The Aquarium Cycling process

Thinking of starting fishkeeping ?
Well the first lesson before you do anything is the Cycling process.

Get this correct and it will go a long way in getting you up and running with a healthy aquarium.........

The process known as cycling is a way of cultivating necessary bacteria in a new aquarium. The bacteria are necessary to decompose the waste products produced by fish and other inhabitants in the Aquarium.
An aquarium will always need a combination of suitable bacteria cultures and frequent Water Changes to stay clean and provide the fish with a good environment. If you add fish to an improperly cycled aquarium they can quickly fall ill or even die, since their waste products will pollute the water. Some fish are more tolerant to moderate levels of soluble waste than others, but no fish will appreciate an aquarium with high levels of these toxic compounds.

The basic cycling method is based on gradually adding fish to the aquarium during a period of several weeks. There are several ways of jump starting this method. If you already have an aquarium, or know anyone who has, you can use this mature bacteria colony to jumpstart a new one in your new aquarium. Gravel and boilogical Filter media is a rich source for bacteria. Keep in mind that even harmful bacteria can be included when you use gravel and filter media from another aquarium. It is therefore imperative to choose water from a healthy aquarium. Another way of jumpstarting the new bacteria colony is to buy water additives with small populations of suitable bacteria from a fish store.

A new cycling method known as ‘the fishless cycle’ has become very popular in recent years. During a fishless cycle, you do not relay on the fish to produce sufficient amounts of waste products to start up the bacteria culture. Instead, you add small amounts of ammonia to the water during the cycle. This simulates the normal cycling process since the bacteria will feed from the ammonia. Since you have no fish in the aquarium to act as guinea pigs, it will be even more important to carefully test the levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Another cycling method is the ‘silent cycle’ where you fill the aquarium with densely planted aquatic Plants. Choose plants that are sturdy and grow fast. During a silent cycle, the levels of bacteria will typically be very low and the nitrogen will instead be consumed by the plants. This is still a comparatively unusual cycling method. According to some aquarists the plants will not only efficiently cycle the aquarium, but also decrease the spikes in nitrate and ammonia levels that are often seen during the more common cycling methods.

The reason behind the necessity of proper cycling is that the balance found in a natural ecosystem need some help from the aquarist in such an enclosed place as an aquarium. It is almost impossible to arrange a perfect balance in the aquarium, and frequent water changes will therefore be necessary. The aquarists will also have to make sure that processes that would occur on their own in the wild takes place in the aquarium as well. One of these processes is cycling.

The cycling process in the aquarium is closely linked to the so called nitrogen cycle. The nitrogen cycle is a process where waste products produced by the living creatures in the aquarium are turned into nitrate. In your aquarium, animals, fungi, and some types of bacteria will produce waste products. These waste products contain ammonia. Ammonia will also be produced when dead matter is decomposed, such as dead aquatic plants, left over food and shredded scales from fish.

These products can be converted by a type of bacteria belonging to the genus Nitrosomonas. Nitrosomonas are so called nitrifiers and will consume ammonia and excrete nitrite. Just like ammonia, nitrite is very toxic and high levels of nitrite will severely harm or even kill your fish. Fortunately, a well balanced eco-system will contain another type of bacteria – the genus Nitrospira. Nitrospira bacteria will convert nitrite into nitrate. Nitrate is not as toxic as nitrite and the inhabitants of the aquarium will tolerate nitrate better than nitrite and ammonia. This does not mean than you can allow the levels of nitrate to sky-rocket. You should always strive to keep the levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate low.

If you keep live plants in your aquarium, they will also help eliminating waste products since they can metabolize ammonia and nitrate. They will remove ammonia and nitrate from the water and include it in their biomass. This means that the removal will only be temporary; the plants will release the nitrogen compounds into the water again as old leaves die and become decomposed.

