# Water conditioner/cycling help



## Bettafishez (Jun 18, 2011)

Okay well first I have a question about water conditioners. In one of the posts that was very helpful and very long I read that its crucial to use water conditioners. As much as I can tell water conditioners are like pellets that you drop into the water to make it suitable for fish to live in right? Well do you have to do that every time you switch the water? Some people said that you should take like 50% of the water and switch it twice a week or something. Do i have to add mode water conditioner every time i do that? It seems kinda expensive to have to buy tons of water conditioner and do that all the time.

My other question is what is cycling? I read that its something to make good bacteria or something like that, but i have no idea how its done or what the point of doing it is. My sister had a fish a while back and all she did was feed it and it lived for quite a while


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Hi Bettafishez, welcome to the forum. Water conditioners are usually a liquid that you add to tap water to make it safe for aquarium use. It gets rid of chlorine, chloramine, heavy metals, and sometimes ammonia. Popular brands include API Stress Coat, Seachem Prime, and Tetra AquaSafe. Tablets generally don't work the same way as the liquid water conditioners. And yes, you have to add the water conditioner to the tap water each time you change water. The frequency that you have to change water depends on the size of your tank. For a 2.5 gallon tank, you'll change 50% of the water twice a week and also do a gravel vacuum once a week. Take out half of the water. Fill your bucket and add your water conditioner according to the product instructions. Make sure the water you are adding is the same temperature as the water you took out otherwise your fish could get temperature shock. 

If you want more info on cycling, you can PM me and I'll send you the info. 

Do you have a betta or are you interested in getting one? If you have any questions, just ask them.

Forgot to add that one bottle of water conditioner can last a looong time.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

cycling is typically for tanks 5 gallons or more. Basically, benficial bacteria is encouraged to grow in your filter in order to keep your water cleaner. It changes ammonia to nitrItes to nitrAtes. NitrAtes take longer to accumlate and are less poisionous than the other two, so it results in you only having to do partial water changes a week. To cycle, you need a source of ammonia, and patience. If you do a fish in cycle, basically you make sure to run your filter all day every day and do not throw out your filter media. depending on the size of your tank and how many fish you have in there you might be doing anywhere from 20% water changes a week to 50% or more.

As for water conditioner, you should add it to the tap water before adding the water to your tank. It gets rid of harmful chlorines, chloramines, etc.


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## Bettafishez (Jun 18, 2011)

Oh so i dont have to worry about cycling water? So do i still have to change the water? I don't really get why your supposed to do though


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

well, how big is your tank? You still have to worry about changing the water. How many water changes a week will depend on the size of your tank. Every time bettas release a breath, or do a poop, or if there is any uneated food in the tank, all of that releases trace ammounts of ammonia which build up, and can end up burning your fish's gills and creating breeding grounds for bacteria if not removed and replaced with clean water during water changes


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## Bettafishez (Jun 18, 2011)

Well the tank im thinking about using is only 1.66 gallons. And with all that bacteria then how would changing the water do anything? It would still be on the gravel, tank, and all the other stuff inside


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

You WANT the bacteria. There are two kinds of bacteria that you want in your tank: bacteria that eats ammonia and bacteria that eats nitrite. You don't change the water to get rid of the bacteria. You change the water to get rid of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and fish poo.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

This is what I wrote about cycling for someone else who asked. 

Cycle refers to the nitrogen cycle. Although you might hear people talk about the aquarist cycling the tank, the truth is it's something that happens when you have a filter whether the aquarist does anything or not. All we do is speed it up a little.

The nitrogen cycle is all about ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. Fish put out ammonia through their gills as part of their waste. Problem is, ammonia is highly toxic to them and can kill them. But with an established filter there are good bacteria that will grow and eat ammonia. Bad news: those bacteria excrete the ammonia as nitrite, which is also highly toxic. Good news: a second type of bacteria will grow in an established filter that eats nitrite and excretes it as nitrate, which is a lot less toxic. Once your filter is established and your tank is cycled, you won't have to change the water quite as often but unless you have a 20g tank or higher, you'll still need to change some amount of water once a week. Anything under 10g will be twice a week or more.

First, the whole cycling process.

For a tank you're trying to cycle with the fish in it, I follow David Boruchowitz's method that he outlines in his book Freshwater Aquarium Problem Solvers. For this, you definitely need an ammonia test kit. If you can, I'd recommend you get a test kit that tests for everything. If money's a concern, there are 5-1 strips that work but other people say that the liquid drop method is more reliable. I can't say one way or another. But the liquid drop master test kit from API is about $35. The test strips are around $14. But definitely, if you can only afford two things, get a test kit for ammonia and one for nitrite. 

Okay, so after you've gotten a filter, what you want to do is test for ammonia every day. The moment the ammonia goes over the safe zone, which is usually 0.25 ppm, you'll want to do a water change, about 30% or whatever it takes to bring the level back into the safe zone. Keep testing every day, only doing a water change when the test reads over the safe zone. After a few weeks, you'll notice that the ammonia levels are dropping. This means you're now in stage two of the cycling process. 

Now what you'll want to test for every day are nitrites AND ammonia. Again, any time you get a test result over the safe zone, do a water change. Keep testing and doing water changes as needed. Eventually, you'll notice that your ammonia bottoms out at 0. This means that the bacteria that eats the ammonia is now established. Hurray! Keep testing for nitrites and doing water changes as needed until those levels start to come down and nitrate appears. Now you're almost finished. Your tank is cycled when ammonia and nitrite stay at 0 and the only readings you get are nitrate (which you need a master kit to test for). 

