[Hatchet]

I feel like all I'm doing is asking stupid questions, but I'm telling myself better to ask the stupid questions than not ask and watch Toyo get sick. Should I condition the water daily? Or just when changing the water? Or daily until its in its cycle? Other?

 

[LugiaChan]

I thought it was once every cleaning, so i'm willing to hear any answers too~! I'm not sure ;D thanks for posting this!

What exactly does 'cycle' mean in this terminology...?

 

[jaela]

You condition new water that's going into the tank, because when you take it from the tap it has chlorine and chloramines in it that will hurt your fish. So you don't need to condition every day, just when you add new water to the tank when you're cleaning/doing water changes. =]

And LugiaChan -- cycling a tank basically means cultivating helpful bacteria in the tank that will eventually turn harmful ammonia (from your fish's waste) into less harmful things

 

[LugiaChan]

And LugiaChan -- cycling a tank basically means cultivating helpful bacteria in the tank that will eventually turn harmful ammonia (from your fish's waste) into less harmful things

Ok I was right about my thoughts with conditioning water yay~! ^_^

Alright... My question is now, how long does a cycle take? I guess it depends on the tank size, so a cycle basically means letting the bacteria grow whilst the living environment is being used. Therefore one cycle is relevant to a time period, is this correct?

I know that full weekly cleans is not a good idea- only water replacement with conditioning. Is it good to fully clean the entire tank and things within the tank once a month or less than that or not at all? Sorry, I should look a bit more at the betta fish care sections, I might have jumped over something

 

[jaela]

Ok I was right about my thoughts with conditioning water yay~! ^_^

Alright... My question is now, how long does a cycle take? I guess it depends on the tank size, so a cycle basically means letting the bacteria grow whilst the living environment is being used. Therefore one cycle is relevant to a time period, is this correct?

I know that full weekly cleans is not a good idea- only water replacement with conditioning. Is it good to fully clean the entire tank and things within the tank once a month or less than that or not at all? Sorry, I should look a bit more at the betta fish care sections, I might have jumped over something

Cycling time varies a lot based on the size and other factors, yes. There's a really helpful sticky on it here that explains it well. =]

As far as full water changes: it really depends on the size of the tank, the filter system, and whether the tank is cycled or not. Usually people say not to change out all the water at once because it's a drastic change in your fish's water, and also because taking all the water out and cleaning the things inside will kill the helpful bacteria from cycling, if you have them. But if you have say, a small tank, under 5 gallons or so, and it's NOT been cycled - then it would be fine to do a full water change and tank cleaning once a month. You would just have to re-acclimate your fish to the water afterwards, the same way as when you get a brand new fish. =]
It's a good idea to get a liquid water test kit to keep an eye on what's in your water. The API Master Test Kit is great! If you get that and use it to test your water regularly, it will give you a good idea of when you need to do water changes and how much you'll need to change out when you do.

 

[Bombalurina]

Great advice from Jaela. I just want to add: you know a cycle is complete when your test kit gives you readings of 0 for ammonia and nitrite and some number, usually below 20, for nitrAte.