In an enclosed space such as an aquarium, only a part of the nitrogen cycle will take place. Nitrogen will always have to be added from outside the aquarium (which is essentially what you do when you feed your fish). In the other end of the cycle, nitrate will accumulate and must be removed by water changes. If the aquarium do not have enough bacteria to convert all the waste products into less harmful compounds, you will have to install some type of filter or perform very frequent water changes. A biological filter is a medium designed for nitrifying bacteria to colonise and thrive in. Active carbon filters can also help keeping the levels of soluble waste down, since activated carbon will absorb nitrogen as well as other toxic compounds.

As mentioned above, you can buy bacteria cultures from fish stores to jump start the cycle in your new aquarium. When you choose among different products, you should be aware of the fact that some of them might contain Nitrobacter bacteria instead of Nitrospira bacteria. Nitrobacter bacteria were earlier believed to be the main converters of nitrite into nitrate and it is true that Nitrobacter bacteria are capable of converting nitrite into nitrate. Careful studies performed in aquariums with a well established nitrogen cycle have however showed that the levels of Nitrobacter bacteria in such aquariums are close to undetectable. Nitrospira bacteria on the other hand were found in large amounts.

Ok, it's a long read but trust me it's worth it and the more you know the better it will be in the long run.

You can purchase cycling bacteria in our store eg Prodibio Startup or API Quick Start : www.holidayaquatics.com

Happy Fishkeeping

Holiday Aquatics
www.holidayaquatics.com

Testing our Pond Water and Why

We now have a great selection of Colombo Pond Test kits availabe at Holiday Aquatics.

http://www.holidayaquatics.com/koi-pond-test-kits-67-c.asp

Heres a run down of what we need to test and why, never under estimate the need to test your water :

AMMONIA – Ammonia is formed when fish waste and other organic debris (leaves, grass, dead fish, or frogs, etc) begin to decompose. This decomposition releases toxic Ammonia into the pond water. A test reading of Zero Ammonia is best but not always possible.

NITRITE – Nitrifying bacteria work on the Ammonia and break it down to Nitrite. Nitrite is also highly toxic to your pond fish and the ideal reading should again be Zero.

NITRATE – Eventually Nitrite is broken down further into Nitrate, which is less toxic to your pond fish although still bad enough in higher concentrations. Ideal reading would be zero.

pH – Testing the pH of your pond is critical according to many experts. The ideal pH reading in your pond is debatable by many but is often considered to be 7.0 – 7.5 although pH will vary throughout the day.

KH – Carbonate Hardness = Total Alkalinity which is different than pH. Carbonate Hardness is the ability of the pond water to stabilize the pH in the system. According to Dave Jones, owner of The Pond Professional in Woodstock GA, KH should be at least 100 PPM. Ideal KH readings are between 100-200 PPM.

PHOSPHATES – Phosphates are usually introduced into a pond thru fish waste and are a nutrient that algae require to flourish. Algae, like other plants, require many nutrients to grow so the presence of Phosphates alone does not ensure an algae problem is imminent. A reading of Zero PPM is ideal although many ponds can have much higher concentrations with no algae issues present.

If your Water parameters are in acceptable levels it will go a long way in producing Healthy and Happy fish.

Holiday Aquatics
www.holidayaquatics.com

Hikari Marine S Review

Hikari Marine S Review :

Well thought i might give this product a little try in our Marine aquarium to see what the verdict is.

I'm always a little wary at first adding new foods into the tank as i know that the fish will just swim up and just turn their nose up, well thats what usually happens when trying out another food than the fish are used to.

I was quite surprised that in fact this wasn't the case and straight away the fish were going crazy for this stuff ! Wow they just wanted more and more and even the corals loved it, the sun coral came straight out and the favia went into quick feeding mode after a few pellets dropped onto the flesh.

Good food, however i would recommend keeping the food pinched under water for about 10 seconds before letting go, this way the is soft enough to be flown around the tank a little otherwise i found it sink quite quick getting lost into the rocks, which wasn't too bad as the wrasse soon fed on all the pellets that dropped within the rocks.

This was in fact the first time I've used pellets I've always substituted the frozen foods with flake, but i was quite impressed.

Would i come of using flake ??? mmm not sure just yet but i will definitely be adding this food into my feeding program. End of the day it's better to feed a mix of foods rather than just one that way it gives extra nutrition to your fish and corals that just one food may not be able to give you.

