Need Help With A Puzzle

[jake1515]

I am still a relatively new betta fish owner. I have recently begun cycling a 5 gal tank using 2 guppies for my betta who is in a measely 1.6gal.

I am only on Day 2. The puzzle is: How to lower my pH.

Here are the data that I have collected so far:

7/16: Ph=7.6+ Nitrite: 0 ppm Nitrate: 2.5 ppm Ammonia: 0 ppm
7/17 7.6 0 ppm 0 ppm. 0-.25ppm

Other relevant info:

The past two days I have also used a acid/alkaline buffer system, but it is not working/ maybe doing it wrong?

I had a snail in for one day until my friend took it back. The water kind of stinks.

Thanks so much guys for the input. Grateful to be a part of this site.

Jake

[lvandert]

Betta's will adjust to the hard water but if you feel you MUST lower the PH buy Indian Almond Leaves off of ebay/aquabid and put them in the water. It should start to drop the PH in a week or so

[Hallyx]

A 7.6pH is perfectly fine; don't mess with it. It's also is great for cycling; too low discourages the nitrogen cycle.

Unless you have seeded media to kickstart the cycle, may I make a recommendation?

Put your fish in the 5 gal show tank and make two 50% water changes per week to keep the ammonia as close to 0.0ppm as possible.

Put your filter in the 1.5gal and cycle that using ammonia (give the poor gups a break). When the filter is cycled---however long it takes---put it in the show tank. It is then instantly cycled.

[jake1515]

That sounds like a great idea. How will I know my 1.6 will be cycled? Just a spike then a recovery etc?

[Hallyx]

Yup. You've g0t it. When ammomia and nitrite zero out.

[jake1515]

However, I thought putting my betta with my two guppies is not a good idea, given the nipping of tails (by guppies)/ territorial nature of betta etc?

[jake1515]

Also, I remember reading the cycling guide with ammonia, but I don't remember that the author gave specifics on how much to add.

[Hallyx]

Here's my little cycle guide for fishless cycling. Works every time and it's fast....or at least as fast as getting nitrifying bacteria in your tank.

Here comes the fun part: You leave your fish in the show tank and (following BlueFish’s suggestion) cycle the filter in a bucket! 1 or 2 gal will do.

If you have access to filter foam or gravel from a cycled tank, that's a plus. A quarter cup will do. Put it in your filter. The seeded media will accelerate your cycle. It's OK if you don't have it; it just takes longer --- a lot longer.

You'll need ammonia to feed the BB. Some keepers use raw shrimp or fish food which rots to provide the ammonia. That's smelly, messy and can grow dangerous mold. Find “pure” ammonia that does NOT foam when you shake it.

BB like air, food and warmth (don't we all?) so:

---Open the air tube or run an airstone or sponge filter.

---Run your filter full-blast.

—Keep it warm if you can; up to 90* is OK.

—Keep it dark; the BB like that.

--- add enough ammonia to get a reading >4.0ppm on your test kit.

Maintain this reading. Monitor your parameters. When the ammonia goes down, the nitrItes should go up. It may take weeks or longer. Keep the ammonia at 3.0/4.0ppm. When the nitrites go down, the nitrAtes should go up. When the ammonia = 0.0ppm and the nitrites = 0.0ppm, you should see a high reading for nitrates (~40ppm is not unusual).

Then dump out the water and refill it. Don’t let the filter get dry. Bring the ammonia up to 3.0ppm again. If ammonia, and nitrites both drop to 0.0ppm in less that 24 hours, your filter is cycled.

Place the filter in your show tank with your fish, and monitor it carefully for the first few days. Basically you're running a cycled tank from then on.

I just read this over. It doesn't sound too complicated to me. But, if this is the first time you're seeing all this information in one piece, it might be a little dense. Ask questions.

Get the guppies their own place.

[jake1515]

This is fabulous. Thank you so much. I've been waiting for something like this.

[jake1515]

Question though,

The PH in my small tank where my betta (Zayden) is 6.4 and my "show" tank's ph is 7.8+. I would love to do exactly what was said above, but I think that would be a huge shock to my dude. I have buffers for the water, but I have had no luck with them actually working.