Filtration and Cycling

Cycling your tank

Unlike a freshwater tank, it takes time for a saltwater tank to be ready for a new fish or other creatures. Once your tank has been set up, youve added your sand, filled it with saltwater, turned on the heater, started the filters, now you can add your live rock. What your tank needs is bacteria, and you need to breed it before your new pets are added. A very easy way to do this is to buy one or two uncooked cocktail shrimp from the deli at the supermarket. Just throw them in the tank and let them rot. As they do, bacteria will grow as a result. Ammonia levels will rise in the tank over the period of a week or 10 days, then it will suddenly drop (youll observe this with your Ammonia test kit), and Nitrites will rise quickly over a period of another few days. Finally, the Nitrites will drop off completely (reading 0 with your Nitrites test), and Nitrates will begin to register on your Nitrates test kit. As soon as your Ammonia and Nitrites tests both read 0 on the matching test kits, the cycle is complete. After this you must do a water change to remove nitrates before adding fish or other animals to your aquarium.

For an in depth look at exactly what happens during your tanks cycle, please read this article: Cycling Process on a New Aquarium. It is very important to know everything you can on this subject because if you make a mistake in the beginning, it can cost you a lot of money.

Filtration

This can vary quite a bit, but many like to use hang on tank filters. Just make sure the filter you buy will match the tank size you’ve chosen. You don’t want a tiny filter on a 55 gallon aquarium. Many people in the saltwater hobby prefer natural methods of filtration, which involves the use of “live sand and live rock. Putting 4 of aragonite sand in your aquarium will create a great natural way of DE-nitrifying your tank, which keeps the nitrates down. Buying cured live rock is also extremely valuable, but costs are high. 1 to 1.5 lbs per gallon is recommended, and cured live rock will cost between $6 and $8 a pound! However, the live rock will be filled with tiny creatures, featherdusters, worms and more that all help eat the waste that occurs in your tank, keeping your system clean and healthy.

Protein Skimmer

This is a fail-safe way of keeping your water clean and pure. There are many types of protein skimmers on the market, and some are great and some are worthless. The purpose of a protein skimmers is to pull out waste before it can decay into ammonia and nitrites, which are both toxic to your fish. What the skimmer does is inject air into a column of water in the unit, which creates tiny micro bubbles that carry Disolved Organic Compounds (DOCS) out of your tank and into a collection cup that you can pour out and rinse quite easily. An added benefit of this device is it adds oxygen to your tank. Unlike a freshwater tank, saltwater tanks don’t need an airstone pumping bubbles into your tank. A good skimmer will cost you between $150 and $200.

Circulation

Using a few power heads in your tank will move water throughout the tank. If you can avoid dead zones in your tank, nuisance algae will be less likely to grow. Cyanobacteria, for example, grows in areas that are stagnant. Pointing the output of a powerhead toward the surface of your tank to cause the water to ripple will help with gas exchange. This means oxygen will get into the water, and carbon dioxide will get out. This also keeps your surface nice and clean, and avoids stagnant or oil-like scum from accumulating on the surface of your water.

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51 Responses to “Filtration and Cycling”

1. What you need to know! | Reef Chronicle says:

   April 8, 2009 at 5:22 pm

   [...] Basics of filtration [...]