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cycle a 1g?

2K views 22 replies 10 participants last post by  1fish2fish 
#1 ·
Can you cycle a 1g?
If you can, how do you do it? How often do you change the water, what % of the water? What if there is a live plant in the tank?
 
#2 ·
It's pretty impossible to cycle a tank so small since you should be doing 100% water changes twice a week in that size tank. And that won't give the tank any chance to cycle.
 
#8 ·
While it is possible, it is very precarious to do which is why some people advise against it. I accidentally cycled a 1g thanks to the bacteria on the roots of a java fern I put in the tank but looking back I was walking a really fine line lol!

The problem is that the water parameters are considerably less stable in a 1g (which could kill the bacteria quickly if anything goes wonky). Also, how could you be sure there is enough surface area for the bacteria to live in? In larger tanks you have lots of gravel and a filter but in a 1g all you can fit is a handful of gravel. Will this be enough to house enough bacteria to clean up after a betta?

Bottom line I think you are a lot safer to simply do 100% water changes every 2-3 days. Even if you cycled a 1g you would still have to do 25% w/cs every 2-3 days. So it will save you more grief to just do full ones.
 
#9 ·
Technically you can cycle a 1 gallon.. but here is the problem.. even if you do a fishless cycle, once you add your fish your will still need to be doing AT LEAST one 100% change a week.. which would kill your cycle.

So basically it would work on paper but in actuality the tank is just too small to support a cycle... there isn't enough water: fish ratio

Like Kelly said... just not worth it.
 
#11 ·
When you all are talking about doing a 100% water change, (I'm sorry if this is a silly question), but does this mean you are removing everything from the tank and washing it all(ie wiping down the sides, removing and cleaning the gravel? If you mean this, what do I do about the live, farily large, heathy aponogeton plant and bulb(that I've seen the roots under the gravel about 3-4 inches away from the bulb? ) I have the 1.5 gallon tank, and would like to be able to just use a vacuum and drain/suck out most of the water, so that I leave my plant undisturbed and leave in the gravel on the slim chance this tank will cycle. Is that o.k.?
 
#12 ·
Purplegirl.. your tank isn't gonna cycle if you are doing the proper husbandry. BUT a way to keep from disturbing your plant is to make a tiny vacuum out of air line hose. You can also use a turkey baster to suck up poo and old food.
 
#14 ·
That actually makes sense. Perhaps a small tank can't possibly support enough nitrogen oxidizing bacteria to oxidize the ammonia excreted by one fish. The real definition of a cycled tank is one in which there are enough nitrogen reacting bacteria to drive the NH3 -> NO2 -> NO3 reaction all the way to the right.
 
#15 ·
Purplegirl, when I do 100% changes I take out my fish, my plants, decor, and the little gravel I do have and rinse everything off. You can try using a turkey baster. I use that for my 90% water changes, its nice because I can still leave my fish and plants in there.
 
#16 ·
So when your doing the 100% water changes, what do you keep the fish in...... and are you using a heater in the tank.... and how do you re introduce the fish back into the tank??? I have a 2g eclipse with filter and i put a heater in as well. Im attempting to cycle it ( fishless ) since it has a biowheel and all. But not really sure if it will cycle nor am i really sure how much water change i should do each week.
 
#17 ·
What fishless method are you using? Ammonia, Food? If you just set the tank up with the filter and the heater nothing will happen. You have to introduce ammonia into the tank some how. You can do this by adding pure ammonia, throwing food in the tank and letting it decompose, or doing a cycle with your fish.

Whichever method you choose you should make sure you research the method and find out the proper way to go about it. Botching a cycle will give you a bad headache LOL
 
#19 ·
Thanks for completely ignoring my questions. But so you know i already researched and I added ammonia. So now that you know, mind offering any advice with the questions i asked?

This tank doesnt leave much room for a cup to get water out ( if you keep the filter in place ) and a gravel vac is kind of too big to work. So I'm curious what others have done. I only want to do maintenance once a week, i dont mind if its 100% but figured if i can cycle then i could do less each week and not have to remove the fish as ( like my original questions suggest ) I am unsure of the best way to reintroduce the fish back into the tank or what to keep him in while cleaning.
 
#20 ·
If you are doing 100% water changes, take the fish out and put him in the cup he originally came in or a gladware container. If you have a cycled tank, you change the water according to what your water parameters are. Most people acclimate theirs by floating the cup in the tank. I hope this will help answer some of your questions.
 
#22 ·
I keep my fish in a little gladware container while i'm changing the water. With the heater I put new water in the tank that was a little less hot than what it originally was. Because the water in the cup cools but when I add the new water the heater will warm it up. So its roughly the same temperature.
 
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