How do you cycle a fish container?
I really don't understand.
Ok, within short lets say you had to live surrounded by one room all your life, where would you stir to the bathroom and what would you do with it? (Sounds groose but...) That is basically a fish aquarium. Now eventually the wastes would break down, (who requirements to wait that long and live with it! yikes) So things like microbes attack the waste to break it down. In an aquarium, starting with a source, be it fish waste or something starting to rot or ammonia will draw from the bacteria started. These colonies of bacteria take the fish lavish and convert it over to a less toxic form of waste known as nitrates, making the fish's domestic liveable.
That is pretty much it in a nut shell. Here is one of the best links for helping you understand this process from begining to bring to a close in lamens terms.
http://freshaquarium.nearly.com/cs/biolog...
The most humane way to cycle a fish cistern, is to do so without the fish. Cycling with fish is risking fish lives.
To cycle without fish, you can any use household ammonia, or fish food. If you use household ammonia, add enough drops to generate a reading of 4ppm ammonia (for which you need a audition kit. API liquid based experiment kit is the best on the market) and test every day. If you agree on to use the fish food method, put a handful (yes - a handful) into a stocking/tights/net or something similar, and suspend it in the water. Leave it there until ammonia read 4ppm and throw it out (warning - it'll stink to high heaven! Might want to throw it straight into the outside bin).
Whichever mode you choose, once ammonia starts to fall, start testing for nitrite - usually in the region of 1 week in. You'll notice that it rises for a few days, then height (level off) and after a week or 2, it will start to fall. The tank is cycled when you can add fresh ammonia surrounded by the evening, test in the morning and get a reading of 0ppm for ammonia and nitrite.
If you choose the household ammonia method, when nitrite reach 0, start adding a pinch of food as well as the ammonia. The food will build up a support colony of bacteria contained by the gravel, which will keep the whole system more secure when you return with the fish.
Once ammonia and nitrite read 0ppm - and stay there for one week, test nitrate and carry out a generous water change of around 40-70%. You need this to be below 40ppm. If the first marine change doesn't do it, carry out a further 25% water adjustment the following day.
After that, it's a simple matter of checking pH and getting the fish that will thrive in those conditions.
Answers: Cycling is when you establish the bacteria to consume the ammonia and nitrites (harmful chemicals) before you add on any fish.
There's 2 ways of doing this - with fish or without.
With fish you just add on a couple of Zebra Danios and feed them. They'll create the ammonia for the bacteria to establish. Then you in recent times keep on doing water changes and linger for there to be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and a couple of nitrates. Nitrates are produced by the bacteria after they consume ammonia/nitrite.
Without fish you add some pure ammonia to the reservoir and let the bacteria culture on its own.
Here's some links on both methods of cycling: http://fishlesscycling.com/forum/index.p...
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php
http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/5...
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.htm...
http://fish.orbust.net/cycling.html
http://www.bestfish.com/breakin.html
http://www.worldcichlids.com/faqs/cyclin...
