3 Gallon Tank Cycling And Filter

[thezodiac]

so im a relatively experienced fish keeper. (have a 10 and 35 gallon fully cycled and very happy and healthy fish)

i have an old 3 gallon tank thats not being used, and want to use it for a single betta.

i have a heater for it.

but i need to get some sort of filter for it, the only problem is that the lid is designed for an in tank filter and only has slots for tubing to run down.

so any recommendation for the filter? prefer petco or petsmart or walmart and under $20 or so

once i get it in im trying to decide how to cycle it, im thinking get everything plugged in and running then squeeze my dirty 10 gallon filter into it.


also any idea how to clean a tank effectively thats this small? (i can use gravel or sand)
my syphon wont fit into the tank.

thanks!

 

[Louiseness]

No ideas on filters, sorry! (my betta is in a 50L so what I have would be waaaaay too powerful )

But you can just use a plain bit of tubing as a siphon, doesn't need the gravel vac bit on the end to work. Might work better for sand actually as you can target any waste a bit more effectively.

I wouldn't bother squeezing any filters, just take a bit of your mature media (sponge or ceramic or whatever) from one of your other tanks and pop it in the new filter. The bioload for a single betta is small so you should be effectively cycled immediately.

 

[Dr Terror]

As there is a hole in the lid for an air line,I would use a small air line driven filter like this.

Bio,mech filtration,and oxygenates all in one cheap package.Run it in your main tank for a couple of weeks,fill the 3 gallon up with the same water and 50% clean water and you have a cycled nano ready to go.

 

[thezodiac]

Thanks for the replies guys. Another thing I was considering was doing a shrimp breeding tank and feeding the spawn to my other fish.

Any other ideas for what I could put in this tank?

 

[soybean]

I use an elite mini filter in my 4 gallon betta tank, but an air driven one like above would be very effective.

In a 3 gallon you're really only looking at shrimp or betta, it's too small for much else. Personally I would go for shrimp, having kept bettas in much larger tanks in the past I think 3 gall is a tad on the small side. Mines only in a 4 gall because he's so old he hardly moves.

 

[thezodiac]

I use an elite mini filter in my 4 gallon betta tank, but an air driven one like above would be very effective.

In a 3 gallon you're really only looking at shrimp or betta, it's too small for much else. Personally I would go for shrimp, having kept bettas in much larger tanks in the past I think 3 gall is a tad on the small side. Mines only in a 4 gall because he's so old he hardly moves.

thanks by the the way your tank looks amazing.

 

[soybean]

I use an elite mini filter in my 4 gallon betta tank, but an air driven one like above would be very effective.

In a 3 gallon you're really only looking at shrimp or betta, it's too small for much else. Personally I would go for shrimp, having kept bettas in much larger tanks in the past I think 3 gall is a tad on the small side. Mines only in a 4 gall because he's so old he hardly moves.

thanks by the the way your tank looks amazing.

Oh thank you - I actually changed it all to sand the other day and it looks completely different now, but I like that picture more than my new tank looks, so I'm keeping it for now

 

[thezodiac]

I use an elite mini filter in my 4 gallon betta tank, but an air driven one like above would be very effective.

In a 3 gallon you're really only looking at shrimp or betta, it's too small for much else. Personally I would go for shrimp, having kept bettas in much larger tanks in the past I think 3 gall is a tad on the small side. Mines only in a 4 gall because he's so old he hardly moves.

thanks by the the way your tank looks amazing.

Oh thank you - I actually changed it all to sand the other day and it looks completely different now, but I like that picture more than my new tank looks, so I'm keeping it for now

how many gallons is it? i have a 35 gallon and a 10. my 10 came first and i did gravel, my second the 35 is white sand and looks awesome.

ive been considering switching my 10 gallon over to sand but im not sure how to really. (like i need to remove my fish but i dont have a good place to put them when i switch to sand)

 

[soybean]

It's 180 litres - 46 gallons-ish? I forget the exact figure but around that.

I put all my fish in a 60 litre storage tub with the heater and a filter stuffed with media from the juwel internal, kept the rest of the media wet in a stocking in the tub with them. Vaccummed all the water out, removed the gravel, gave it a good clean, rinsed the sand (I used tesco play sand, it's cheap, very fine and the corys love it but it took A LOT of rinsing, which was the most time consuming part), dumped sand in, added the plants and bogwood, refilled it, put the heater and filter back in, put the fish back in. Only took a day, but SO worth it. It looks so much better, brighter, more spacious, and it's far easier to keep clean now.

Going to put some photos up in a day or two.

 

[thezodiac]

It's 180 litres - 46 gallons-ish? I forget the exact figure but around that.

I put all my fish in a 60 litre storage tub with the heater and a filter stuffed with media from the juwel internal, kept the rest of the media wet in a stocking in the tub with them. Vaccummed all the water out, removed the gravel, gave it a good clean, rinsed the sand (I used tesco play sand, it's cheap, very fine and the corys love it but it took A LOT of rinsing, which was the most time consuming part), dumped sand in, added the plants and bogwood, refilled it, put the heater and filter back in, put the fish back in. Only took a day, but SO worth it. It looks so much better, brighter, more spacious, and it's far easier to keep clean now.

Going to put some photos up in a day or two.

the other thing is dont a lot of the beneficial bacteria live on your gravel? so didnt you put your tank into a mini cycle?

id def test you ammonia & nitrite levels

 

[soybean]

I'm testing daily, no changes. Most bacteria live in the filter media, which was running the whole time in the tub, and there's very little in the gravel in comparison.

From tonight I'm dosing the tank for a parasite anyway, so it's going to be getting loads of water changes in the next few days.

 

[thezodiac]

ugh just realized that my power cord is missing (for the tank light).

its a no name tank that walmart used to sell

 

[thezodiac]

interesitng i just found a power cord for a monitor ( i think both are 12v)

anyways plugged it in and it works no problem.

im wondering how safe this is lol, but hey if it works it works