Fish Care – The Basics
Fish Cycle
“The “”Cycle”” : The bacteria cycle is often the most over complicated thing for new fishkeepers to learn, due to the abundance of information out there. I’ve seen good information and more bad information so lets get to the basics. The three things you must know: Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates
Ammonia: Ammonia is the byproduct of several factors, the three most common being fish, fish waste, and food. Fish expel ammonia constantly breathing while fish waste & food slowly decay in the water column releasing ammonia. Ammonia is toxic to fish and will kill them, it is the most dangerous of the three part cycle.
Nitrites: Nitrite is the byproduct of nitrifying bacteria, the process of converting ammonia. Nitrite is also toxic to fish, leads to severe illness and death. It takes time for the nitrifying bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrites, and more time to convert nitrites to nitrates.
Nitrates: Nitrates is converted from nitrites, and is less toxic than ammonia or nitrates to fish. However, excess levels of nitrates for prolonged periods of time significantly shorten the life span of a fish causing several illnesses & diseases. They also will lead to excess algea growth, dirty water, and an unpleasant looking tank.”
Problems
The problem with the “cycle” and the fish hobby in general. It’s not fun or easy to explain to the average customer that they shouldn’t put fish in their brand new tank after dropping a chunk of change. But its a massive disservice to the hobby to not do so as they’re being setup for failure and will likely exit the hobby in a years time. You’ll see many fish shops tell a customer to add a specific fish first, or add a bottle of Dr. Tims without fully explaining to them why. The easy answer is often the most heard. More often than not, the fishkeeper does not realize they have a problem until they have the problem.
The Hard Truth
Despite any marketing or confident sales clerk, the only true solution is testing & time! While Dr. Tims is an amazing product I have personally used on several of my tanks, it only helps speed up the cycle, it is not instant and never will be. Dr. Tims and other similar products add nitrifying bacteria into the tank to help convert ammonia, and while effective, does not mean your tank is ready to handle a heavy bio-load (lots of fish).
Things To Know
The bacteria that converts these chemicals do not live in the water column! They are found in the sand, rock, sponge filters, and media!
Ways to Cycle
Fishless Cycle: Ammonia is Ammonia, whether its from a fish, fish food, or ammonia itself. The most simple way to do this is to add a piece of market shrimp to the tank and just wait, however, keep in mind the volume of water to the amount of waste matters. I won’t get very technicall with adding parts per million (ppm) of ammonia daily, but one shrimp in a 75 gallon tank should do the trick. If you put a whole shrimp in a 20 gallon tank, you will stall your cycle (pause the process) because of the excessive amount of ammonia in the tank. I would never try to exceed 3-5ppm in a fishless cycle because it will take too long to convert to nitrites. The only way to know how much ammonia is in your tank is to test and test often! If you want to add ammonia slowly, you can feed fish food daily as if you had fish. As the food rots, it will create ammonia! You must test with this method as to be sure you are adding enough ammonia. With either of these methods, you wont see ammonia results for at least 3-5 days as the food will rot so testing is not a priority in the first week.
Fish Cycle: Another method is to add fish, the most common for freshwater being Mollies and the most common for salwater being clownfish! The reason these fish are reccomended is because they are hardy and tolerate higher levels & swings of poor water conditions better than discus or tangs would. With this method, you have an obligation to test for ammonia daily. Based on these results, you may be required to do water changes to keep the fish alive and healthy. I strongly reccomended the use of Dr. Tims or similar products when cycling with fish.
The Only Instant Cycle: I lied earlier when I said the only solution was testing and time, there is another solution but generally not available for the average hobbyist. If you have a willing store, friend, or another tank you are able to take biological media, rock, or sand from, then you have yourself an instantly cycled tank as the bacteria lives on these surfaces. If you have a freind with a tank and you know you’ll be starting one soon, see if you can add a sponge filter to their tank and take it when you’re ready – this is the most effective method. Please keep in mind you are always risking the pests, diseases such as ich, and any algea problems the tank it comes from has!
You will have to weigh which option suits you best, unfortunately, most people dont realize they have a problem until they have the problem which limits their options.
My Tank is Cycled, Now What?
Ammonia and Nitrite spikes are no longer a concern, now what? Just because you don’t have readings of ammonia and nitrites in your tank, doesnt mean you dont have any. It’s just the bacteria in the tank is converting the ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate so fast you dont see them. At this point, continually testing for ammonia and nitrite is no longer necessary other than when making big changes to your tank such as adding fish, removing substrate, changing filters, etc,. But the testing isnt over for nitrates, it has just begun. The buildup of nitrates over time and how you solve for that will be the determining factor of the success of your freshwater tank, and play a major role in your saltwater tank as well. The most simple, tried & true method to maintaining nitrates in the water column is water changes. A consitent water change shedule will keep your system healthy and clear of major issues that make unsightly views. A 10% weekly schedule offers the most reward with the least risk. The sucess of any tank is maintaining consistent water chemistry. When you take water out and add water in, you are changing the chemistry, are you changing it for the worse or for the better?
