine/chloramine
I think I’ll try the fish food method. How long do I have to repeat the process before I can add fish though?
if i was to put a sponge filter plus biomedia from an already established tank into my new tank, should i use this method as well to inlarge my bacteria colony along with lets say seachem stability?
thanks
Yes that would work great!
Do I have this right ?so you add ammonia then Add beneficial bacteria and wait until cycled
Correct
What can I use to test for ammonia? This is my first time doing a fishless cycle and I dont have anything to test
Also, if I do a water change won't that completely restart the cycle?
For a fishless cycle the water change won't make you have to restart it but it will slow the process down. Generally for fishless Cycling you don't do any changes until the very end, unless ammonia gets too high like 6 ppm or more, to remove nitrates before adding fish to make sure the levels are good. For testing I usually use the API master test kit, this kit is the most widely used by aquarium keepers, which you can get here amzn.to/2VHXwdV
It took me a while to understand about cycling and to cycle a tank for my axolotl but cycling without a fish is not hard and its so much better!!!!! I cycled mine with Seachem stability, It took me 2 months but I loved every moment of it???? 😂 I dont know but I loved the responsibility.
Thats awesome
hello! Am i supposed to keep on adding fish pellets until the ammonia and nitrite level go to 0? please respond! :D Some people say that I should keep my filter, heater and oxygen thing on while it's cycling.. should i? or is it going to interfere with thee cycling process
Add pellets until your ammonia reaches between 1-2ppm then the tank will naturally cycle from there and yes you should leave them on for the process
@@TrafishAquatics after the cycle will there be food waste in the bottom of my fish tank that I have to clean or no?
There could be
@@TrafishAquatics sorry to bother but i have another question.. Should I cycle my aquarium before planting a dwarf hairgrass carpet in my fish tank or should i plant the grass then cycle the fish tank?
Plant then cycle the live plants will help the cycle establish quicker
Thank you for answering my questions. I appreciate your help.
Your welcome
when i do my 20 percent water change, should i de-chlorinate and or treat the water i replace into the tank? or is it ok just to fill the tank back up and leave it? thank you!
If you have chlorinated water add your dechlorinator before adding your new water and youll be good to go
@@TrafishAquatics thank you so much
Setting up a shrimp tank , after all set up if shrimp do not produce sufficient ammonia will bacteria die off?
It takes a fair ammount of time for the bacteria to die off but the bacteria will stabilize at whatever your bioload is so no worries there!
Thank for your the helpful video. ☺️
A question that i have is let’s say you fill up your aquarium then you use your dechlorinator. If i decide to add live bacteria from a bottle when is the time to do that? 1 day after using my dechlorinator? And also if i use live bacteria from a bottle do i have to use fish food in order to produce ammonia and start my cycle?
Thanks
Dechlorinator usually works pretty quickly and usually has all chlorine and chloramines removed within 2 minutes, You can add your bottled bacteria anytime after that, and yes you would need an ammonia source of some kind to be able to help the bacteria survive
Do you continue to sprinkle food in the tank once nitrites are present?
Is we need to add fish food everyday day throughout the cycling period
What if you use live foods ? Like mosquito larvae ? I have betta fish .planning to aquascape my tank
*Is it possible to cycle the tank with a sponge filter only, no other media or substrate?*
Yes
this might be a stupid question, but how do the beneficial bacteria get in the tank. Do i have to use a bottled product or will they just appear.
They will appear naturally, or you can use a bacterial starter like Fritz 700
@@TrafishAquatics ok. thank you!
I dont know if this is an effective way, but after a week of cycling I put in some live plants from an established tank and a few rocks and it seemed to speed things up a bit. I couldn't tell you how long because I didn't think about tracking the time. But it didn't feel as long as what I've done before.
I'm about to start a new betta tank AND a guppy tank for my son. Maybe I'll test both ways and see which is faster? My wife wants a betta sorority tank so maybe ill try my way with the plants and rocks from an established tank, the regular way with fish food or a piece of shrimp, and then the turbo bacterial culture. Idk
Absolutley, any item from an established tank will greatly boost the biological capabilities of a cycling aquarium!
