So I'm in a catch-22 I put my fish in a tank too soon and mailed away my smaller tank to my facebook friend to house his feeding stock for his Oscar. So I'm tempting to do a tank cycle with my Bettas in their tank. So far I have been doing 25-50% (probably closer to 50%) water changes daily. The ammonia is staying at almost zero but I'm a week into the process and the nitrites are non-detectable perfectly blue with the API master test kit. Will this tank ever cycle with the current water change cycle or am I forced to risk spiking the ammonia to get the nitrites to do what they need to do so I can finally get nitrates?
25-50% Water changes and cycling...
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It will cycle eventually! I was like that when cycling my 5 gallon with my betta in it... it took about 6 weeks, but it happened. You can knock it down to 50% 3 times a week, however. Just keep an eye on the ammonia levels.
It took about 4.5 weeks for my tank to get nitrites.
It took about 4.5 weeks for my tank to get nitrites.
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You need to remember that a 10 gal with just one betta is a pretty small bioload. If you want to help the cycling process you should add fast-growing live plants like anarcharis, hornwort, and duckweed. I never cycle a tank without live plants.
Iif you have live plants in there, that is why you haven't seen a spike in ammonia. Plants use ammonia before they use nitrate, so they are competing with the good bacteria. This isn't a bad thing, tho. With enough plants you won't even need to cycle a tank. You can just throw the fish in there with the plants and everything will be fine.
Iif you have live plants in there, that is why you haven't seen a spike in ammonia. Plants use ammonia before they use nitrate, so they are competing with the good bacteria. This isn't a bad thing, tho. With enough plants you won't even need to cycle a tank. You can just throw the fish in there with the plants and everything will be fine.
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