The Importance of Cycling Your Saltwater Fish Tank

I have had two saltwater fish tanks. I had a 55 gallon saltwater aquarium and I rushed out and purchased salt that night. I poured salt into the water and checked the salinity until it was right (mistake number one). Then I purchased two clownfish and added them to the tank the next day (mistake number two). As you can imagine, both of the clownfish died. I thought to myself, "Saltwater tanks are impossible to keep going and I can't keep the easiest fish to take care of alive." Little did I know, I did everything wrong. The water wasn't even the right temperature.

So I decided that I would sit down and read four different books over the course of the next month. I decided to purchase a 24 gallon nanocube saltwater tank because it came equipped with a light and built in filter. After reading the books I knew that I had to wait at least 30 days to add anything to the saltwater aquarium. The first thing I did was purchase live rock. I placed all the cured live rock in my tank. I checked my water levels and after about 5 days, my ammonia level had skyrocketed! This is because all fish tanks need to cycle, even freshwater fish tanks.

I then waited another week and my nitrate levels had skyrocketed! If I would have had a fish in this tank the first and second week, my fish would all be dead. This is why my clownfish died the first time. All the levels in your fish tank will never be normal until after the 30th day. Even on the 29th day the nitrate levels are very high which means you must do one final water change before you place any fish in the aquarium.

At 30 days and after a water change you can start placing fish in the aquarium. You will want to check the salinity one final time and make sure that the temperature is right. You should purchase fish which are easy to take care of such as the clownfish and different types of gobies. Never purchase fish which are hard to keep alive and make sure that you have the fish food that each fish will need. Most fish will eat fish flakes, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp and seaweed. Make sure that you have all information about each fish that you are about to purchase.