Setting up a ten gallon

[Bettafish]

Im seeting up my first ten gallon tank.

First of all.
I have filters food and cleaning stuff. and accesorys.

First question: I have this bottle of stuff that speeds up the cycling process. imma use it. but how long should i let the tank cycle before i know the waters okay. and should i have all the gravel and accesorys in while it cycles? or just water? and when its done cycling should i replace the filter? and how often should i replace the filter.

edit* i have an HoB (hanging on back) filter. and i see carbon and some sort of scrubby thing its plastic and has long fingers coming out of it. i saw that some people have sponges in theres. what kinda sponges can i use?

Second. How shold i "clean" it? and how often

Thanks peeps :)

[teeneythebetta]

There are stickys on how to cycle your tank.
Are you cycling fish-in or fish-less?

What is the name of the product you have?

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=47838
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=107771

[jeremywadejunior]

Originally Posted by Bettafish

Im seeting up my first ten gallon tank.

First of all.
I have filters food and cleaning stuff. and accesorys.

First question: I have this bottle of stuff that speeds up the cycling process. imma use it. but how long should i let the tank cycle before i know the waters okay. and should i have all the gravel and accesorys in while it cycles? or just water? and when its done cycling should i replace the filter? and how often should i replace the filter.

Second. How shold i "clean" it? and how often

Thanks peeps :)

I have a ten gallon, too.

I'm not too keen on cycling, so I can't advise you too much there, but I'll let you know what I do know. Yes, you should keep the gravel and accessories in the tank while it cycles. You will only need to replace the filter cartridge when it breaks. Besides that, swish it in water every few water changes to get rid of the debris (it will be dirty, and this is good).

As far as cleaning, I do about 50% water changes a week. Do this with a siphon/gravel vacuum. You can purchase these at pet stores for not much. This will aid you in getting debris out of the gravel as well as getting water out. Once you've taken about 50% of the tank's water out, simply replace it with fresh conditioned water. But be cautious to keep the water temperatures consistent for the health of your fish

[Bettafish]

To teenythebetta - Its a fishless cycle.
The products i have that are relevant are TOPFIN Bacteria supplement *TM haha :D
ANd the filter is From whisper. As far as i can tell its a carbon Hanging on the back filter. with a rubber fingers thing.

To jeremy -
DO i have to take my fish out when i clean the gravel?

Oh and thanks both you :)

[reggie oaks]

Totally agree with teenythebetta. Unless we know if you will be cycling fish or fishless and what type of product you will be using there is little advice we can give you. From what I have seen , heard and read, there are two type of cycle speeding products:1-those with nitrifying bacteria and 2-those which include ammonia as the basic component.
How I CYCLE MY TANKS?: Whith fish [just one at a time] Using stress zyme or similar product which claims to include nitrifying bacteria and measuring ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH daily, at least until cycle is complete [ 0 ppm ammonia, almost 0 ppm nitrite and very low nitrates].

[AquaKai]

Originally Posted by Bettafish

Im seeting up my first ten gallon tank.

First of all.
I have filters food and cleaning stuff. and accesorys.

First question: I have this bottle of stuff that speeds up the cycling process. imma use it. but how long should i let the tank cycle before i know the waters okay. and should i have all the gravel and accesorys in while it cycles? or just water? and when its done cycling should i replace the filter? and how often should i replace the filter.

Second. How shold i "clean" it? and how often

Thanks peeps :)

One thing that you're going to need is a water testing kit. The one that is most used and, IMO, best is the API Freshwater Testing Kit. It is a liquid testing kit, which is far more accurate than any strips.

I never use that bottle stuff. Some people say that it works, but for the majority it doesn't. If you want to use it then go ahead. I would also add in a dead shrimp or some ammonia source.

Here are the steps to a fishless cycle that you are trying to do:

1. Set everything up in the tank, the filter, the heater, the plants, the gravel the accessories, everything but the fish.

2. Turn on the filter and the heater. Turn the heater up to the high 80s, the bacteria love it there.

3. Get out your water kit and your ammonia source. If your using pure ammonia make sure that it is just ammonia with nothing else in it, put a little bit in there. Test the water for ammonia. You want it around the 4.0PPM. If it less, add a little more. If it is more, as long as it's not 8.0PPM+ you're fine, however if it is more than 8.0PPM do a PWC. If you are using a shrimp, just drop it in you do not have to test it.

4. I like to wait a few days before I test again, there won't be too much change in the beginning. But after about the 3rd or 4th day test the water to see if the ammonia has went down. If it has, check the nitrItes. There may be some there. You might want to write this down so you'll see where your cycle is. Dose your tank up to 4.0PPM ammonia again.

5. Check the water everyday. You want to keep your ammonia around the 4.0PPM. You also want to check everything else. Here's the order in which you'll see things:
Ammonia-> NitrIte-> Nitrate

That's the cycle.

6. After about 4-5 weeks (sometimes more, sometimes less) you'll start to see ALL of your ammonia and nitrIte gone. This is the final step. Dose your tank up to 4.0PPM of ammonia. Wait 24 hours. Then come back and see if you have any ammonia or nitrIte left. If you don't then go to 6a., if you do go to 6b.

6a. You're done! Yes, all that work is over! Do a PWC (partial water change) to get your nitrates down to >5PPM. Add your fish and be happy:)

6b. You're still not there. Keep doing what your doing. If you think your finally done in a few days do the 24 hour test again.

That is the fishless cycle. It won't be quick. But if you do have some left over filter media from another tank, take it and add some of it to the new filter. It'll speed up the process.

Now to your next questions:
DO NOT REPLACE YOUR FILTER- EVER! If you do then all that cycling that you went through will be gone. There will be bacteria on some other things, but main part of it will be in the filter media. You'll want to clean out the filter, but ever replace it. I'll explain it in just a bit.

You wanted to know how to clean the tank. You'll want to do PWCs about once a week at about 20% of the water. This will help keep the nitrate levels down. With the water that you took out, you will clean our filter media in there. Just swish it around a few times to get all of the ick-ness out of it. You will also want to clean off all algae, if you don't have snails or shrimp. You'll also want to vacuum your gravel. You'll need a gravel vac for that, which can be bought at most pet stores and WalMarts. Just drag that through the gravel and you'll get all the junk from there.

Just one more quick note: ALWAYS USE WATER CONDITION WHEN CHANGING ANY WATER. The best is Prime, but that's just me.

I hope this helps!!!


Edit: Wow that took me long to type. There was only the question when I first started writing!

[jeremywadejunior]

Originally Posted by Bettafish

To jeremy -
DO i have to take my fish out when i clean the gravel?

Oh and thanks both you :)

I don't take my fish out; he doesn't seem to mind the siphon in his tank. However, it's really your call. You can move him into a cup or leave him in the tank; maybe see which seems to stress him out less. If you leave him in the tank just be sure he doesn't try to get sucked up in the siphon

[Bettafish]

Okay i went to walmart and bought a thermometer. and a heater that heats the water to 78. is that good enough temp? also baught test strips

[AquaKai]

Originally Posted by Bettafish

Okay i went to walmart and bought a thermometer. and a heater that heats the water to 78. is that good enough temp? also baught test strips

The heater will work:) The test strips will give you faulty results, they are unreliable and not very good. I would try to return them, then buy the API Freshwater Liquid Kit from Amazon, it's not too much only $20 and it lasts a really long time.

[Bettafish]

well if i just take the water to petsmart for testing is that okay?