fishless cycle.....

[Scuba Kid]

how should i go about a fishless cycle? i just completely took apart one of my tanks for a MAJOR and much needed cleaning and also because im switching from a fresh to a brackish tank. do i need to cycle or can i add my figure eight puffer now?
if i do need to cycle, how can i cycle it without fish?

thanks in advance

[turtlehead]

search fishless cycle on www.google.com. You'll be surprised at the results.

[shev]

well, most of the helpful bacteria will be in the gravel and filter. are those going to be removed and replaced in the cleaning?

from what i understand this is how the cycle works: fish produce ammonia in their waste. bacteria that are found everywhere kick in in the presence of ammonia, they break it down inot nitrites, then another kind of bacteria breaks that down into nitrates, which are then removed by regular water changes.

when you seed a tank, you put bacteria from an established tank into the new one. the more bacteria there is the faster it grows. so i would re-set up the tank. then test the water and find the readings.

to supply the bacteria with food, you can buy some ammonia from the grocery store (no fragrences, just pure ammonia) and put it in the tank until like 5ish ppm. this will give a constant supply of food to the bacteria, which will turn it into nitrites, which will feed the other bacteria. fish food i think may also become ammonia. increasing the temperature will speed up chemical processes. check the nitrite levels every few days. the nitrite level should grow, peak, then drop off. whn it reaches 0 the tank is cycled.

but if the tank has enough bacteria already there from the gravel and filter and stuff you may not even need to cycle.

look up fishless cycling for greater details.

[MyraVan]

This looks like a good article on the subject:
http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/Fishlesscycle.htm