Cycle a 5gal?

[hannguyen]

Hi everyone,

I read the post about how to cycle a fish tank because I'm totally new to this. My betta is currently in a 1 gal bowl. I want to put him in a 5 gal bowl but don't know how to cycle it. The tank will have a filter though

Do I HAVE TO cycle it? Or can I just put ammonia remover stuff like Kordon AmQuel Plus Ammonia Detoxifier and do PWC 25% twice a week ?

Someone told me that the tank will eventually cycle itself but I'm worried if it'll be harmful to fish while I'm away for vacation. And If I have to cycle it, how do I do it Step by step? Will Ammonia from Ace Hardware (10% Ammonia work?) or should I use frozen shrimp or fish food?

Thanks!

[Tikibirds]

If you have a filter, it will cycle weather you want it to or not.
Get the API master test kit or buy the ammonia, nitrIte and NitrAte test kits and test the water every few days. If ammonia or nitrite levels start to get high, do a water change. I changed 50% 0f the water when it went between .5 and 1.0 but i did fish in cycles. If you are doing fishless cycling then you can let the levels get much higher. it's really not as difficult as many sites make it sound - just keep an eye on the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels

No, you don't HAVE to cycle it. I have an unfiltered 5G but you would then need to do 100% water changes every week and a 50% partial water change. The bacteria that you get from having a cycled tank make it easier to get away with doing less water changes a week. Without a filter, you will not get those bacteria and therefore need to do more water changes.

somewhere on here Bahamut made a pretty simple diagram of what the cycle does. If you can find her post, it may help give a better idea of how the cycle works

EDIT:

Here is bahamut's guide on how the cycle works:
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread....hlight=cycling

[LaLaLeyla]

If you have a filter then you should cycle it. If you don't cycle is properly it could kill your fish. :o

[hannguyen]

Originally Posted by Tikibirds

If you have a filter, it will cycle weather you want it to or not.
Get the API master test kit or buy the ammonia, nitrIte and NitrAte test kits and test the water every few days. If ammonia or nitrite levels start to get high, do a water change. I changed 50% 0f the water when it went between .5 and 1.0 but i did fish in cycles. If you are doing fishless cycling then you can let the levels get much higher. it's really not as difficult as many sites make it sound - just keep an eye on the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels

No, you don't HAVE to cycle it. I have an unfiltered 5G but you would then need to do 100% water changes every week and a 50% partial water change. The bacteria that you get from having a cycled tank make it easier to get away with doing less water changes a week. Without a filter, you will not get those bacteria and therefore need to do more water changes.

somewhere on here Bahamut made a pretty simple diagram of what the cycle does. If you can find her post, it may help give a better idea of how the cycle works

EDIT:

Here is bahamut's guide on how the cycle works:
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread....hlight=cycling

Hi Tikibirds, Thank you for your response. So should I do fish-in cycle then? And how long it will take? Or should I buy ammonia from Ace Hardware to do fishless cycle ?
Thank you

[Tikibirds]

I did my 10g as a fish in cycle and I am currently cycling my 20G with 4 females. I had to use the tanks right away, so that is why I did the fish in cycling method and I do beleive since you can't let the ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte levels get high that it takes longer for the cycle to complete then if you were to start out using pure ammonia. It takes about a month or so using fish in, not sure about fishless cycling. Also if you have plants, that is a whole other ballgame. I'm not sure how much they impact the cycle.

Whichever you want is basically up to you.

with fish in cycle you can use the tank right away but you need to carefully monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and it can be stressful for the fish

OR

if you have someplace else to keep the fish, you can do the fishless method - no stress on the fish and since there is nothing living in the tank, you don't have to monitor the levels as much as you would with a fish living in the tank. I also think its faster since you can let the levels go alot higher then with the fish in method but since i never used this method, im not really sure if it is faster or not.

EDIT:

If you are going on vacation or out of town in the next month or so - fishless would be better. If the ammonia or nitrite levels rise and there is no one around to do a water change, it can be deadly for the betta.

[hannguyen]

Yeah. My betta is in a 1 gal bowl right now so I guess he can stay there till the tank is cycle. :)

[MSG]

You could place an ad in Craigslist asking someone with a established fish tank to let you take some filter media from their cycled filter.

My guppy tank took about 7-10 days to cycle by taking media/filter floss from my larger tank and mixing it into the uncycled filter.

I'm going to try it again with a 20 gallon, but this time I'm going to keep a detailed log.

[Freyja]

I concur. Beg, borrow, or well not steal, but you get the idea, media from an established tank and it will go a long way towards helping your tank cycle. I'm planning on begging the guys at my LFS to let me borrow filter media from their established show tank.

[aokashi]

Ammonia remover and like products are bad ideas. the best way to rescue an ammonia overload is to do water changes.

To cycle and know what is going on, you will need a test kit. (API master test kit on amazon is $16-19)

[hannguyen]

Thanks guys !
I'll going to do fishin cycle bc I want to use the tank right away. I'll check the ammonia level every day and if it's get to 1ppm, I'll do 50% wc. Does that sound alright ? I don't know anyone that has fish around here ;( so I can't borrow anything ;(

Or should I do fish less cycle, using ammonia from Ace Hardware (10% ammonia)