Questions about Cycling, IAL, and Filters.

[Withered]

Okay, so i've had my 5 gallon tank running with an Azoo filter for about a month now with my fish in the cycle. I have been doing the 50 percent changes twice a week, once with a gravel vac cleaning and some of the poo that the vac doesn't seem to pick up, I try to squeeze out with my turkey baster. The Azoo filter doesn't seem to be keeping the water as clean as i'd like for it to...so I just bought an Aquaclear 20 with all of the media that it comes with.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...10&pcatid=3610

My questions are, is it okay to change out the filters halfway through a cycle? How do I know when the cycle is complete?

I'm new at cycling since i've only had 1-3 gallon tanks in the past but I wanted to upgrade to try to make things easier on myself. I don't have a fish testing kit yet....the only thing I have is one last test strip and some liquid tests for ammonia...which every time i've tested it its been between 0 and .25.

Also, is it okay to put an IAL into the tank while it's cycling? My fish seems to be fine. Swimming around, playing, even jumping out of the water to grab his food from my hand when I feed him. The only thing I worry about is his fins because they still look ratty and damaged from when he was sick last. I had the IAL in the tank, but I didn't know if I could keep it in there through a cycle or not.

Any answers would be appreciated! Thanks!

[callistra]

Don't change the media while your bb is trying to become established, and you never want to change everything at once or you'll crash your cycle. The sponge can be replaced every 6 months to a year. The carbon will need to be replaced at least monthly if you choose to keep using it. Some people replace that biomax insert never and others will replace around every 6 (not the same month as the sponge is replaced). Once the tank is fully established, the sponge and biomax can be rinsed in old tank water along with the weekly water change to keep debris from getting built up.

You need to invest in a good drops test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and be doing daily tests and water changes according to what comes up. First you will see ammonia spike. Eventually ammonia will go to zero and nitrites will spike. When nitrites become zero and you will see some nitrates you have completed your cycle. Nirtites in small amounts are okay but should be kept below 20ppm. Weekly 20-50% water changes should be enough after the cycle is completed but you really need to monitor carefully and make far more frequent changes until this happens. Here is a guide: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=47838 Here's a test kit most people use: http://www.petco.com/product/103685/...t=OnSiteSearch

Fin rot during fish in cycling is pretty common because they will be exposed to less than ideal conditions including ammonia. Once you get your cycle completed it will be easier to keep his water clean.

As long as the fins are no long receding he should be okay. If they're continuing to recede you may need to stop for treatment. If you don't already have an established quarantine tank you can use, you can get an acrylic 1-2 gallon bowl or kritter keeper of some kind, fill it half full with water and float him in that in the larger tank to keep it warm. In this container you can treat with 1 ml per 1 gallon stress coat to help fin regrowth and also 1 tsp per gallon fresh water aquarium salt, predissovled. Any time you make a water change you will need to add as much stress coat and salt as water you take out.. so if you have 1 gallon of water, do a 50% change you put 50% (or half tsp and half mil) of the salt and stress coat back. You can do this for up to 10 days. Meanwhile you will need to find another source of ammonia to feed the cycle. Fish food works, as does a drop or two a day or pure ammonia from ace hardware, but be aware you will need to test and likely do a larger water change in the tank to make it okay again before adding him back or his fins will only start to rot away again.

[Withered]

Thanks Callistra! I know I need to go buy a water testing kit and I will probably do so as soon as I can get the money or head to the pet store here to see if they have any. I was hoping his fins would get better..but so far they haven't. They aren't receeding off too bad, they just look thin and kind of brittle...but that might just be the water quality from the cycling as you said.

I bought Twilight some Vita Chem as well when I ordered the new filter, hoping that would help out with his fins. So I may try that before I try taking him out in a qt tank. He doesn't seem to like QT at all! Lol.

Also, once the cycle is established, i'm assuming in order to keep it going, i'll have to at least put one of my old sponges into the new filter for the BB to continue. Is that correct? Or should I not bother changing the filter at all? The Azoo just seems too small for my 5 gallon and it doesn't seem to be providing the amount of filtration it needs.