# The Nitrogen Cycle



## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

I'll just post part of an article I thought was easy to understand, please add in your thoughts etc. below.

Taken from: http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/kumar_nitrogen.html
Author: Rajendra Kumar, G.G.



> *The Nitrogen Cycle explained*:
> 
> When the ammonia levels in your aquarium reach a suitable level (in a few days) nitrosomonas species of bacteria from the air settles in the water and starts to form colonies in your filter or sand, these bacteria convert the ammonia (NH3) to nitrite form (NO2-). At this time the ammonia levels drop to low levels and the nitrite levels starts to increase. The nitrites in the water is also toxic to fish, your aquarium is not ready as yet.. When the nitrite level in the water has reached suitable levels another bacteria of Nitrobacter species starts to establish colonies in your aquarium. These bacteria convert the nitrites to nitrates (NO3-), which are less harmful in small quantities and is absorbed by plants or algae. Now the aquarium is truly ready to host aquatic life. This process takes anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks depending on water temperature. One of the indications of an almost complete cycle is visible algae on the glass. The process looks like this:
> 
> Ammonia ->> Nitrite ->> Nitrate


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Thinking maybe this should be a subsection of "Cycling Your Tank" or whatever it was called.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

I think this should be in Cycling your tank as you must understand this inorder to know how to cycle your tank. Good stuff.

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