Hello is there any other way to tell if the tank is fully cyled? The testing kits are too expensive in my country.
Without having a test kit is going to be extremely difficult to be able to determine if a tank is indeed cycled or not. However two good identifiers would be if you've had a bacterial bloom in the past or recently, If you've never seen a bacterial bloom chances are the tank isn't cycled, The blooms would last a few weeks so it would be pretty obvious. The second is if you tank smells like ammonia then you would be in the cycling process, once the smell went away then it would be a fair assessment that you would either be close or finished. But there's no true way of knowing for sure without testing.
Ñpc c😊sveb
How many times should you feed the tank with fish food? Like every other day? Once a week? Just once?
Every other day until ammonia becomes 1-2ppm with testing, then cut back to weekly until all ammonia is processed into nitrate.
@@TrafishAquatics Thanks so much!
Great video put across very clearly. Cheers
Thank you
Could I just add bacteria from a bottle and then add my fish? or would i still need to ghost feed?
The only bottled bacteria that I would trust to do this would be the Fritz turbo start
Do you stop putting the fish food in once ammonia registers on the test kit or do you continue?
Hey! I got a new aquarium, added river sand, planted some plants, didn't introduce fish yet because I think I should wait for a week to 10 days atleast. Should I add activated carbon to the top filter sponge now itself? Or should I wait for 7 days to add? Please help. Thanks for the awesome video!
There's no need for activated carbon, You should add a little bit of ammonia to make sure that you have bacterial colonies established that can convert that ammonia into nitrite and then nitrate before adding fish. Otherwise the fish could suffer ammonia poisoning.
I don't have any test kit, is there a way to know if my tank is cycled that I can add any fish? Thank you. I'm planning to buy a tank soon so I'm planning everything early and thank you for you vids, it's very informative.
Not really, there is only one visual indicator which is cloudy water but you can have elevated ammonia and nitrite and have clear water also, a test kit is the easiest and best way
Hey i just watched your video do i use something to get the chlorine & chloramines of first or could the fritz turbo do all that and if not do i mix them all together or different times.
I added tap water from the bathtub into my new 29 gallon fish tank (With water conditioner to make tap water safe) and i added driftwood and im on day 3 of letting my new tank cycle with no fish. The water turned into a tea color which i think is from the driftwood and now the surface is getting a bit foamy. Do you know if that is normal? Do i need to do a water change?
Do you have to put any chemicals or additives in to convert the nitrites to nitrates? Or will this happen naturally
This will happen naturally due to the bacteria converting it
@@TrafishAquatics okay 😁👍🏼 great thank you, so that’s why the process takes a while since it’s natural process
Yep exactly
Hi I'm ghost feeding just set up my tank today (:
How often do I put fish food in? Do I do water changes weekly ?
If you are ghost feeding and fishless Cycling there is no need to do a waterchange until the cycle is complete and your only showing nitrates, removing ammonia in an uncycled tank will slow the cycling process and make it take much longer.
@@TrafishAquatics thank you so so much !
@@JenniferMartinez-pi3yh your very welcome
@@TrafishAquatics hes question was "how often should he ghost feed?" I felt like you missed that part? And even in the video it wasnt explained properly.
@@AxTenTen I feed my tank twice a day for 6 to 8 weeks with my fishless cycle. That's what works for me.
On average it takes my tank 6 weeks to completely cycle. On week 7 I do a 50% water change. And on week 8 another 50% water change. And I clean the substrate. I personally clean the front panel and one of the side panels. I leave the other two panels and other surface areas covered without you for the shrimp and plecos.
My tanks are good to go after that.
GreenEyzz Washington
GreenEyzz Washington
1 second ago
I have a question not a comment, I was setting up my aquarium to cure before I put my fish in and I never got my fish, but I kept the filter going and a month down the line,.I noticed this slime ( real gooy stuff ) on my aquarium surface and the decorations etc. I now have cleaned everything out including rocks, decorations and the aquarium filter. So this does not happen again, what actually happened?
