Cycling. Umm, It Confuses Me.....

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I guess this could turn into a bit of a moral debate - fish keeping isn't a cheap hobby and if you can't afford it, well.. It's a bit cruel on the fish. Like going out and buying a dog knowing full well you can't afford the vet bills if something goes wrong.
On the other hand, you might've not realised which is fair enough.
 
Ammonia isn't very expensive to buy, here in the UK it cost me around £4 for a bottle, so converts to $6-8ish? I'm rubbish with currency.
The API Ammonia test kit is perfect for testing Ammonia, but you ideally.. Sad to say need the Master Test Kit which is about 3x as much.
 
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754034&locale=en_US&green=699A9B5E-E075-5BED-0F39-468D2BEF2724
 
Our Price: $27.49 for the Master on Petsmart. That encompases Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate as well as pH.

Ammonia is a must when doing a fishless cycle. You could go down the route of doing a fish in but again.. Most on this site disagree with a fish in as it exposes the fish to high levels of Ammonia which has all sorts of detrimental effects short term and long term on their general health and immunity.
 
Do you have a filter in the tank your fish is in at the moment?
 
No. I have been changing the water twice a day.
 
I didnt realize how expensive he was, which is why Im only doing a 5 gallon. I thought he could be in a bowl with twice weekly water changes and plants...
 
Why do I need the master? I cant afford that. Im actually lucky that I might get any of them....
 
I might do a fish in, how does that work?
 
Ammonia and nitrite kits are the bare minimum you need when cycling, if you can afford those, you're good to go. When you get more Money, you can then buy the pH and nitrate kits (nitrate isn't very useful but it still helps to know the levels.

Whether you go fish in or fishless, you're still going to have to buy a nitrite kit as well as the ammonia testing kit.
Fish in is a lot more stressful on the fish and the owner, you're having to test daily (at least) for ammonia and nitrite, then, depending on your pH you need to do a water change when the ammonia/nitrite hits the level set by your pH.

To find out your pH, you can either take a water sample to your nearest LFS or your water company should provide it.

Fish keeping isn't always cheap, but it brings you and your fish years of joy, it's worth it IMO.
 
What is a LFS? Like a petsmart? Idk. So new to this. I know our pool store tests pH for free. I could take in a bottle of tap water to them and ask.
 
LFS is a Local Fish Store, if you run the mouse over an abbreviated underlined word it will give you the meaning. Some LFS 's test your aquarium water's parameters for free.  
 
Do you know anyone who has an established aquarium? You could ask them if they are willing to donate you some of their filter media. That would speed things up cycling the filter!
 
No. How do I do a fish in cycling though? Im also getting a 10 gallon tank, instead of a 5
 
Usual advice is to get some 2-3 hardy fish or as quoted from a LFS "rubbish fish" I was told cherry barbs fit in this category, they will produce ammonia that will feed the bacteria required to complete a naive in fish cycle, and do lots of  water changing 10-20% every other day minimum for several weeks, lots of scientific methods available but without testing kits you're going to struggle  
 
In the fish-in cycling the Ammonia comes from the fish's waste, so you don't need to add any to the tank. But you will need the chemicals to dechlorinate the water during the many many water changes that you will have to make to ensure your Betta's gills don't get burned from the Ammonia.
 
You will definitely need the Ammonia test kit to test daily at least once for the levels of Ammonia in your tank. Aim to get it as close to 0 as you can. Anything above .25 is harmful for the fish, even at .25 for prolonged periods of time there can be organ damage to your fish.
 
Once you see the Ammonia levels not rising quite as high or even disappearing you will have a build up of the first beneficial bacteria in your filter. They eat the Ammonia and convert it into Nitrite. But Nitrite is also toxic for the fish, and that is when you will need the Nitrite test kit. Again you will need to aim to get the levels as close to 0 with frequent water changes.
 
Where a low pH may be beneficial during the Ammonia stage, because it makes the Ammonia less toxic, a low pH makes the Nitrite stage more toxic. That's why it is good to know where your pH sits so you are prepared!
 
When the Nitrite is getting lower or disappears then you are almost there. Then you will see the Nitrate rise and these are normal in a tank, but at very high levels those too are toxic! That is one of the reasons we do weekly water changes in our aquarium, to keep the Nitrate levels somewhere between 5 and 20. There are however others who believe you can aim even a little higher than that.
Weekly water changes replenishes also other things in the water we can not test for, or are more complicated to test for! 
 
Another thing you may want to find out at some point is how your water stands in regards to hardness, to dissolved minerals in it. That will be very important to know if you are going to add snails or shrimp to your tank since they need those minerals to build their shells!
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