Setting up a 5g

[Sarita]

Hi everyone! This is my first post (though I have looked around the forum quite a bit).

Anyway, I'm looking into setting up a 5gal (possibly a hex from Walmart?) for a male betta. I've read a lot about filtration, cycling, heating, and the like. I keep coming across very different points of view, however.

I'm thinking about possibly setting up my 5gal with a 50W heater, some sort of gentle filter (or a regular filter with panty hose to keep the current low), and some nice plants. Probably a "betta bulb" or the like.

I was thinking about starting my tank out with bottled water so I could start on cycling sooner, hopefully with some bio material from Petco or something (ask for some maybe?) so that I can get a betta in there as soon as I can.

Could I gradually switch from bottled to tap after a few tank changes? Like, say I siphon out 20% per week, can I add that 20% in treated tap water to acclimate him? That would probably be cheaper in the long run.

Any tips for a new comer? I find it hard to get any concrete advice.

[Cody]

Welcome to the forum! :)

If you are looking for a tank, then a good 5G is the way to go as you said. Petco is having a very good price for a 5G hex by Marineland. All you would need to buy is the heater, decorations, plants, etc, as it comes with the filter, light, hood, and tank. http://www.petco.com/product/12788/M...ipse5-_-053008

Bottled water is usually very bad and can be worse than bad tap. Tap is perfectly fine, unless you have ammonia, nitrite, etc in it.

To get your cycle going, use fish food. This works very well. Just toss in a few pinches, let it rot, remove the food if it is still there after you get an ammonia spike, and let it cycle. Then, add the betta. And, from my experience, smaller tanks cycle quiker than larger ones.

Let us know if you have any more questions.

[Sarita]

Thanks a bunch! I think then, I'll do the tap water thing and see if I can get any media to quicken the cycling process. If I can get media in addition to food, how long do you think cycling will take?

Also, how much is a siphon and where can I find one?

[Cody]

Asking how long the cycle will take is impossible. I say if it has a good ammonia spike, and with used media, then pretty quick.

And, you should be able to find a siphon at any of your LFS's. Very cheap and easy to use. Will probably run you under $5, if not, like $8.

[Sarita]

Ah so that's why it's been such a hard question to find an answer to! lol, thank you very much. I think I've found just about everything I need for about $71:

$30 tank
$20 heater
~$5 plants
$7.50 Aquasafe dechlorinator
$5 siphon
$4.50 Wardley Bullseye 7.0PH regulator

Plus a PH test kit. Hopefully I can find one in PetCo...

[beetlebz]

heres what I did.....

5g eclipse hex by marineland was on sale for 35 bucks at petco
used left over plant substrate from my 29g
spent $15 bucks on a preset 50w tetra heater
spent about 1/10th of a cent on a party cup to cut up for a current disruptor ;)
I picked up an argentine sword for like 4 bucks too. it can grow HUGE but with the 10watt light from the eclipse kit I dont think its going to boom anytime soon.... and its easy to prune.

thats it! added 2 more plastic plants for him to hide behind and presto. he loves it in there.

[jeaninel]

Hi,
Make sure you pick up a liquid master test kit (API is good). It will come with tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and Ph. Testing your water for these will be the only way you'll know where you are in the cycling process. It may be a bit of money initially but it lasts a long time and is a very important tool to have when keeping fish.

Good luck!

[okiemavis]

I'd drop the pH adjuster- there's no need to mess around with your pH unless it's seriously out of whack. That will probably do more harm than good as it will cause major pH instabilities.

[beetlebz]

aye, okie dropped that one right on the head.. i forgot to mention that.. good catch :)

[It'sJames]

Yep, no ph adjuster. I would also recommend the API master kest kit. You won't need an aditional ph testing kit - it does ph, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites. It's necessary to be able to tell how the cycle is going and when it's finished.