Would i recommend, yep sure would i've not been using it long enough to notice any difference in colours, but with the quick feeding response i get from both fish and corals then it's definitely a winner.

Happy Fishkeeping

Holiday Aquatics
www.holidayaquatics.com

Google Shopping now charging

Well we've had our items on Google shopping for a bit now, but last week we were informed that it will now no longer be free... yep good while it lasted !

Now they have moved to a pay per click model, well knowbody new what this would mean, but i've never been a fan of pay per click as anybody can click even your competitors with no intention of purchasing but instead killing off smaller businesses.

Well it was true, we set a small budget of only 10p a click and today we had the most clicks we have ever had from Google shopping which cleared our budget in hours, with zero sales !

unfortunatly for us Google Shopping is not for us instead we will have to work harder to get our site on the top pages of Google or more advertising in Forums.

Sad times for small business, but we will keep our head high at Holiday Aquatics and continue.

Whats your thoughts ? are Google getting too greedy ?

Holiday Aquatics
www.holidayaquatics.com

Practical Fishkeeping forum

Did we tell you that we have our own spot on the practical fishkeeping forum ?

Well we've been going for a month now with our own section on the practical fishkeeping forum to drum up awareness of Holiday Aquatics and to give a little insight into our fishkeeping knowledge.

Never been a massive fan of forums, not sure why, but things seem to be going ok at the moment, plenty of Hits, not as many purchases yet but it's still early days so for now we will stay where we are.

You can find us here :http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=364

So how many of you go on the Practical fishkeeping forum or purchase Practical fish keeping magazine ?

Happy Fishkeeping !

Holiday Aquatics
www.holidayaquatics.com

TMC Tropic Marin Salt

New product added today : TMC Tropic Marin Salt available in various sizes.

This Marine salt is fantastic salt, tried and tested by millions even here at Holiday Aquatics !

This is the low down :

Tropic Marin sea salt is manufactured from pharmaceutically pure salts and is based upon the most recent scientific analysis of the tropical oceans. It is free from synthetic additives and contains no nitrates, phosphates or silicates. Tropic Marin Sea Salt turns fresh water into salt water, which is practically indistinguishable from natural seawater.

Tropic Marin Sea Salt contains all 70 trace elements in the natural concentrations of the ocean. No more, no less. Because of the unique application of the mixed salt crystals, the trace elements remain completely usable in the water. This method prevents the otherwise frequent precipitation of the trace elements and provides the organisms with the elements without chelates and in a biological form, which is directly usable by them. Only Tropic Marin has this unique «mixed crystal» technology.  

Key Benefits

- True to Nature
- Pharmaceutical Ingredients
   to insure high purity
- Scientific Formula
- Contains all 70 Trace Elements
- Special Hydrates of Salt
- Precision of Manufacturing

So if you've not given this Salt a go then why not try and see the results for yourself

Holiday Aquatics
www.holidayaquatics.com

Price Review on Hikari and Saki Hikari Koi

As the sun is shinning we're looking forward to the warmer weather when we all can get out and start feeding up our Koi and doing our pond maintenance all ready for the Summer months when you can sit out and enjoy your pride and joy !

We'll for us we thought we would do a bit of a price review of all our Hikari and Saki Hikari Koi Foods and the good news is that 90% were reduced by around 10% some even by 20%.

Were now ahead of our competition on price which is great news for you all !

We currently have a few offers on Saki Hikari Multi Season which is well worth getting ready for when you Koi start searching for food.

Saki Hikari is an amazing food and is perfect for feeding you Koi through Colder and Warmer waters.

If you have never tried Saki Hikari then try it, trust me it does make a difference to you koi, Health colour and most of all has a limited impact on Water quality if fed correctly.

You can find oue Hikari range here :
http://www.holidayaquatics.com/koi-pond-food---saki-hikari-16-c.asp

You can find Hikari Koi Range here :
http://www.holidayaquatics.com/koi-pond-food---hikari-29-c.asp

Happy Fishkeeping.

Holiday Aquatics
www.holidayaquatics.com