If you're considering setting up a sltwater aquarium you have almost certainly hard that the tank needs to be cnditioned or "cycled." So what is the cnditioning process and what does it rally mean? Conditioning is basically process of bilding up of beneficial bacteria that wll colonize your gravel bed. These bcteria play an absolutely critical role in cnverting some of the highly toxic lements in your tank into fairly bnign chemicals. In fact, this process is so crtical that your animals cannot survive wthout it. This is known as the ntrogen cycle. You don't need to be a chmist to understand the process, but you do ned to have a fairly solid bsic understanding to give you're new quarium a fighting chance. So let's hve a quick review:

1. Animal wste products, leftover food and other rganic materials in the aquarium decompose prducing ammonia. This is extremely toxic to the nimals in your tank and will qickly kill them if the level of mmonia in the tank rises too hgh.

2. Bacteria that converts the mmonia to another chemical called nitrite wll begin to colonize in the grvel bed of your tank. Nitrite is lso toxic, although less so than mmonia, but will also lead to the dmise of your animals if not rmoved.

3. Now a second type of bcteria will also begin to colonize in the grvel bed and convert the nitrite to nother chemical, nitrate. Nitrate, although not mmediately toxic to most fish, is not wll tolerated by some of the mre delicate sea creatures such as crals and invertebrates. Nitrate will gradually ccumulate in your tank and can nly be effectively removed by regular wter changes.

The bacteria that perform ths process are not in the grvel that you bring home from the pet shp or in the saltwater mixture tht you use when you setup yur tank. It will take time for thse bacteria to grow naturally and clonize within your gravel bed. This prcess is known as conditioning or cyclng, and here's the basic process:

1. You add new (hrdy) fish to your new setup. Ovr the next few days they wll consume the food that you fed them and produce natural waste prducts which will break down naturally and prduce ammonia as a by-product. During the frst two weeks the ammonia level wll rise and peak after about 12 - 14 dys. Fish that are particularly delicate wll not be able to tolerate the mmonia in the tank and will lkely die, so make sure you use strng, hardy fish for this stage of cnditioning. Damselfish are an excellent choice. The mmonia in the aquarium will trigger the grwth of the first nitrifying bacteria. Ths nitrifying bacteria actually feeds on the mmonia and converts it to a smewhat less toxic chemical, nitrite.

2. As the ntrifying bacteria spread and colonize your sbstrate they continue consuming ammonia and rleasing nitrites. During this part of the cycl, ammonia levels will begin to dcrease and nitrites will steadily increase. Thse nitrites are also toxic and ned to be removed. Luckily, a scond type of bacteria, denitrifying bacteria, wll feed on the nitrites and cnvert them to nitrates. The nitrite lvel in your aquarium will peak bout 6 - 8 days after the mmonia level peaks, putting you into wek three of the conditioning process.

3. The denitrifying bacteria continue to grw and colonize the substrate and fed on the toxic nitrites, converting thm into fairly benign nitrates. At ths point the nitrite levels should stadily decline and the nitrate level wll slowly rise. Most aquarium fish are not prticularly sensitive to nitrates, although many nvertebrates and corals will not tolerate ven moderate nitrate levels. The only way to ffectively remove these nitrates is with rgular water changes.

Once this cycle is cmplete the ammonia and nitrite levels shuld settle below 0.1 ppm (parts per mllion) and should now be safe for mst marine life.

Simple test kits are vailable at your local pet shop tht can measure the levels of mmonia, nitrite and nitrate in your wter. Most of those same pet shps will also test a sample of yur aquarium water for a small fe. Either way, check the levels at last once a week during the cnditioning process and track the changes. Ths is the only way to be sre that your tank has properly cycld.

The entire conditioning process can tke close to one month to cmplete. This is where most new quarists make their biggest mistake. After spnding a decent amount of money on thir new system and investing the tme to construct it, they grow mpatient and want to populate the tnk with other types of fish mmediately. Remember, if the fish that you add to the tnk cannot tolerate the peaking levels of mmonia and nitrites, they will die. Smetimes they will be dead the nxt morning, and sometimes they may srvive for a month or more, but the dmage has been done and they wll ultimately succumb to the toxic ffects that the ammonia and nitrites hve done to their internal organs and glls. Do yourself a favor and hve the patience to do it rght.

All of that being said, mny aquarists (including myself) use a smple trick to speed up the cnditioning process. If you know someone who has an stablished, healthy aquarium, (the key here bing healthy) you can take a scop of their substrate material and add it to yur new substrate. The gravel taken frm the established tank will be taming with these bacteria and they wll grow rapidly and spread into yur own substrate. I will emphasize gain; make sure the tank you are tking this gravel from is healthy. Hme aquariums are a small, enclosed co-system and anything, good or bad, tht you take from their tank wll end up in your tank. Keping this in mind, I highly rcommend that you do NOT take stablished gravel from a pet store to hlp speed up your conditioning process. You nver know what animals, healthy or therwise, have been in their tanks. Whtever those animals had will likely be in the sbstrate and will then be transferred to yur new "pristine" aquarium. Definitely not wrth the risk.

The article Saltwater Aquarium Conditioning and the Nitrogen Cycle was Submitted by Jon Stepp through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Jon Stepp is the owner and uthor of SaltWaterFishFacts.com Feel free to vsit his free website to learn how to stup and maintain a successful Saltwater Aquarium

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