Cycling Question

[cyd]

Hi guys! I'm new to betta keeping (but have learned quite a bit from lurking around the forums here ;D), and I have a question.

I bought my fish, Mowgli, from WalMart about a month ago, having absolutely no knowledge about bettas besides the fact that they're aggressive (bad move, I know now I should have looked into it more before impulse-buying him). So I bought him a cheap 1-gallon tank, thinking that would be fine for him, but after tons of research, I figured out that he needs more space than that (he's currently in a two-gallon tank right now). I'm getting him a 5 gallon tank tomorrow, and I've been reading like mad about the cycling process for about a week now, in preparation for it, and because I haven't bothered cycling the past two I've had him in since they were so small, so I've just been doing regular partial/100% water changes throughout the week, and adding Kordon AmQuel Plus Ammonia Detoxifier to keep the ammonia levels in check.

Now here's my question (finally!), do I absolutely need to cycle this new tank, or would it be possible for me to just continue doing pwc's and adding the ammonia detoxifier?

[Freyja]

You don't absolutely need to cycle the tank as long as you keep up with pwcs and monitor water params. Cycling does help cut down on maintenance and produces bb that will help with your water quality. I am a newbs myself so maybe other more experienced members could chime in.

[Oldfishlady]

The nitrogen cycle will happen on its own as long as the beneficial bacteria needs are met......That being-oxygen, food source and surface area....

You can safely establish the nitrogen cycle with a healthy Betta in the filtered 5gal tank provided that you make the needed water changes...with or without testing products on hand....

Regardless of what you keep the Betta in...It will produce byproducts and will need water changes-the only difference will be the bacteria you are colonizing to establish the nitrogen cycle...

To safely cycle with the Betta in the filtered 5gal-Make weekly 50% water changes with substrate vacuum or stir and dip method-this will be the water change schedule for the life of the system to maintain water quality once the nitrogen cycle has established.

For the next 4-6 weeks-without testing products on hand-Make a second 50% water only each week.

If you have testing products on hand-Base the second 50% water only on test results of-Ammonia, nitrite 0.25ppm or greater.

Once you start reading nitrate 5-10ppm without any ammonia, nitrite spikes for several days-you are most likely cycled-this can take 4-6 weeks.

Remember that some additive used-especially dechlorinators and ammonia removers can cause false ammonia reading since they change ammonia to ammonium and the test products can't tell the difference-so not to make unneeded water changes stressing the Betta....

Adding lots of active growing stem and floating plants can also change the cycling process. As well as a low pH....

[Freyja]

Listen to OFL! She knows her stuff! Thanks for chiming in OFL