What do I mean by "cycling" a tank? This is the procedure you must go through to establish beneficial bacteria on your biological filter. In a reef tank the biological filter will most often be live rock. However, most of the concepts carry over to the use of Undergravel Filters, Wet/Dry or Trickle Filters, as well as any other form of biological filter.

One of the most toxic substances to be found in an aquarium is nitrogen in its various forms, namely ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The best way to remove this from your tank is through biological filtration. Your biological filter, in this case live rock, provides surface area that can be colonized by beneficial bacteria. These bacteria actually convert the toxins to less harmful substances, or even to gas that is released harmlessly into the atmosphere.

When you first place live rock in your aquarium, it probably has ver

Your task is to raise the numbers of the beneficial bacteria so that they can perform as an effective filter. The way you do this is by simply feeding them so that they can thrive and reproduce. Feeding bacteria might sound difficult but it is amazingly simple. All you have to do is drop a little food into the tank each day. This will quickly decompose and be partially converted to ammonia which will stimulate your beneficial bacteria. Another option is to use a commercially produced product meant for this purpose. These products usually contain ammonium chloride which will give your bacteria a food source. Don't use the ammonia you use to clean your kitchen floor with! It is not the same and will be deadly to your aquarium.

During this process your ammonia is being converted, eventually, to nitrate. Nitrate should be kept low but it is not as toxic. Over time bacteria that convert nitrate to harmless nitrous oxide gas will grow inside your live rock, but this can take a while.

In most cases the cycling process takes several weeks, anywhere from two to six would be considered normal. If you are using well cured live rock this process can be much quicker, in some cases one day (like me or so I thought)! If you are lucky enough to experience this, please be sure to go slow and wait at least a week to make sure all levels are stable.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Trickle Filters, Cycling Cycling, live rock, biological filter, beneficial bacteria, cycling process, ammonia nitrite, biological filter live, adding livestock tank, start feeding tank, filter live rock, start feeding, bacteria convert, tank biological, filter live, adding livestock,
Approximate Word count = 911
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)