chiara
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- Joined
- Sep 25, 2007
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Hello everyone!
I am cycling a new tank and donāt want to make a mistake, any advice is much appreciated !
so basically itās my second tank, finally gave in (been thinking about it for a looong time) and set up a 5 gallons for a Betta.
Iāve put in a couple of live plants and a couple of small moss balls, added a piece of sponge from the filter of my other (mature) tank, put in some food (flakes) and a frozen pea (to create ammonia) activated the filter al left it alone for a week.
After a week I noticed two snails in the tank (hitchhikers on the plants I guess) they ate the whole pea so I added a little more flakes.
At this point tested the water: zero ammonia, very high nitrites.
at this point, advised by my local shop, I purchased Tetra Safe Start and dumped in the whole bottle and added a few more flakes.
After that I didnāt add anymore flakes as I noticed that the snails are pooping a lot! Lots of it on the substrate, figured maybe itās enough ammonia for a tiny 5 gallons...
A few days gone by, tested the water again: zero ammonia , nitrites lowered a bit.
Waited a few more days and today tested the water again: zero ammonia, nitrites 0.25 ppm
at this point is it safe to put the Betta in or is it too early? Or Should I wait for nitrites to go down to zero?
I am cycling a new tank and donāt want to make a mistake, any advice is much appreciated !
so basically itās my second tank, finally gave in (been thinking about it for a looong time) and set up a 5 gallons for a Betta.
Iāve put in a couple of live plants and a couple of small moss balls, added a piece of sponge from the filter of my other (mature) tank, put in some food (flakes) and a frozen pea (to create ammonia) activated the filter al left it alone for a week.
After a week I noticed two snails in the tank (hitchhikers on the plants I guess) they ate the whole pea so I added a little more flakes.
At this point tested the water: zero ammonia, very high nitrites.
at this point, advised by my local shop, I purchased Tetra Safe Start and dumped in the whole bottle and added a few more flakes.
After that I didnāt add anymore flakes as I noticed that the snails are pooping a lot! Lots of it on the substrate, figured maybe itās enough ammonia for a tiny 5 gallons...
A few days gone by, tested the water again: zero ammonia , nitrites lowered a bit.
Waited a few more days and today tested the water again: zero ammonia, nitrites 0.25 ppm
at this point is it safe to put the Betta in or is it too early? Or Should I wait for nitrites to go down to zero?
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