Why Saltwater Is More Complicated Than Freshwater
While the initial bacteria ‘cycle’ is generally the same for saltwater with a similar timeline, the level of saltwater biodiversity greatly outweighs that of its freshwater counterpart. It can take years to have a fully established saltwater aquarium in which you’re growing coraline and can control algea outbreaks, with about a year being its average cycle. The first year of a saltwater tank for 75% of people is ugly, often referred to as the UGLY stage to make hobbyists feel better. The problem with that conception is people sometimes normalize poor husbandy habits. Husbandry is what we refer to as maintenance and upkeep in the aquarium hobby. The most common forms of husbandry are consistent water changes, safe practices, quarantine protocols – all things that extend the life of and probability of a successful aquarium. Everything is compounding in the saltwater world compared to freshwater, with every cut corner enhancing a once common problem.
The Basics of Husbandry:
Water Changes, Water Changes, & more Water Changes
Quaranting New Fish
Substrate Syphoning
Consistent Practices
How to Perform a Water Change
It would be easy to think that bigger is better, but sometimes the best intentions lead to the worst of problems. Water changes is about mainting water chemistry. Stable = Successful. A 10% weekly schedule offers the most reward with the least risk. Every situation and plan will be different, some tanks may require more intense work. Often the best way to stabilize neglected tanks is to do so slowly, a tank that hasn’t had a water change in 4 months should not have a 60% water change performed on. The risk of a major chemical imbalance or shock to the system is high, especially if significant substrate syphoning is done. In a situation such as this, I would perform a 10% water change every other day until desired paramters are met. This is more practical for saltwater aquariums with coral versus a freshwater system where more significant changes can be completed.
Freshwater:
Step 1: Water Source – If you’re using tap water, you must dechlorinate the water – my preference is Seachem Prime. If you’re using RO or RODI, continue use.
Step 2: Matching Temperature if greater than 10% of water volume of display tank.
Step 3: Clean Aglea off glass, stir substrate, etc .
Step 4: Syphone desired level of water.
Step 5: Unplug heaters, pumps, and filters.
Step 6: Add fresh water source.
Step 7: Plug in unplugged electronics.
Saltwater:
Step 1: Water Source – I highly reccomend only using RO or RODI, you may use tap water with dechlorinator in fish only systems. Most LPS & SPS corals will need RO water to survive and thrive, you can get away with tap water depending on the paramters of your cities water. Nashville has extremely hard water with large swings in parameters, I would only use RO/DI water here.
Step 2: Matching Salinity & Temperature, reccomend salt-mixing time of at least 2 hours in ermergncy, preferably 24 hours.
Step 3: Clean Aglea off glass, stir substrate (never stir substrate that isn’t consistently turned by livestock or syphoned regularly – pockets of dangerous bacteria can form in sand that hasn’t been maintained and it is best to leave alone).
Step 4: Syphone desired level of water.
Step 5: Unplug heaters, pumps, and filters.
Step 6: Add water source.
Step 7: Plug in unplugged electronics.
What about the PH? I am slightly in the minority here, at least compared to the textbooks. I don’t believe in using short-term altering chemicals such as PH up/downs. They often have little impact that add significant risk to the ecosystem such as having substantial swings on the level of oxygen in the water. I reccomend using the same water source that primarily makes up the display tank, the PH will often match or be close enough with little impact.
Acclimation of Fish
As a common theme here, freshwater is generally more simple and concise.
Freshwater: Acclimation of temperature. Float the bag on the surface of your tank for 15 minutes, do not open the bag. After 15 minutes, grab a bucket and a net, open the bag and pour the water through the net. The goal here is to introduce as little bagged water into the display tank as possible. Fish stores and holding facilities have hundreds if not thousands of fish, and usually maintain levels of copper/medicine in the water column to reduce disease outbreaks. You do not want this water in your tank. Once the fish is in the net, place into your tank gently and release. Leaving the lights off and feeding the existing fish prior to release will help calm down aggression and lead to a more peaceful transition for not only the new fish, but the existing tankmates.
