The Nitrogen Cycle
This is a stage your tank will
have to go through when you first start your tank. Fish let out
ammonia through their gills. ammonia also comes from decaying
uneatin food and fish waste. This ammonia has to go somewhere or
it will kill your fish. Thank goodness for bacteria that convert
ammonia to nitrite. Depending on your Bioload of your tank this
process will take between 3 to 4 weeks. Once your ammonia levels
our gone your only part way there. Nitrite will be the next thing
to worry about. Nitrite levels will be high untill a different
bacteria starts turning Nitrite to Nitrate which is way less
harmful. During the high nitrite stage you have to be very
careful about overfeeding. Fish can succomb from nitrite
poisioning very easy. There is not much you can do during the
nitrite stage but during the first stage "ammonia"
there are quite a few products out there that convert ammonia to
a non toxic form that will still be there for your cycling
process to carry on. The nitrite stage last about 2 weeks, also
depending on your bioload. Nitrate can be taken out by water
changes of 20% every other week. Goodluck!