New Aquarium Setup: A Guide on How to Set Up Your New Aquarium From Head to Tail By PHishie
Fish are more reliant on their environment than we are. At least half of the exposed surface of a fish is permeable to small particles. This permeability leads us to describe a fish as an open water system, because they are dependent on immediate environment, they are affected by nearly every change in the surrounding water. Perhaps now it is possible to understand why changes to the surrounding water have such an effect on fish. To understand fish better, we need to understand a little bit more about water. As we know, oxygen is a vital component of all life. Air is 21% oxygen, while water is only about 8% or 9% oxygen based on average summer temperatures. Oxygen dissolves slowly into water and dangerously low dissolved oxygen levels can occur in certain situations. Water is 800 times denser (heavier) than air, so can you see why it is so much more difficult to live for oxygen-breathing aquatic life? Apart from being ectothermic and living in water, fish are essentially the same as other animals. The difference is fish have 4% less oxygen available to them so they must use it efficiently. Then, they have to deal with the effects of osmosis and diffusion. This requires a lot of their valuable energy. Energy requires a combination of oxygen and food. The availability of both determines the amount of energy an animal can possess. Fish are unable to maintain a steady body temperature without using lots of energy. As we all know, fish breathe through their gills. Their gills allow them to extract up to 80% of the available oxygen. Is it evident that anything passing through the gills would affect their health drastically? Biological Filtration Process
Nitrifier Bacteria
Cycling a New Aquarium Step One: fish and other animals produce ammonia as part of normal metabolism. Fish do not convert it to a less harmful substance (urine) as we do. They excrete metabolic ammonia directly into the surrounding water by special cells in their gills. In natural environments (rivers, lakes, oceans, etc) it would be immediately diluted to harmless levels. Ammonia poisoning is the leading cause of fish deaths; most likely occurring in newly set up tanks where there has not been a biological filtration established or an old tank that has become alkaline or over-crowded. Ammonia destroys the mucus membranes of a fish. How does ammonia accumulate? Ammonia is produced by fish waste (feces and directly through the gills), uneaten food, and plant derivative. If not taken care of, it will become toxic to ALL species of fish. Ammonia is ALWAYS present during a new tank setup. This is why the nitrosomonas are so important. The nitrosomonas will create a healthy environment for your fish to live in. According to Brian Warner, writer for the Andre’s Aquarium Club, “Fish will start to show signs of stress when very small amounts of ammonia are present in your aquarium water, less then one part per million (ppm). At higher levels, the ammonia will start inflaming the gills of the fish causing breathing problems and making them much more susceptible to other diseases that they could normally fight off.” The fish response to toxic levels can be displayed by lethargy, loss of appetite, lying on the bottom of the tank with clamped fins, or gasping at the surface. What happens if my tank has low ammonia (<0.1 mg/L of NH3)? At low levels, it acts as an irritant, especially to the gills. Prolonged exposure to sub-lethal levels can cause skin and gill hyperplasia, which restricts the water flow over the gill filaments. This can lead to respiratory problems and stress as well as creating conditions for bacteria and parasites to flourish. What happens if the tank has high ammonia levels (>0.1 mg/ L NH3)? Even short exposures can result in skin, eye and gill damage. Ammonia poisoning suppresses normal ammonia excretion from the gills, which can lead to damage to internal organs. If you have already set up an aquarium and are wondering why your fish have died, this may very well be because you have not allowed the 6-8 week BIOLOGICAL FILTRATION period, where the natural nitrosomonas bacteria grow and break the ammonia down to the less harmful nitrites. Nitrosomonas bacteria are found everywhere in nature and are in the air so they will find their way into your aquarium. Once there, they need certain things to grow; namely oxygen rich water and ammonia as food. They need a surface to attach to for them to grow in sufficient numbers to handle the amounts of ammonia produced in an aquarium. Nitrosomonas do not immediately attach to your aquarium and while getting comfortable, will turn your aquarium a milky white color caused by the large amount of bacteria free floating in the water eating the excess ammonia. Often, there is a second problem if you have plants in your newly set up aquarium. The plants can take the ammonia and use it directly from the water as food. This is a bad environment for your fish, but a good environment for algae. The water will turn a greenish color. Partial water changes and patience are your friends. You will have to wait until the nitrosomonas establish themselves enough to keep the ammonia levels down. Once this happens, you will start to notice a change… you will finally have clear water and no algae. You will have to go through another TWO steps to have a healthy environment FINALLY. Step Two: Now, you have to build up the nitrites and nitrobacter bacteria in your aquarium. The nitrobacter cannot become active in the new aquarium until the population of nitrosomonas bacteria have thrived enough to remove all ammonia. Until this occurs, the nitrite in the aquarium will simply rise in concentration while ammonia is still evident. Nitrites only come from the breaking down of ammonia. Therefore, you will have needed to finish step one before moving on. The good news is that nitrites are less toxic to your fish than ammonia. Nitrite is then broken down even more (step three) to nitrate, which is removed in your bi-weekly, 25% water changes. You will experience more of the ammonia type problems, cloudy or algae filled water, which can be solved the same way. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you DO NOT ADD ANY FISH at this point in the cycling process because a new fish will add new ammonia levels. New ammonia levels mean the nitrosomonas bacteria adjusting to the higher ammonia level. In addition, the nitrobacter bacteria are stunted by the increase of ammonia and will take even longer to establish the healthy aquarium you are looking for. Lastly, the step we have been waiting for. Step Three: The last step is raising your nitrate levels, which is the easiest part. You will start to see no or trace amounts of BOTH ammonia and nitrite levels. You now have the perfect amount of nitrify bacteria to handle your current fish load. Every time you add new fish or as your fish grow, it takes some time for the biological filter to adjust to the new conditions. Most of the time, it will do so without any problems. Just do not add twice as many fish as you have had and you should not have any problems. You will find that after the first month or so after you have completed your biological filter, your aquarium water will be susceptible to sudden change in the fish load. Now that your biological filter is established, you will need to monitor it, as you do with your fish and plants. You have worked hard, and your fish appreciate it more than you know.
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Imagine if for the rest of your life you live in a small room. You are well fed and have a well balanced diet. You have beautiful surroundings. The temperature is perfect. Your friends and family encircle you. If your room was taken care of and kept clean with a healthy environment, you would be great. What if you had no way to remove your wastes? You would live in your own feces! How long would you live?
The nitrogen cycle (or cycling) is necessary in all captive aquariums because there are harmful chemicals that would hurt the inhabitants. During the nitrogen cycle, the ammonia (NH3) is converted to nitrites (NO2-) and finally into nitrates (NO3-). This is a very important step in setting up a new aquarium because typically the inhabitants are much smaller than in nature, and will require monthly maintenance (gravel cleaning, water changes, etc.). Because we cannot provide the fish with constant water flow, water changes are necessary all the time.