My new 5 gallon

So I think MTS has officially struck! Picked up a 23 litre/5 gallon tank (edit- 6 US gallons) which comes with integrated filter and light. Am thinking of making it a betta tank, I know it's a bit tall but I've never filled my tanks all the way to the top. There's a lid but I hadn't realised there's a cutout corneron the lid, so that's another reason not to fully fill it. Am hoping no fish would be able to jump out of such a gap? Anyway I have long time to think about it while I cycle. It comes with a cartridge filter with ceramic media inside, which I've never used before so any tips on those would be greatly appreciated!

I need to pick up some sand tomorrow, am thinking grayish to go with the rocks I've already got. Probably want a feature bit of wood as well and it's going to be heavily planted with low maintenance plants and plenty of floating plants as well, but got the whole cycling process to go through first and a few others bits to pick up before it'll be ready.

The tank is in my kitchen for now so need to see how that works or whether I'll have to relocate it somewhere else.

So cycling the tank has officially begun! Well sort of...

I was doing a routine water change on my main tank and decided that I'd soak the filter for the new tank in the bucket I'd just cleaned my other filter sponge in. Threw the water with all the filter gunk in as well for good measure, and have added some food, fertiliser, water conditioner, a tiny java fernlet and a bit of elodea. It's not much but it's a start! All looks a bit moon-like in there atm, and the plants look a bit pathetic on their own

I'm waiting for my substrate and plants to arrive, also ordered a small bottle of API Quick Start just to see how it goes and if it makes a difference, but I'm not in a rush so if it doesn't work I'll just wait. Plants-wise I've ordered:

Red tiger lotus (bulb)
Pearl Weed
Java moss
Aponogeton longiplumulosis (bulb)
Aponogeton boivinianus (bulb)
Echinodorus ozelot leopard

As I've ordered bulbs for most of my plants I know it'll take a bit longer for things to get established. I also plan to get some red root floaters and water lettuce in time.

Okay so my Safe Start just arrived. Because I am officially The World's Most Impatient Person I've added some in already.

Hello Lcc. Interesting looking tank. Could be the right size for one fish. I've never kept a tank smaller than 45 gallons in quite a few years. I'll be checking in with you to see how you're doing.

10

10 Tanks said:

Hello Lcc. Interesting looking tank. Could be the right size for one fish. I've never kept a tank smaller than 45 gallons in quite a few years. I'll be checking in with you to see how you're doing.

10

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Yeah the plan is for just one! Possibly a snail too but we'll see, nothing more than that. I started with small tanks but overstocked them without fully understanding what I was doing, am determined to do things properly this time.

So 3 days ago I set up the tank. I haven't added ammonia as I don't have any but have been using the old method of adding fish food. I also added 5ml of API Safe Start and already have ammonia and nitrite. Is it normal to have these readings so soon? This seems far too quick...

By my eye I don't think I'm quite at 4ppm of ammonia so I added a bit more fish food today. Plants also went in yesterday.

Hello Lcc. The decomposing food will form ammonia. Eventually, bacteria will begin to colonize the surfaces inside that tank and the bacteria that uses ammonia for food, will begin to produce nitrite as their waste material. The bacteria using nitrite will colonize the tank and use up the nitrite. The nitrite bacteria produces nitrate. When you test the water for ammonia and you see the level begin to drop and see a rise in nitrite you're on your way. Ammonia will go to zero and you'll have a rise in nitrite. Then, nitrite falls to zero and nitrate rises. Changing the tank water will reduce the nitrate. I typically change half every week. But, very small tanks will need the water changed much more often. You need to make sure you have control of the nitrate before you add fish.

10

10 Tanks said:

Hello Lcc. The decomposing food will form ammonia. Eventually, bacteria will begin to colonize the surfaces inside that tank and the bacteria that uses ammonia for food, will begin to produce nitrite as their waste material. The bacteria using nitrite will colonize the tank and use up the nitrite. The nitrite bacteria produces nitrate. When you test the water for ammonia and you see the level begin to drop and see a rise in nitrite you're on your way. Ammonia will go to zero and you'll have a rise in nitrite. Then, nitrite falls to zero and nitrate rises. Changing the tank water will reduce the nitrate. I typically change half every week. But, very small tanks will need the water changed much more often. You need to make sure you have control of the nitrate before you add fish.

10

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Hi 10Tanks

Yeah I've been reading about the process as it's been a long time since I've done a tank from scratch, I'm just surprised I've had any real rise in any reading so soon after starting! Still, I shouldn't complain or get too carried away!

Introducing... Zazu

I'm not normally one for naming fish but I feel like with a betta you kinda have to? bit controversial as he's an alien betta so not "naturally occurring" but I was absolutely struck by his colouring. When the light catches him his colours really pop, but when he's at the back of tank I can barely see him as he blends with the black. I'm sure this'll change as the plants grow in more.

I'm leaving him to settle with the lights off today but he seems okay so far and is exploring. He was in a shrimp tank in the shop and was stalking the shrimp so I think he might be a bit of an aggressive chap but he's only got some baby pest snails for company in here so I don't mind if he picks them off!

Ps I've already removed the plant in the second pic as it looked dodgy.

Lucky betta... He's a got the whole place to his own...!
I don't consider those pest snails...

Have had a slight rise in nitrate (about 20ppm) since I got the fish. No ammonia or nitrite though. Have done a water change, and noticed one of the plants stank, took it out and it definitely has root rot. Checked another one and it was a little smelly too so out that came. When I was cycling the tank some of my plants died so I removed the rest and I wonder if that had an effect on them. I've put them aside for now to see if they can be saved, so we have some java vern, java moss, water lettuce, elodea and one other I can't remember in there for now.

All that disturbance stirred up a lot of gunk, and I wasn't happy with how the in-built filter was handling it. So I got one of my spares, cut the sponge from my established 30g in half and popped it in. Am leaving both running for a couple weeks before removing the first one. Lovely clear water now! Ordered some more elodea bunches to fill out the big black space at the back a bit more.

Have had a slight rise in nitrate (about 20ppm) since I got the fish. No ammonia or nitrite though. Have done a water change, and noticed one of the plants stank, took it out and it definitely has root rot. Checked another one and it was a little smelly too so out that came. When I was cycling the tank some of my plants died so I removed the rest and I wonder if that had an effect on them. I've put them aside for now to see if they can be saved, so we have some java vern, java moss, water lettuce, elodea and one other I can't remember in there for now.

All that disturbance stirred up a lot of gunk, and I wasn't happy with how the in-built filter was handling it. So I got one of my spares, cut the sponge from my established 30g in half and popped it in. Am leaving both running for a couple weeks before removing the first one. Lovely clear water now! Ordered some more elodea bunches to fill out the big black space at the back a bit more.

That's better still some work to so for sure but it's no longer just a black hole. And my photography skills leave much to bring admired.

Added some more java fern, nothing crazy. Nitrate is now back at normal levels. Still running the second filter for a few more weeks to allow the beneficial bacteria to build up more.

Got a bit of new tank syndrome going on. Ammonia is 0 but nitrite is testing about 0.25ppm, nitrate 10ppm. Big daily water changes the last two days not making a massive difference atm but we'll keep at it. Will check the new filter and see if it's got any gunk on it yet.