What did you do to your tank?

[Chigwell Hammer]

Just wondering what you all did to your tank before you added your betta.. For example did you cycle it fully? Did you just fill the tank and setup the filter and heater ? Did you add real plants?

Thank you!!

[ChoclateBetta]

I have never cycled and always use live plants and never lost a fish in the first month or two of buildings but this was before I learned about cycling.

[homegrown terror]

you can do either fish-in or empty cycling. fish-in cycling is usually for those of us cursed with impatience, but you must be careful and not slack off with your water changes. empty tank cycling is usually considered safer, but you have to introduce bacteria yourself, either from "dirt" filter media or substrate from an established tank, or from a prepared additive culture.

[sainthogan]

I let mine sit for 24 hours with a live plant before I added my Betta - basically, I followed the directions that came with the tank and its filter.

[ChoclateBetta]

Also cycling chemicals at store help a bit.

[megaredize]

i have never fully cycled a tank without a fish in it. i usually buy a betta and then think about where im going to put it. of course now that i have a few i use old filter media from my tanks to do an instant cycle on new filters. but for my first one i just set up the tank and put fishy in. I do always use nutrafin cycle in new tanks so i think it helps. cant say for sure but i havent had a fish die.

[registereduser]

I just set up a new tank today. I have the filter running and heater set up. I will put the fish in it tomorrow and then "seed" the tank with bacteria from one of my other established tanks.

If this is your first tank, do you have a friend with a healthy cycled tank? You can scrape some of the stuff off their filter and deposit it in your filter.