LaVidaBoring
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It seems like you're mind is set on what you want to do and I don't see any point further discussing water changes as you are siding with advice found elsewhere. Changing 50% of your water at a 0.25 concentration will end up with 0.125 concentration. This is still too much, you REALLY want it to be as close to 0 as possible for the fishes health.
But he hasn't had an ammonia concentration at .25ppm concentration since I discovered it had gone up that high if I waited three days. A reading on ammonia that high only came up for me twice. Before the mysterious disappearing ammonia problem started (and nitrites being formed), the ammonia reading coming up on the second day was *very slightly* greener than ammonia at 0. So I'm guessing it was going up to about .175 or less on the second day.
But lately ammonia has been coming up completely zero even on the second day. But I will still do the water changes, just going from a full water change every second day to a 50% water change every day. Just tested his water, btw, and ammonia is still coming up zero. But I will do the 50% water change. But his water hasn't had .25ppm ammonia since the second time I discovered that waiting more than two days to do a water change resulted in a reading that high. And both times I got that reading, I changed his water 100% immediately. I'm guessing that, because there had been a week or so before I started testing his water, he had maybe spent a total of 2-3 days cumulatively in ammonia readings that high. Although, of course, it's likely the ammonia had just built up to that level over the course of that time period, and wasn't that high for the entire 2-3 days.
I don't understand why someone wouldn't bother buying a filter after 3 years, it sounds like a lazy mans excuse and perhaps someone you shouldn't take advice from. Why wouldn't they just buy a £5 filter and have it done with an drop their water changes down to once a week.
I don't know, I don't know this person who kept that betta, just that using that water change schedule on an unfiltered but heated 2 gall bowl was enough to keep the betta alive for three years. Obviously, I'm not going that route.
Your fish however can adapt to high and low pH's very easily and over time your Betta would be able to adapt to the pH of your normal tap water and your fish would prefer a much more stable pH than you having to artificially adjust it.
Well, given that there's only two days between water changes, the pH doesn't fluctuate. I always test the pH of the current water and that of the water-to-be-used to make sure that the latter isn't different more than .2 of a pH reading (and ideally the same). So I'm not putting him through big pH fluctuations. I have driftwood in the tank I'm cycling and I've read that helps to soften water and lower pH, so I don't anticipate needing to add a lot of ph Down in the main tank. But I will test pH every day to make sure it's staying around 7. If it goes way up or down in one day, obviously I've got problems.
Furthermore for your fish-less cycle...
I actually think my cycle is done. I'm glad I skipped adding the ammonia for the last day and a half, because I think it was making too much nitrite for the bacteria to handle. Either that, or my nitrite-consuming bacteria just kicked into major high gear. This AM when I first posted I had 5ppm, right now I have 0. 0!
Dose 4ppm of Ammonia every 24 hours if on your test it shows 0ppm of Ammonia.
You want to have a high pH of around 8-8.4 for optimal bacterial growth with a temperature of about 26-29.
I had all that, but I read elsewhere you were supposed to cut the dose to 2ppm when you started getting nitrite readings. So I had done that over the last few days.
I think I just used too much ammonia to start with. Built up too many #40## chemicals, and maybe that actually inhibited the cycling bacteria.
Just under a month is not long for a fish-less cycle mine took about 40 days, and I had mature media donated to me.
Bacterial supplements won't help ESPECIALLY Nutrafin Cycle, if anything that appears to be counter productive.
Yeah, if I had it to do over again, I'd buy Tetra SafeStart, because people online say that is the only one that really works.
Finally, Beth recommends that based on a lot of experience and in a 2.5 gallon tank what's the difference is it to you between 25% and 50%~ It's a 2.5 gallon tank it will take maybe an extra 2 minutes to remove and add that extra water. It will be better in the long run. This however is assuming you have a filter currently which you don't.
No no, she was talking about my cycled and filtered tank, which is 5.5 gallons, not 2.5 gallons. The 2.5 gallon tank is just the temporary housing I have him in until the 5.5 gall cycles. I have read elsewhere to change 25% of the 5.5 gall tank once weekly. I guess I will also have to see how the water params shape up, but given that I want to keep some nitrates around to feed the many plants I've put in there, I don't want to take out too much water. I also put in the plant fertilizer dissolving tabs, so again, I'd rather not take out too much water and with it all of the plant nutrients.
I don't want to come across as hostile, however I feel like you're trying to avoid the increased "workload" some additional water changes present. Like I have said before, it's about your fishes welfare. Would you want to live in a warm soup of your own poop for long?
I understand, but then again I have to balance what you recommend vs. my own water readings and my fish's apparent happiness. If I can keep all water params healthy while changing 50% of the water per day and maybe 100% once a week, then obviously that is preferable to a full water change every day. Doing a 50% change would be, I think, a lot less stressful for him, and I wouldn't have to float him in a baggie to acclimate to the new water as I would with a 90% or 100% water change. Water changes are stressful for my fish, that much I have observed directly.
But at any rate, I think his days in his temporary housing are coming to an end, as I think my new tank is ready for him now.