| Re: I'm about to set up |
Subject: Re: I'm about to set up by flameangel on 27/2/2007 21:17:25 ok here goes....simplified! when you set up your tank and add live rock to it it causes the tank to "cycle" and a lot of ammonia is produced which is harmful to livestock. As the days and weeks go by the ammonia is converted to nitrite which is still harmful, and finally it converts to nitrate which is a lot less harmful. Your tank is only ready to have fish and inverts put in it, when the ammonia reads at zero, the nitrite reads at zero and the nitrae is less than 20ppm, The "cycle" is kicked in to action by the natural bacteria in the rocks. The rocks (if a large enough quanity is purchased) also act as filtration in the tank, removing waste converting it to the harmelss end product nitrate |