How to cycle a tank?

[Fancy Goldies Luver]

How to cycle the tank? I have a baby oranda in 20 gallon .....how to cycle like the shopkeeprr told me cycling a tank is needed for plant tank setup...

[ange]

The good news is that you've already started cycling. When people bring up cycling in aquariums it's in reference to the nitrogen cycle. Your oranda produces waste (ammonia) that has to go somewhere. In uncycled or fresh tanks there won't be many organisms that can break down the ammonia so water changes may be needed. The organisms that would convert the ammonia into less toxic molecules grow on surfaces in the tank (the glass, surface area in the filter or ceramic filter media, decorations, etc).

There are products that help with getting the cycle started like FritzZyme and even a lot of water conditioners will temporarily bind ammonia (the ones that remove chloramine from the water generally do) at the cost of removing dissolved oxygen in the water.

Irene published a great article on the subject that goes into the steps for cycling a tank that already has livestock in it and ACO has another article that explains the science behind the nitrogen cycle with more depth than I just did. Hope this helps.