Hello!
Really helpful video.
I was wondering what is your opinion about I Love Fish Filter Boost?
I have started cycling my 5 gallon aquarium with a fish in it, using the Filter Booster...
And another thing bothers me - shall I make water changes while the aquarium is still cycling? I mean - if the bacteria is building on the gravel, if I vacuume it - I will destroy the bacteria...
It's an adventure cycling a tank 😅
Thanks!
personally I've never used that product so I can't form an educated opinion on it. While you're doing a fish in cycle if you have to do any water changes that's all you should do is change water and try not to disturb the filter or substrate, If you're able to get any seachem prime This will help detoxify elevated levels of ammonia and nitrite to help protect your fish while you're doing the cycling process.
@@TrafishAquatics Thanks!
How long does this cycle take before I can add fish? I’m so impatient lol
If you do a natural cycle with ammonia dosing/ghost feeding it takes 6-8 weeks, or you can get a bottle of fritz turbo start 700 and it will cycle nuch faster in about a weeks time
Hi! this was such a helpful video! I have a new 10 gallon tank that I want to cycle. I just added some fish food in there today and added some Seachem Stability ( one capful as directed on the label for the first day and then i have to add half a capful every day for 7 days as directed) so do I add fish food also every day? Should I test the water tomorrow with Master kit? Not sure how long it takes for Ammonia to form in the water. ( I have another 5 gallon betta tank that i didnt cycle...because I was a cluless dumbo, So while Im doing tons of water changes for that tank I want to cycle this new 10 gallon the right way so I can take some filter media from it and add to the 5 gallon eventually to ease my pain!)
Your welcome, You'll want to ghost feed every 3-4 days to keep ammonia levels elevated enough for the tank to cycle, it will take a few days before ammonia becomes present durring a test. Give it a week before testing to give it time, no sense in testing over and over if it's a bit to early 😁
I am in the process of setting up my 150 gallon and have a sponge filter extra in my 100 gallon so when I am about to cycle my new one I am going to put my bio sponge filter in my new tank
Sounds great!
I'm putting fish food everyday for the past 4 days. I still have 0 ammonia, 0 NO3 & NO2..
The only difference is that the water is extremely blurry.
(It's a 40 Litre tank and I have some plants in it like anubias and one lava stone)
I have put water prime for NH3 and bacteria.
What am I doing wrong? Shouldn't the ammonia increase by now ?
The blurry water is the bacteria starting to form, it can take up to 2 weeks for ammonia to become present in testable levels
@@TrafishAquatics Thank you so much for replying you're very helpful! One more thing, should I add bacteria regularly or it's not necessary at this point?
Hi. I will be using ADA aquasoil that contains high ammonia. Is that enough? Do I still need to add some fish food to create ammonia? Thanks
It would likely be enough to start it but it depends on how long it releases ammonia for, If it's not enough to sustain the full 6-8 weeks of the cycle you would have to add an additional ammonia source
@@TrafishAquatics understood. Thanks!
Would adding more surface area for the bacteria speed up the process? Like adding a sponge over the intake and bio Rings or balls in the hang on the back filter?
Would it speed it up, no. Bacteria can only reproduce so fast and it only grows to meet an equilibrium with the bio load of the tank. Adding more surface area increases a filters biological capability by allowing more bacteria to colonize if the need arises.
Great video bro! Very informative and to the point. I’m a complete newbie, got my tank and equipment and will start to cycle soon. I got recommended microbacter7, but I’m confused when to add it in? Have you used it before? Any comments about the product?
I've heard that it's a descent product however I don't have any first hand experience with it so I can't make any personal comments about it. Though you would need to have an ammonia source present before adding it in otherwise any benefit of the product would be wasted.
@@TrafishAquatics thanks for the prompt reply! Ok will get some fish food going first before the Mb7!
i had a tank setup 3 weeks ago i added fish food for fishless cycle the water test came to 0 amonia 0 NItrate and 0 Nitrite is the tank ready or the cycle has not began?
