Pete Giwojna
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Re:NEW TANK QUESTION - 2008/05/13 19:57
Dear Jairo:
Okay, so far so good! Between the live rock and live sand you have certainly seeded your new 90-gallon aquarium with plenty of beneficial nitrifying bacteria to kick-start the cycling process.
Sometimes you can cycle a new aquarium simply by adding sufficient live rock and/or live sand. There will normally be some die off of the encrusting organisms on the live rock, and the resulting decay is often enough to provide the ammonia that's needed to sustain a burgeoning population of beneficial nitrifying bacteria. That's what the information sheet from live aquaria was referring to when they suggested making the water changes and scrubbing of dead matter from the live rock and so forth.
But precured live rock may not experience a significant die off, and therefore cannot always serve as the ammonia source while the aquarium is cycling. If you have never observed an ammonia spike in your new tank, then that may be the case with your aquarium, and you'll have to provide another source of ammonia to feed the biofilter and build up as large a population of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter anaerobic bacteria as possible. In that event, sir, no water change is necessary at this point.
Although plenty of beneficial Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter are present within the live rock and live sand, if there is no ammonia in the tank to sustain them, the population of the good nitrifying bacteria will begin to die back or starve, so you will want to provide a source of ammonia for your 90-gallon aquarium to keep the population of beneficial bacteria growing and thriving. In short sir, what you need to do now is to feed the beneficial bacteria that will be providing the biological filtration for your aquarium.
You could use hardy, expendable fish, such as damsels or mollies to feed the bacteria with their waste products, but I would recommend the fishless cycling method instead, which involves adding a piece or two of uncooked cocktail shrimp or similar biomass to the aquarium, which will produce abundant ammonia as it decomposes.
There is a detailed discussion of this method for cycling a new aquarium in the discussion thread on the next page of this forum titled "New Tank -- Please Help," and if you read through that material, it will explain how to cycle your tank step-by-step using this technique. You can look up the discussion online at the following URL:
http://www.seahorse.com/option,com_joomlaboard/Itemid,218/func,view/id,4939/catid,2/
One drawback to this method of cycling is that it can sometimes produce an objectionable odor nearby the aquarium as the cocktail shrimp/fresh fish decomposes. Most times this just produces a slight "fishy" odor, but sometimes, in the advanced stages of decay, the odor of putrefaction can also become quite noticeable. If it gets to the point where it's driving your wife and kids out of the house and mutiny is in the air, then you may have to remove the decaying shrimp and explore other alternatives. In that case, you might want to consider feeding the beneficial nitrifying bacteria with drops of ammonia directly, as explained below, sir.
Fsihless Cycling
The best way to accomplish this is to feed the nitrifying bacteria directly with ammonia that you add to the tank drop by drop yourself, which has a couple of worthwhile advantages. First of all, the amount of ammonia you add daily is far greater than that the amount of ammonia hardy damsels or mollies can produce nature's way as waste products. The excess ammonia means the bacterial colonies can grow faster and produce much larger populations of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria by the time the cycling process is complete (Cow, Jan. 1999). The result is that your tank cycles faster, typically in 10-21 days as opposed to 4-6 weeks for more conventional cycling methods, and the tank can ordinarily be stocked at capacity once the cycle is completed (Cow, Jan. 1999). As an added bonus, there isn't the unpleasant odor of putrefaction that can sometimes become a major annoyance when using decomposing cocktail shrimp as the ammonia source.
To cycle your tank this way, simply add ammonia drop by drop, keeping track of how many drops you've added, until it produces a reading of ~5 ppm on your test kit (Cow, Jan. 1999). Then continue to add exactly that many drops of ammonia each day thereafter until you begin to see detectable levels of nitrite. Then once nitrite readings begin to appear on your test kits, cut back the amount of ammonia you add to 1/2 the original amount, and continue to add a half dose of ammonia each day until the cycle has finished and you stock the aquarium (Cow, Jan. 1999).
It is important to use your test kits every day or two when cycling your tank to monitor the progress of the process. One benefit of fishless cycling method is that it produces an immediate ammonia spike, which accelerates the cycling process accordingly (Cow, Jan. 1999). So at first you will see a rapid rise in ammonia levels with no detectable nitrite or nitrate. Then, as Nitrosomonas bacteria begin converting ammonia to nitrite, the ammonia levels will fall and nitrite readings will steadily rise. Nitrite levels will peak as the ammonia drops to zero. Next, Nitrobacter will begin converting the nitrite to nitrate, and your nitrite readings will fall as the level of nitrate rises. Finally, after the nitrites also read zero, you are ready to stock your tank. At this point, your ammonia and nitrite levels should both be zero, nitrates will be building up, and algae will usually begin to grow. This will tell you that your biofilter is active and functioning properly, and that you can now safely begin stocking the tank (Fenner, 2003b). It generally takes anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks to cycle a tank this way from scratch using the fishless cycling technique (Cow, 1999).
When cycling your tank with this method, it is advisable to perform large water changes (70%-100%) before adding any specimens to the tank in order to lower the elevated nitrate levels it produces and correct the pH (Cow, 1999). Otherwise, it can be difficult to bring the nitrate down to manageable levels again after the tank is stocked. Ammonia is a powerful base, so adding ammonia changes the pH of the water substantially, making it more alkaline (Warland, 2003). A large water change will reduce nitrite levels and lower the pH back to normal after the tank has cycled.
When changing the water, avoid using dechlorinators that also sequester ammonia, the so-called ammonia quellers, since we are relying on high ammonia levels to feed the bacteria colonies. When performing water changes during a fishless cycle, stick with simple chlorine neutralizers that don't affect ammonia levels (Cow, 1999).
Not just any ammonia will do when cycling the tank this way. The ammonia used for this purpose should be free of surfactants, perfumes, and colorants (Cow, 1999). ACS grade ammonium hydroxide is best but may be hard to find. Pure or clear ammonia will do nicely and the best places to get it usually hardware stores or discount grocery stores. Many times it's the off-brands or little-known, no-frills generic brands that work best (Cow, Jan. 1999).
When you find a likely candidate, be sure to check the ingredients on the bottle of ammonia. The good stuff will simply say Clear Ammonia (or Pure Ammonia or 100% Ammonia, or Pure Ammonium Hydroxide), and list no additives (surfactants, coloring agents, perfumes, etc.; Cow, 1999). If the bottle does not list the ingredients or lists added ingredients like those specified above, pass it by and take your search elsewhere. When in doubt, administer the shake test. Shake the bottle vigorously -- ammonia that contains surfactants will foam up, but the good stuff suitable for fishless cycling will not (Cow, Jan. 1999).
When cycling the tank this way, it's important to remember that the high levels of ammonia involved are toxic to all fish and invertebrates, so you cannot use ammonia to establish the biofilter if there are any inhabitants present in the aquarium (Warland, 2003).
For more information about cycling a new aquarium directly with ammonia, see the following online article:
http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/Fishlesscycle.htm
Best of luck cycling your new 90-gallon aquarium and optimizing it to create ideal conditions for your seahorses, Jairo!
Respectfully,
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech Support
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