New 5Gal For Betta, And Cycling Questions?!

[Volleyball_Rox]

Hullo
Today I just bought the Tetra 5 gallon aquarium starter kit.
it included a filter and filter supplies, sample food, sample conditioner, hood, light, and a free membership to the tetra plan thingy website.
Soo I need help: how do you cycle!?
I've done research, but I need your guys' help!!
And any advice for adding my betta to it?

 

[lilacamy931]

Hello
There are two types of cycling an "in fish cycle" and "fishless cycle". One involves fish, the other doesnt.

Generally the cycle means getting your filter media up to scratch and mature enough to process your bettas waste into less harmful products.

The fishless cycle involves adding a source of bacteria (from say someone elses mature aquarium) and feeding the bacteria daily until it cycles with a source of ammonia until it is ready to add fish and completely cycles, this is the safest option before adding fish (though know that you have the betta already?)

A fishin cycle is the same process though this can be begun with the introduction of good bacteria generally though you have to keep on top of ammonia and nitrItes as these can be very damaging to the fish and burn their gills etc, sometimes leaving damage they cannot recover from. In the possible circumstances that you are in, this is probably the process you need to use, thought the absolute best advice would be to see if there is anyone (friend or local fish club or store) that can provide you enough mature media from their filters to give you an "instant cycle". Essentially this means you clone their media and end up with a lot of the beneficial bacteria and wouldnt have to go through a full cycle (you may have what is called a mini cycle as the bacteria adapts to your fish levels and tank settings).

Hope that has helped some, going to see if can find the link to see if anyone local to give you media


EDIT: Here is the link of members that have mature media they might be willing to donate, give a local a quick pm and see if they can help?

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/150631-list-of-members-willing-to-donate-mature-filter-media-to-newbies/

 

[OohFeeshy]

Does the 1g have a filter? If it does, then just move the filter media from the old filter to the new one, then put the betta in straight away. If not, then really the best option would be to move the betta and all the water from the 1g to the 5g and start off by doing a 25% water change every few days. There's not much point on fishless cycling, because you aren't exactly adding a large bioload and an uncycled 5g is better than an uncycled 1g any day of the week.

 

[Jonty]

You'll need a 25w heater as well - they're around £10

 

[loraxchick]

just do 50% waterchanges evrey other.third day for two months. dont overfeed.
sounds like a lot of work becasue it is a lot of work to do a fish in cycle. without a liquid test kit is difficult to say when you would be done cycling, but tow months is plenty of time, generally. if you could get some media from someone who has had thier tak set up for 6 months, could be soooner.
cheers

 

[Assaye]

What I recommend you do is get the tank set up with conditioned water and get and filter and heater running. Set the heater to 80F. If you don't have a heater, you really need one. Bettas are not coldwater fish, whatever anyone might say.

Once yur tank is all set up, get LOADS of live plants. Lots of fast growing stems like cabomba or elodea. These will help soak up some of the chemical waste (ammonia) that occurs in the tank and will help establish your little eco-system. Just one or two plants won't be enough - you can get enough to totally cover the back and one of the sides. Next, get a small cave of some sort - a fish-safe decoration, a terracotta pot or a carved out coconut are good. Make sure it has no small holes the fish could get stuck in. Give it a wash and pop it in the tank.

Now, you have a choice. Keep the betta in his bowl and do a fishless cycle or move him into the tank and do a fish-in cycle. I would strongly suggest doing a fish-in cycle in this instance, as you already need to do daily water changes in on your bowl and there is no sense in making the poor betta say in that tiny thing much longer. You'll still need to do daily water changes in the bigger tank but he'll have more space to swim and the nasty chemicals won't build up as quickly.

Now all you need is a liquid test kit for ammonia and nitrites and test your water every day. If you get zero for both, that's good! If you get a reading for both, do a big water change of between 50-70%. Keep this up for several weeks until you start getting zero every single day. When that happens, your tank has cycled! Well done.

You might have to clean up some algae because the cycle tends to cause algae to grow, but if you have enough plants it shouldn't be a problem. If you can't get some liquid test kits, you'll have to fly blind which means you need to do 70% a day whether or not you need it. In a normal fish-in cycle you'd need to do 70% twice a day a lot of the time but with one fish and a LOT of plants, you should be fine with just one water change a day.

Have a read of this.

 

[woodstock]

Good luck with your cycling, it DOES sound uber confusing, but once you get the hang of it, it gets much simpler. Great for you that you got a new tank! You'll love it

You're getting good tips on cycling. Don't take this with high hopes, but betta are pretty hardy fish. I haven't heard too often a betta fish dying in a 5gallon+ up during cycling. (Less than 2.5gallons, I've heard deaths, yeah.) Keep it up!

 

[OohFeeshy]

If you can't get some liquid test kits, you'll have to fly blind which means you need to do 70% a day whether or not you need it. In a normal fish-in cycle you'd need to do 70% twice a day a lot of the time but with one fish and a LOT of plants, you should be fine with just one water change a day.

There's no way there would be anywhere near enough ammonia to warrant 70% per day with lots of plants. Even without plants that would be excessive.

 

[Assaye]

If you can't get some liquid test kits, you'll have to fly blind which means you need to do 70% a day whether or not you need it. In a normal fish-in cycle you'd need to do 70% twice a day a lot of the time but with one fish and a LOT of plants, you should be fine with just one water change a day.

There's no way there would be anywhere near enough ammonia to warrant 70% per day with lots of plants. Even without plants that would be excessive.

Well, my experience states otherwise. When I started out with bettas I had Orion (RIP) in a 5 gallon tank with a couple of plants and he had twice daily 70% water changes and the ammonia kept climbing. I'm not saying this happens in all cases, but it can happen and the OP should be aware of the dangers of being to blasé about water changes.

If you cant test your water, you have no idea how fast the ammonia is building up. Better to over-change than under-change the water, yes?