You need to ghost feed every 3-4 days to keep an ammonia source present to be able to have bacteria colonize, if you only fed once there likley wasn't enough ammonia produced to start the cycle, the tank will be ready when readings of ammonia and nitrite are 0 and nitrate reads anywhere from 10 and higher
You need to ghost feed every 3-4 days to keep an ammonia source present to be able to have bacteria colonize, if you only fed once there likley wasn't enough ammonia produced to start the cycle, the tank will be ready when readings of ammonia and nitrite are 0 and nitrate reads anywhere from 10 and higher
Trafish Aquatics will do so thank you for replying so quickly your video have been very helpful to me also do I need to do a water change I observed that my tank is getting cloudy .
Enjoying all the advice from everyone and definetly holding on to each unique experience.
Like anything new we are experimenting with the environment.
Fritz 7 and Complete have started with live plants (annubias crypts bacopa sword)
When do i need to change the water?
I understand allowing bacteria to grow, algae is created and allowing plants to settle in.
I like that you said atleast a week after all this to get some form of basic system.
So change water if i see something impacting the plants?
So testing the water for ammonia and what else?
Test the water for ammonia nitrite and nitrate, with a fishless cycle you don't change water until the ammonia is processed all the way to nitrate. Once the nitrate levels go above 40 ppm you can do a what're change to lower the nitrate.
Hey! I loved the video but I was wondering, is there any way that you can cycle without plants or substrate or fish? Thanks!
You can ghost feed the tank to create ammonia which will start the cycle, or use fritz turbostart 700
This is where I got slightly confused. I was told to put a pinch of food in and wait around 2 days and test for ammonia (not adding more food) if it was still at zero when it was tested again to add a bit more food then wait another 2 days and test again.
So do I put a little food in everyday or every 2 days
Either way is fine and will work
Have you used ATM Colony? And if so how is it compared to the product your recommending?
Just got into the hobby, Day 3 of attempting to cycle a 40g breeder tank (planted with bio-soil)
Worried pH is too high to get bacteria started? Out of tap is 7.4, but after I do a dose of Seachem Prime my pH is jumping to 8 (which I guess makes sense since chlorine is acidic, its removal would push me more towards the "basic" or "alkaline" end of the scale). Do I have any other options other than a pH down to get my pH under control? And how long before I should be expecting to see trace amounts of Nitrite(s) and/or Nitrate(s)?
Yesss I got a bacteria starter!! I got so confused when you spoke about the fish food and I was like ohh noo I didn’t do that, then I watched! Phew
Yep the starter should work
I changed my betta to a hospital tank so I decided to start the tank fresh. I didn’t not know it was going to take this long to cycle the tank. My betta has recovered but her tank is not ready. The nitrites are super high. What can I do to expedite the process?
I heard of getting bacteria from the fish store from their filters. How would that work?
That would work great! If you can get it from your LFS that's about the best way to do it
Can I just drop a shrimp in there and wait 6-8 weeks? With some testing? Is that it?
For the most part yes
Great video
Presented well I like your style
Keep it up
Easiest explanation to understand by far
Hi I have a 40gallon tank that hasn’t cycled and my 8 goldfish have been in there for 2 months now. 😔They are getting sick on me. So I decided to put them in a 20gallon that I have on the side and decided to try the fishless cycling. Do I add ammonia since they’ve been in there and it was 2ppm or leave it alone? Also i took them out this morning and raised the temperature now I see a white layer of debris all over my sponge filter, artificial plants, rocks etc... what is it? My last question would it help it I got a bigger filter that does double the job since goldfish are known to be poop machines
The white layer that you're seeing is likely just some kind of biofilm so it shouldn't be harmful to anything and will eventually go away. While the tank is cycling You want to try and keep your ammonia at 1-2 ppm until the bacterial colony is established themselves. Once the tank is capable of handling 1-2 ppm in 24 to 48 hours The tank is cycled. You may not need a larger filter if you're able to increase the biological capabilities of the current filter, I would suggest watching my video on upgrading a filter here to see if this is something you're able to do. One thing I do want to note though is eight goldfish in a 40 gallon is extremely heavily stocked so even if everything is cycled and you have large filters and everything you may still have issues in the future.