Saltwater: While acclimation of temperature is still part of the process, a greater emphasis is placed on matching the salinity of the water. Most fish stores tend to keep higher levels of salinity, at least in fish only systems, but is good to ask beforehand. The most common salinity ranges will be from 1.023 to 1.026. The salinity of your tank should be tailored to the purpose of the tank, whether its a fish only system or coral. Coral typically thrives in the 1.025-1.026 range while fish can be kept from 1.023 to 1.030. In the reefer community, hobbyists sometimes are a little emphatic over the importance and methold of salinity acclimation. It’s my personal belief and experience that any fish within .002 range can be interchanged without any significant affect. Invertebrates such as shrimp can be more sensitive, especially after molting. For this reason, salinity should always be matched when dealing with sensitive species such as shrimp, wrasses, and corals. The most common and accepted way is the drip acclimation method. After temperature acclimation, release the contents of the bag into a bucket or container with the fish, shrimp, coral, etc,. Run a thin air line hose from the display tank to the holding container and begin a slow syphon. You will want to test the salinity of your tank to the water in the bag to determine the amount of time it should take. If this fish arrived from an online vendor, you will want to add some seachem prime to avoid any ammonia toxification in the water. Once the water is within 0.02 salinity, add the live contents from the container into the tank. In general, saltwater fish have a much easier transition from higher salinity ranges to lower salinity levels than vice versa. As someone who has ran hyposalinity several times as a medication free way to treat ich, I can attest to this. However, the process of increasing salinity must be done with more acute care.
Quarantine Hospitals
Quarantine hospitals are dedicated fish tanks to the observation & treatment of new fish arrivals. Not everyone has a quarantine tank nor the space, desire, or time to devote to properly quarantining livestock. And thats okay, but I highly reccomend buying livestock from reputable QT vendors if so.
Recommended Vendors for Quarantined Fish:
Marine Collectors, TSM Aquatics. These fish do cost significantly more, and for reason, dealing with a disease outbreak can cost far more – believe me!
Sources of Information all hobbyists should have:
Reef2Reef (online forum) and BRS (youtube) for saltwater collections. MonsterFishKeepers (online forum) for Freshwater collections.
My Main Priority:
If I were to be honest, an experienced reefer or hobbyist doesn’t need me as a source. They have firsthand experience of the challenges in the hobby, there is no quick fix. Progress and changes take time, especially in the saltwater world. As a first time keeper though, it’s a challenging place to be. Not because the information is all of poor quality, but sometimes good information at the wrong time is bad information. For example, you just cycled a saltwater aquarium and you’re seeing algea, you run to an online forum where you’re barraged with comments about your phosphate levels, husbandry habits, & soon enough you believe you need a protein skimmer and the only thing you can think of is, what the hell is a protein skimmer. And while these comments in vaccums are usually true, they likely should’nt be applied in your situation. Our main priority is to set a baseline of not only the water chemistry, but our expectations. Rome wasn’t built in a new day and neither is that fish tank (which was just scraped & cleaned prior to the video) you saw on Instagram.
Our goal is to setup proper and consistent husbandry habits, estabslish real expectations, and to keep you in the hobby past the first year. If you can handle the first year of a reef tank, then your chances of having a successful tank significantly increase. The good news is that I can do the heavy lifting in the begining, the most challenging stage of the life of your tank. If you feel you are ready to take on more responsiblity or involvement in your tank and dive deeper into the hobby, that is my personal goal! If you want to sit back, enjoy a clean tank, skip the headaches (or fun), of maintaining a tank, I’m still your guy!
My Services:
Whether its simply maintaining your aquarium or setting up your tank from the ground up, or just asking for some advice.
Maintenance: Specific schedules & plans will be customized to your tank(s). All assessments are of no charge.
– Water Change & Cleaning Schedules
Tech Add-Ons: Tech doesn’t solve it all, but it can definitely simplify life. But the limitless options are nothing short of stressful, allow me to help make sense of it all. Be weary of anyone telling you X will solve Y, there are plenty of successful tanks without the latest tech. You can spend an infinite amount in the reefing world!
– Auto Top Offs
– Dosing Pumps
– Protein Skimmers
– Lighting Upgrades
– Filtration Enhancements
– Wire Management (CRUCIAL & SAFETY HAZARD!)
Consultations: Have a tank and not sure where to start? It can be overwhelming and feeling rushed never leads to the best result. Plans are important!
– Placement
o Have you considered the location? What’s beneath the floor? Tanks are heavy. Does the natural light hit it? What’s the heating or cooling like in the room?
– Theme or Style
o Fresh or Salt? Fish Only or Coral? Community or Predator Fish? Species or Region Specific?
– Fish & Coral
o Inhabitants & Additions
AquaScaping: My personal favorite, this isn’t work for me, this is art. Recreating a specific Biotope from the substrate, plants, livestock; to the flow and lighting.
– African Cichlid from Lake Tanganyika
– An African Predator system from the Nile
o A Polypterus Parade
o A Puffers Paradise
– South American Community
– South American Predator Cichlids
o Larger Appetite? Try Peacock Bass!
– Saltwater Rockscape (Negative Space Affect)
***** WE DO NOT REMOVE OR MAINTAIN PALYTHOA GARDENS FOR SAFETY CONCERNS *****
