Nitrogen cycle & update on the new guy

So, it's only been a day since my last entry, but I felt I needed to update. The new guy is doing OK, although he seems much more sluggish than Dumbledore. He ate one Betta pellet last night and got clicked. I thought that I had explained the nitrogen cycle before, but I think I forgot to. Just for fun and interest here is a summary of the nitrogen cycle.

 The nitrogen cycle creates a biological filter. This occurs when the tank has built up enough ammonia (from waste or decaying food) for good, ammonia-eating bacteria to flourish. These bacteria process the ammonia into nitrite. Ammonia is bad, and so is nitrite...so, another strain of bacteria come into play. These new bacteria process the nitrite into nitrate. Nitrate is less dangerous then nitrite, and takes a while to build up. To remove the nitrate, I do water changes. People with planted tanks don't have to worry about nitrate as much because the plants use the nitrate as fertilizer. I sped up the process by implanting some bacteria-laden gravel, filter media, and water from Dumbledore's tank. It takes on average 2 weeks to a month for the cycle to complete.

Many people use a "throw-away" fish like a cheap feeder fish to do the nitrogen cycle because it creates a steady source of ammonia. The problem with this is that often the fish will die due to the poor water quality that often occurs in new tanks.

So, I think that's kind of cruel, and I do what is called a FISHLESS CYCLE. I cycle my tanks by tricking it into thinking that there is a fish in it. Everyday, I sprinkle in some of the food that I will be feeding (Betta bio-gold pellets) and it decays and creates ammonia. It's a little trickier I guess, and it means that I have to feed a fish that doesn't exist, but doesn't it just seem nicer? I think so.

I guessed what is going to happen next in the cycle for this graph. The numbers on the left are not the actual units that are used to measure ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, but the units are different for each one, so I made a standard unit for all three. In general, anything above 1.5 can cause stress. Above 2.5 is dangerous if the fish has to be in the water long term. So, I was pushing it a bit by putting the new guy in there yesterday, but I think he'll be just fine. The nitrite levels tend to drop very quickly once they peak.

I just took a few videos of his first targeting session, and I'm going to edit them together later on.

-Lulu

 Oh and he has a name! He is "Paro". I saw Matt Lauer on the Today show this morning and he was in Bhutan. Paro is a city there and the name just seemed right.