How to Cycle My Salt Water Aquarium Properly

Cycling simply means running your aquarium without any animals in it. This gives the tank time to mature, or build up enough beneficial bacteria to turn harmful ammonia from fish waste and food into less harmful nitrates and nitrites. Without cycling, a tank with animals will suffer from ammonia overload, which will inevitably kill your fish. The cycling period also gives the aquarist time to establish the desired water temperature, pH and salinity, depending on the species she intends to keep.

Things You'll Need

  • Fish tank
  • Filter
  • Sand and rock
  • Saltwater
  • PH test kit
  • Crabs and snails
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Instructions

    • 1

      Set up your tank. This means following manufacturer directions to set up your chiller, heater, UV or ozone sterilizer, protein skimmer, filtration devices and lighting so that everything works properly and is ready to be turned on. Fill the tank with salt water. Add rock and sand, and get everything exactly where you want it.

    • 2

      Turn on your filter, reef lighting and chiller or heater. As recommended in "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saltwater Aquariums" by Mike Wickham, if you have a UV or ozone sterilizer, do not turn it on yet. Do not turn on your protein skimmer yet either.

    • 3

      Let the tank run for two weeks before adding any animals or turning on a protein skimmer or UV or ozone sterilizer. Use this time to establish your water's temperature, which will depend on what animals you plan to keep. Also, use this time to repeatedly test pH using test kits available in any pet store. Establish a pH between 8.0 and 8.3, using chemical additives if necessary.

    • 4

      Turn on your protein skimmer and UV or ozone sterilizer after two weeks.

    • 5

      Add a handful of crabs or snails to your aquarium. Add no more than three animals at a time, allowing your tank time to adjust to the new bioload. In another week, add a few more.

    • 6

      Add two hardy fish after running your tank with some crabs or snails for two weeks. After the tank has run with fish and snails and crabs for a couple of weeks, you can add a couple of new fish or corals weekly.