Cycling... Help me along the way? :)

[teeneythebetta]

Hello everyone! After over 8 weeks of cycling my 10 gal tank and not getting anywhere, and also dealing with sick fish, I am re cycling my 10 gallon tank that occupies 1 female betta and 2 nerite snails! (so keep in mind this is a fish-in cycle)

I do not want to go over the time I wasted trying to cycle the first time, so I'm going to take baby steps and hopefully someone on here can guide me through it? :) I'd like to update this thread with my readings and hopefully some experienced members can tell me if/when to do a water change and how much of a water change. :)

Tank started: 7/7/2012. Some tetra safe start was also added. I use the API liquid freshwater master test kit. :)

As of today, 7/12/2012..
Ammonia: .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

Do you think a change is needed or should I let the ammonia go up a Teeney bit more? Thanks everyone! :)

[Freyja]

Go to the cycle logs thread and I think there's also a sticky on cycling.

[teeneythebetta]

Thanks so much! Where's the cycle log thread located?

[bahamut285]

What is your water temperature and pH? Some beneficial bacteria (BB) are fussy, most are not.

Depending on how much ammonia was added and maintained, cycling length can vary. For example if you add only 0.5ppm ammonia and you've got a bunch of plants, you're just going to starve the BB.

The BEST thing to do is to take your girl and snails out and jack up the ammonia to something like 4.0ppm, or else you're going to be waiting for a while to do a fish/snail-in cycle.

However if you are sticking with a fish-in cycle, take a look at this guide: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=47838

[teeneythebetta]

Originally Posted by bahamut285

What is your water temperature and pH? Some beneficial bacteria (BB) are fussy, most are not.

Depending on how much ammonia was added and maintained, cycling length can vary. For example if you add only 0.5ppm ammonia and you've got a bunch of plants, you're just going to starve the BB.

The BEST thing to do is to take your girl and snails out and jack up the ammonia to something like 4.0ppm, or else you're going to be waiting for a while to do a fish/snail-in cycle.

However if you are sticking with a fish-in cycle, take a look at this guide: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=47838

Thanks so much for the link! I would like to do a fish less cycle, but I worry because Teeney has been in the 10 gal for about 2 1/2 months and she FREAKS when I put her in a smaller space. The only other tank I could put her in is a 2.5 gal

My PH is 7.6 and my heater keeps it at a constant 80.

[Freyja]

Here's the link: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=104242

[bahamut285]

It *MIGHT* be possible that the bioload is just too low to keep a stable cycle, and therefore keeps crashing (BB starve to death).

Hmm. I'll have to look into it :V