Newbie Help Needed.

[betta_luvr]

I'm unable to get hold of any kind of ammonia for my new tank. The tank is all set up and I've been "ghost feeding" to try and get the ammonia in there - will some SafeStart help the situation? - I need to get it up and running as quickly as possible due to having a Betta in tow, through no fault of my own. Is it okay to put my Betta into an uncycled tank?

Any advice welcome.

Tank: 4 Gal.
Under-gravel filter.
No heater. (Getting one today.)
The temperature is at about 65 right now.

 

[OldMan47]

My guess is that the betta is presently in an uncycled container of some kind so the move to a larger container will be no problem for the fish. Keeping any fish in an uncycled tank is a commitment to lots of large partial water changes so you need to recognize that up front. You do need a good liquid type testing kit so you will know when and how much water to replace. The requirement for health is that ammonia and nitrites both stay below 0.25 ppm at all times. After a few days you should get a feel for how fast the ammonia in your tank rises and will know if you need to do 30% per day or 50% twice a day to keep things healthy. After a while, the cycle will progress to where the critical parameter is nitrite and frequent testing will let you get to a point that you know how often to change water for that. Finally you will get to where all you need to worry about is nitrates. At that point you can let nitrates go to 20 ppm. The water change frequency will back off and the amount will also be less. At that point you will be doing weekly to every 2 weeks changes of 10 to 50%. Note ppm is the same number as mg/l so don't worry which units your kit uses.
You did not say how big your tank is or that you have a filter and heater for it. Adequate size with a decent filter and heater are all needed for healthy bettas over the long term.

 

[hollyp0p]

in my experience safestart has help kick start cycling before for me.......just make sure you keep testing the water twice daily, and if there is any ammonia or nitrite do a water change!