That's cycling with fish in. Be aware that cycling with the betta in there can be stressful for them because the ammonia levels get to uncomfortable levels and he may get sick. If you don't want to stress your betta out, you can cycle the tank without fish. Get the tank all set up with the filter. Then get a piece of cheese cloth or some nylon (panty hose) and put either a piece of fish or some shrimp from the meat department of your grocery store or a large pinch of fish food in there. Tie it up and let it sit in the water for a few days. Then start testing for ammonia, which will begin to appear as the fish/shrimp/fish food begins to rot and decay. Leave the stuff in there but I warn you it might start to stink. Test for ammonia every day and when the level gets to about 4.0 ppm, do a water change to bring the level back down. You'll probably need to do at least a 50% change depending on the size of your tank. Keep doing that until the ammonia reads 0. Then start with the nitrite tests and keep going like you would if there were fish in there. Once the levels reach 0, remove the rotten stuff in there. Keep testing and watching to make sure the levels stay 0 for a few days. Then you can add your betta. Test the water every day for the first few days to make sure the levels stay steady. Then after that, do the water changes according to the size of your tank. And that's cycling. Whew. 

Generally, you want to keep ammonia at 0 but with the types of tests out there, you won't know what the exact level is until it reaches .25 ppm. This is a level considered uncomfortable for the betta, where their gills start to burn. It's the lowest acceptable level for ammonia and it's not good to leave them in there for long. Anything over .25 is danger danger and needs a water change right away.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Bettafishez, well, without a filter, there will be no benificial bacteria growing and your tank is too small to grow a stable cycle. Bad bacteria will grow in the water over time feeding off of the ammonia. I recommend you do 3 50% water changes a week and a 100% a week as well to keep the water clean


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## Bettafishez (Jun 18, 2011)

Wow thanks for that Sakura that was really helpful. Ill probly end up cycling my tank using the way without the fish as you mentioned.
JK why would I do a 3 50% changes just to change all of that water out in the end?


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

With 100% water changes, you use hot water and scrub the gravel and sides of tank to start fresh. The partial water changes sort of keep the ammonia levels down, but if all you did was partial water changes in an uncycled tank, the ammonia would just build up. In the end, partial water changes are more for convinence rather then having to do 100% water changes several times a week.

It's sort of like an hour glass; the sand (ammonia) keeps building up. If you remove 50% of the sand every now and again, half the sand is still there, so it builds back up relatively quickly. Removing half is easier than removing all of it, but in the end you probably want to do a full and deeper removal to start fresh.

If you want, you could probably just do two 50% and a 100% a week and have decent water quality, but 3 would be a better idea.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Bettafishez said:


> Wow thanks for that Sakura that was really helpful. Ill probly end up cycling my tank using the way without the fish as you mentioned.
> JK why would I do a 3 50% changes just to change all of that water out in the end?


You're welcome. Cycling your tank without fish is always the best way. Unfortunately, a lot of us get the fish first so we have no choice. ^_^ I'm glad I could help.


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## Bettafishez (Jun 18, 2011)

Well if i did a 100% change then wouldn't the good bacteria or whatever have to build back up again?


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Some of the bacteria in the gravel might. I actually rarely do 100% changes, only 98% or so - I leave just enough water to cover the gravel. But the most important good bacteria is the bacteria in the filter. There's much more of the bacteria in the filter than in the gravel.

When you have to change your filter media, you should only change one part at a time. For example, my filter is a 3-stage filter. It has filter foam, carbon, and a biological media. All of those will eventually need to be replaced but if I replace them all at the same time, I lose all my good bacteria and my tank crashes. So I change the foam one month, carbon the next, and last, the biological media. That way, I always have some good bacteria in my filter even though I'm replacing old parts.


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## bahamut285 (Dec 10, 2010)

If you're getting a 1.66 Gallon tank it won't cycle. It's too small to properly hold one, which is why you should just not worry about it until you've got a bigger tank.

From my own water chemistry classes, ammonia has to reach a certain level before the good bacteria will move in, or else they will consume it all, then starve. However, in a small tank, it will become too toxic too fast to establish and hold a cycle.

If you're getting a 1.66 Gal, follow JK's advice...if you plan to get a larger tank with a filter, follow Sakura's advice.

I also have a beginner's guide in my signature and will be more than willing to answer questions.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

If you were to upgrade him to a 5 gallon, and either do a fishless or a fish in cycle, you would never want to do a 100% water change, because then you'd be removing a lot of benifical bacteria. However, cycled tanks require a filter to give them oxygen, seeing as the benifical bacteria require a fair bit of oxygen to survive. This is why a lot of the good bacteria lives in filter in cycled tanks. However, you do not have a filter, and your tank is too small to sustain a stable one, so don't worry about benifical bacteria.


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## Bettafishez (Jun 18, 2011)

My tank has a filter. Its not the same kind, I dont really get how it works, but its there. Plus my tank has a oxygen pump thingy to give the water oxygen


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Okay, but still, cycles are hard to keep stably in anything under a 5 gallon. It's still recommended to do 100% water changes. As for the bubbler, that isn't necessary, so if it is taking up room or you don't want it, you can remove it.


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