th-cam.com/video/avKoScxaGbY/w-d-xo.html
I am using my own sponges, added media rings, have been using the api conditioner, amo-lock, stress zyme, accu clear. I first started with 4goldfish and someone was about to throw the other 4 away. I felt bad so I took them. I know 8 goldfish and 1 Cory is a lot. I’m just gonna have to deal with it. Thank you for your help I appreciate it
No problem, I completely understand the situation! If you ever need further help feel free to reach out
Hi! Thank you for an informative video. I am a newbie when it comes to this hobby. Bought an aquarium already and planning to have it aquascape with live plants. My newbie question is:During the fishless nitrogen cycle process, should we clean the tank and change water?
Nope if there's no fish there's nothing to get harmed by the ammonia or nitrite levels, therefore changing water or cleaning the tank will only show down the cycling process
@@TrafishAquatics thank you. i just clean the tank after the cycle is finished and before adding in the fish right?
Yep that's it
@@TrafishAquatics thank you! I have started cycling the tank (without fish, adding fish pellets). I read somewhere that we need to maintain the ammonia at 3ppm for several days. When the ammonia becomes 0, do i continue to add fish pellets until the ammonia and nitrite are both 0? Thanks.
Yep that's about it, You don't want to get the ammonia too high generally I like to keep it between 1 and 2 PPM too high and it can stall the cycle
Sorry If you already mentioned it. About how often do you have test the levels, and about how long does the natural cycling take?
For fishless I like to test every 2-3 days, and a natural cycle takes anywhere from 6-8 weeks normally if you don't use bottled bacteria.
Hi. I might be late but can someone help me? I started a new 10g fish tank but I’m overwhelmed by different ways people add ammonia in their tanks to start the cycle. Can someone recommend me an easy and effective way to put ammonia in my tank?
Dr Tim sells a product called ammonium chloride and is probably one of the easiest ways to get ammonia in the aquarium for a fishless cycle.
| Trafish Aquatics | Thanks a lot!
So is seachem stability not a good one? That’s what I’ve been using.
It works for some people but it's definitely not the best, In my personal experience I'm not a huge fan of it
Came here to learn about cycling as I want some axolotls and what do i see in the tank above your head 😍 awwwww
Been a little over a week cycling a 80 gallon tank. Used the fritz ammonia and fluval cycle. Within a week ammonia is gone and last few days have not seen the nitrites go lower. Stuck at about 1 ppm and nitrates around 40ppm. Wondering if this is normal?
When doing the water change after your tank is cycled do you do a 100% water change?
Usually only 50% but it depends how high your nitrates are, ypu want nitrate under 40ppm
I have one more question, my ammonia is now at the 0.25 to 0.50ppm so do I stop adding fish food to the tank or continue until I see Nitrites? Thank you!
Continue
Please help! Is my tank ready for fish after 4-6 months? Or should i wait another 6 months like i have been?
What all have you done to prepare your tank?
I’ve been stuck in the ammonia spike phase with ammonia levels at 4. I have been at this spike for two weeks now and no nitrites. I acquired this through ghost feeding. Also, I have been adding Microbe Lift Special Blend for beneficial bacteria daily. I am wondering if I should do a partial water change and if the ammonia levels are too high and stalling the cycle? My Ph is between 6.8 and 7.2.
So I set up a new 20 gallon tank and was curious if I would be able to take a moss ball from a current tank to help with the cycle cause it’s been in a tank. Would that work or would ghost feeding be better than that.
The moss ball would help bring established bacteria into the new tank however without a food source the moss ball could die off. So if you aren't already you would probably have to add a liquid fertilizer to the new tank just for the moss ball. That being said any bacteria that gets brought over from the moss ball would still have to be fed and ammonia source to be able to keep it alive so it can establish the new tank.
