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Benefits of understanding the biological cycle.: A continued dis

© Winston Vaughan Schoenfeld

If you have not already read the previous editorial, please take a look at it first. This article will assume that you already have the basic knowledge of the aquarium cycle as presented in the Jan. 28 editorial.

You should now understand the role of nitrifying bacteria in the aquarium, and why they are beneficial to the aquarist. So, the question remains...how can you use this knowledge? One of the most common problems aquariasts encounter is the rise of ammonia, and nitrite levels during and after an aquarium has been properly cycled. First, let's discuss the initial cycle of a new aquarium. As you discovered in the last article, a new aquarium cycles by colonizing nitrifying bacteria which break down ammonia and nitrite. This cycle can be disrupted very easily. Things such as too many fish or overfeeding can cause a tank to have an imbalance biologically, and thus kill its inhabitants. Why? Because introducing too much food or fish increases the rate of ammonia and nitrite production. Since bacteria takes time to colonize and increase in number, it can not multiply fast enough to keep up with large changes in the aquarium's biological load. The result...dead or unhealthy fish.

So, what should you do to prevent this? Follow these guidelines for new aquariums:

1. Be patient.

2. Slowly introduce new fish and aquarium inhabitants.

3. Do Not Overfeed! (watching fish eat is a great thrill for aquarists, but be conservative. A fish can survive on stored energy for a week or more without food).

4. Keep an eye on your aquarium chemical levels, and do suggested water changes.

For those of you who have an established, biologically sound aquarium, there are several things which you can do to avoid throwing your biological balance out of control. First, as for new aquariums...do not overfeed and overstock your aquarium with new inhabitants. As I stated above, it can cause a great number of biological problems. Also, when cleaning out your filters, use aquarium water to wash the filter. Those bacterial colonies happen to colonize on your filters, and if you scrub them hard, you will lose all of the bacterial colonies which your aquarium needs. My suggestion is to keep two filters in the filtering system, if they can fit, and to only clean one at a time. If you cannot fit two in your filtering system (which is the common case), then clean the filter with aquarium water, lightly. This will remove unwanted detritus while keeping most of the bacteria which you want. The aquarium water can come from a water change, and can be done in any container.

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