Starting Over - Anyone with suggestions?

[1fish2fish]

Ok.. cycling is not as bad as it seems. Ask your friend if you can borrow some gravel or filter media.. place the gravel in the toe of a pantyhose or put the media directly into your filter. You CAN divide your tank.. I just prefer larger tanks. Just know that your tank will be FULLY STOCKED.. no tankmates.. that is my main concern.

Here is a thread on fish in cycling. I've done it plenty of times and have had NO problems doing this method. If you have any questions please ask! We were all newbies once
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=34505

[xxabc]

Haha Mistawasis - calm down a little~ it's not as bad as you soon, sorry if I made it sound scary! (have you ever heard of new fish owners adding like, 10 fish at a time and they all died? Guess why! Hint: Ammonia. Lol)

A betta's amount of space will ALWAYS end up with different opinions. I divided mine (5 gal) and it's okay if you do too, and welll, you have to know anyway. Is it a hex though?? Don't divided a hex


Heating is great. Getting a filter is not necessary, but if you want to cycle it's much better. Beneficial bacteria (which keeps ammonia and nitrates down to 0) grow absolutely WONDERFUL in a filter cartridge that's big enough. If you do end up buying a filter, not saying you have to, get a filter cartridge with no carbon. I'll explain why later to make the post shorter.

I understand the fish in- it's simpler, you might get yelled at, but I doubt it, unless a mr. grumpy walks in, hehe. Just as long as you do enough water changes, you'll be fine. Now, since you're adding two in, here the deal: You really should do 50% water changes daily, or every other day. You have a siphon, right? So much easier to do that.

Speeding up cycling! Heres a couple ways.
1) Other people's tanks. BTW, getting cycled water is hardly anything. The benificial bacteria lives on surfaces. Ask for one or two ornaments. If you take too much, or you take their filter cartridge, THEIR cycle might die, or go into a mini cycle.

Also, gravel. Get a pantyhose that's never seen soap before and get a nice handful of gravel (don't disturb their gravel too much, it might land a mini cycle as well) and put it in the pantyhose and put it in the tank. This helps a lot too.

I think thats it?

And for a ready tank, in your case, that just means: Have the tank running. Put in treated water, turn heater on, and that's about it really. Oh, but obviously add all your decorations too. IT's just to check for any malfunctions. (and I recommend getting lots of plants as well. My bettas showed improvement when I added a bajillion plants in). What I consider a "must have" with a betta is at LEAST 1 large plant/cave for the betta to hide in, and 1 other plant as well.


And heads up!! If you go to an LFS and they tell you one thing or another, check with this forum! LFS are 90% of the time plain wrong. Especially in my own experience.

EDIT: 1fish2fish beat me. Lol

[1fish2fish]

One thing to add.

To cycle you HAVE to have a filter.. no question. The NB bacteria need aerated water from a filter.

[xxabc]

1fish2fish, I would imagine if someone decided to add one or multiple airstones, that could also aerate the tank. But yes, an actual filter is def. recommended

[1fish2fish]

Yeah airstones can work.. but I'm under the impression that they create bubbles. I try to stay away from bubbles and go with the flow of filters. Since I've never worked with airstones I didn't mention them because I know little about them.

[xxabc]

Just pointed it out for a broader view on it. I'm gonna use an airstone with airtubing for a DIY sponge filter I'll do purty soon, just... thought I'd throw that out there, ha.

And about the carbon -
Since filter cartridges house tons of the ben. bacteria, you wouldn't want to throw them out, right? If you have carbon in your filter, you must throw it out within a month, as carbon...doesn't last much longer than that. And without carbon in the filter, you can use the cartridge for ever and ever (not really, maybe half a year to a year, or so).

Also in a new filter (and this is just my opinion), see how much space there is in the filter. Could you fit a sponge in there without CRAMMING it in? Sponges are great for housing bacteria as well. Who knows, you might get another tank, or plainly something might happen. Only a suggestion, though.

[1fish2fish]

Since the main filter is your bacteria I don't worry about the carbon in my cartridges.. I'll replace them when they start to fall apart. Mine's been going over 6 months and is still in pretty good shape.

Most of your bacteria isn't in the filter anyway.. most of it is in the gravel and on the walls of the tank and decor. But putting a sponge in the filter can't hurt.. the more surfaces for the bacteria to grow on the better IMO.

[Jupiter]

You can cycle fish in, just be very careful! Moniter your water levels and be prepared to do small, frequent changes to keep your fish safe!

You can divide a 5 gallon. I don't see why not. I had divided my boys in a 5 gallon they were okay. It was 2.5 gallons for each of them.

[Mistawasis]

Thansk for allfot he information. I want to do fish in cycling, I want to divide my tank, it is not a hex. I don't want to buy a filter if I don't have too. Becuase of that, is it possible to take some of my friends actual water and use it to cycle my tank? Woudl it be ready in time for Tuesday? It's already Saturday!

[1fish2fish]

You can't take water to cycle a tank. You have to have some of the gravel or media from your friends filter. Make sure you keep it wet until you get it into your tank. Again you HAVE to have a filter or airstone to cycle.. I would highly recommend a filter though.

If you do a fish in cycle its going to take a while and definitely won't be ready tuesday. You have to set up your tank fully, put the fish in, then start testing daily to monitor your levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Make sure anytime you see a reading of ammonia or nitrite you do a small water change.. you may have to do this every day to keep the fish safe.