@@TrafishAquatics okay thank you
Thank you for this video. This is what I'm doing right now. Can't wait to put my little fishes in there.
Glad this was helpful!
Great indepth info on this critical process, thanks so much. Also, assume the timeframes are shorter with small tanks (5 gal.)
Time frames are the same for any size aquarium as the bacteria processes at the same rate
Hi. You didn't talk about using filter media from a cycled tank. Do you not believ that?
I absolutely believe in that, I have another video entirely dedicated to it, which is why I didn't really mention it here as this video is more for a traditional fishless cycle
@@TrafishAquatics awesome would that method work if a friend posted me some of his filter media in a zippy bag?
It should as long as there is enough oxygen and food in the bag to sustain them until they arrive to you
so with the API kit, you’re not using the chemicals that come with it? we just the test strips and fish food?
and with water change, do you mean put all brand new water completely?
So how this is going to work is you're going to ghost feed or add fish food to the tank, You would use the API master test kit to test your water every few days looking for ammonia to show up. Once ammonia shows up then you're going to start testing for nitrite and nitrate, eventually there will be no ammonia present no nitrite present and only nitrate and at that point the tank is cycled. You do a water change normally weekly about 25% of the amount of water in the tank.
Each time you do the water Change do you just add normal tap water then add ammonia¿
There is no need to do water changes during a fishless cycle. when you start the aquarium and first fill it you can add enough ammonia to get the tank up to 1-2ppm ammonia and let it run with the filter running and heater on at 78-80 degrees, the bacteria will naturally begin to grow and bloom and colonize the aquarium to process the ammonia into nitrite and then nitrate. this process can take 6-8 weeks on average but for some it can be faster or slower also.
I’m a first time fish owner and on day 3 after adding my betta, I woke to a dead fish. I followed the store owner’s advice on when/how to add the fish, clearly my first mistake. What do I do now? Clean the tank and start over, replace 50% of the water? I keep finding conflicting info. Really appreciate any help you can give!
Remove the fish and just work on a fishless cycle for now, no need to clean the tank unless you want to as any of the organic matter the fish left behind will turn to ammonia and help the tank cycle
@@TrafishAquatics Thanks for the quick response! Subscribed!
Your welcome and thank you!
how much food do you feed to these ghost fish? do you put as much as you’d usually do for actual fish
Small pinch daily is good
Seriously helpful! Thanks dude!
You're very welcome I'm glad it was helpful!
I added turbo start yesterday and it had 0 for everything should I added more turbo start or no
If you have no ammonia to start the turbo start want produce any nitrates because the bacteria have nothing to consume, if your starting with nothing you can add a couple fish with the turbo start to get things going or a product like dr Tim's ammonium chloride
I have a 400L tank, it's had water in it for a week now with no fish or food. The ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all zero and have always been zero. I used api quick start too. Nothing is happening. I have large gravel and also 5 large rocks in there. Has it already cycled? I'm confused.
No, Generally speaking a cycle takes approximately 6 to 8 weeks to happen, cheaper bacterial starters like the API quick start are usually just sugar water since life bacterial colonies have a very short shelf life. essentially the sugar water gets added to the tank and eventually breaks down and becomes ammonia which will then be a food source for the bacteria and it will begin to colonize but you have to make sure that you continue adding and ammonia source to the tank to allow the bacteria to colonize properly otherwise it will starve out and die and the tank will not cycle. when a tank has an established nitrogen cycle you will have zero ammonia zero nitrite and elevated nitrates
When you say a water change after a cycle what exactly do you mean?
Remove some of the water from the tank and put fresh water in after the tank is able to break ammonia all the way down into nitrate
I have started ghost cycling and everything at 0 but my water was really cloudy now clear my number still at 0 its been 2 1/2 weeks does that normally happen.
Yes the bacteria will form and begin breaking down any organics in the water but you need to keep feeding the bacteria or it will die off
@@TrafishAquatics Thank you I will continue to do that.