Uder Gravel Filter

[johnny70]

Hi

I have got a small tank 25ltr for a betta, with as UGF, I have some cycled tanks I can take media from, question is where do i put it. Just squezze it into the tank? if so approx how long will it take to fully cycle?

Cheers
J

 

[Miss Wiggle]

depends what sort of media you have in your other filters

something like bio balls can just be put into the tank on the gravel and should seed it.

 

[johnny70]

No its sponges.

Could I just do a squezze of it into the tank?

Cheers

J

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes, it would help to an extent but i'm not sure how much, if you do a fishless cycle but give it a kick start with a good squeeze from the filter it should be a bit quicker at least. but you have to remember that the bacteria you want are sessile, meaning they live on things, not free swimming, so unless you leave some media in there it won't completely cycle it for you.

what i would do is get the gravel you intend to use with the UG, put this in a filter compartment of one of the ones thats running, leave it there two weeks then put it in the new tank and you should be able to add fish straight off.

 

[johnny70]

Well unforunatly we already have a betta in there, impulse buy from the LFS, which I do regret now, not the fish just the fact we got him without the tank being ready.

Any advice?

Cheers
J

 

[Miss Wiggle]

take him back to the lfs?!

if you can't/won't then a squeeze from a mature sponge will help a bit but i'm not sure how much. daily 20% water changes until your ammonia and ntirite hit 0

 

[johnny70]

Thanks for the quick replies

Cheers
J

 

[OohFeeshy]

No need to take the betta back, just so small daily water changes to keep ammonia under control (ie, at 0).

 

[Danno]

Put the betta in a one gallon tank and do a 100% water change every other day. Add stress coat, and stress zyme to the main tank. Let it do its thing.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Put the betta in a one gallon tank and do a 100% water change every other day. Add stress coat, and stress zyme to the main tank. Let it do its thing.

Urm... that's a bit pointless. It's a betta- hardly a big wate producer, and the ammonia buildup in un (uncyled) 1g is obviously going to be more than in an uncycled 5g.

 

[rdd1952]

It's a betta- hardly a big wate producer, and the ammonia buildup in un (uncyled) 1g is obviously going to be more than in an uncycled 5g.

I tend to agree. Bettas seem to produce very little waste. I could easily go 3 or 4 weeks without doing a water change on my betta tank and the nitrate still isn't 15 to 20 ppm. If you don't feed a lot (I give he 3 Hikari Betta Gold a day which they eat immediately so no leftoveer to decay) the ammonia shouldn't build up fast at all. You should be able to easily keep the ammonia below .25 ppm with partial water changes every 2 or 3 days.

 

[Danno]

I see cycling tank with ammonia up to 8ppm. That is not suitable for a Betta, or any fish in that fact. Water changes every other day does not have the ammonia get any higher then 0.10ppm.

I tend to disagree.

 

[rdd1952]

I don't have any proof as I've only cycled one tank with betta. That was a 2.5 gallon and I did water changes every 2 or 3 days and the ammonia never got as high as .5 ppm. I seriously doubt that a single betta in a 5 gallon tank could ever get the ammonia to even 4 ppm even if you never did a water change the whole time it is cycling. I totally agree that a tank should always be cycled without fish but since the fish is already in the tank, cycling with it in there is better than putting it in a gallon bowl with no heater and doing daily 100% water changes. It would be much less stress on the fish.

 

[Danno]

I don't have any proof as I've only cycled one tank with betta. That was a 2.5 gallon and I did water changes every 2 or 3 days and the ammonia never got as high as .5 ppm. I seriously doubt that a single betta in a 5 gallon tank could ever get the ammonia to even 4 ppm even if you never did a water change the whole time it is cycling. I totally agree that a tank should always be cycled without fish but since the fish is already in the tank, cycling with it in there is better than putting it in a gallon bowl with no heater and doing daily 100% water changes. It would be much less stress on the fish.

Who said that is didn't have a heater? The Betta community does 100% water changes daily or every other day A LOT. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[rdd1952]

You said put it in a gallon bowl. I have very rarely seen a bowl with a heater. I would imagine it would be very hard to stick a heater to the side of a bowl but i'm sure it can be done.