If you are new to owning a fish tank, you’ve probably, and hopefully, heard of the nitrogen cycle. This term refers to the process of beneficial bacteria breaking down fish waste into less harmful nitrogen compounds. In Layman’s terms, we are preparing the aquarium to be able to handle all of the fish waste before adding fish.
The three types of nitrogen compounds include ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, all of which you can quantitatively test for in the aquarium.
Think of ammonia as your fish going to the bathroom. It is the most harmful compound and can even burn the gills and skin of fish. Nitrite is the next compound after bacteria begin to eat the ammonia. Thirdly, the bacteria then convert nitrite into nitrates, the least harmful of the compounds.
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How to Cycle Your Fish Tank
The are a multitude of ways to cycle a fish tank, however for the sake of simplicity I will only include a couple of the most common ways.
- Fish-in cycling with bacteria additive
- Fishless cycling with food or ammonia
