Cycling A Betta Tank

[everlastingspirit]

Hi There,

Any advise on cycling a betta tank?

Im a bit nervous about putting household ammonia (only amm + water 9.0% w/w) in and doing a fishless cycle. At the same time i dont want to plonk the betta in and doing water changes daily just hoping for the best.

The readings are low when i have just added a few sprinkles of food in. Had a 0.25ppm trace of ammonia, now this is gone and i have 0.25 nitrate. No nitrite.

Do i just need to leave it to do its thing, do i add a bit more food (conscious not to add to much which will rot later) or am i forced to do the pure ammonia thing!

Advise welcomed
Ben

 

[Curiosity101]

Why do you not want to put the ammonia in? It's exactly what the fish excrete from their gills when they're in the water?
And I mean it is EXACTLY what the excrete.

Like I said on your other thread, yes the tank can be cycled by fish food, but then you have no idea what sort of bioload it's capable of dealing with. You could spend ages cycling the tank just to find you have another ammonia spike when you put a betta in.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Use the pure ammonia if you want to cycle it.

FWIW, none of my betta tanks were cycled prior to putting the fish in. Around my region, I see so many poorly treated bettas in LFSs that I figured the fish would have a better chance in my uncycled tanks than in those little cups slowly dying.

I was going to cycle my son's tank with ammonia, but didn't want the fumes to bother him, so I poured food in, then the next day decided to just get him a betta now. Found a pale little female that's smaller than a paper clip (1" long at the most) who probaby would not have survived had she stayed in a cup at the store. She's now in a 5-gallon.

 

[BettaBoysGirl]

There is a lot of cons using the the fish food. One it increases your chances of algae due to its other nutrients, and it can also cause mold. I'm currently cycling 2 tanks. A 15 and a 20. And I use ammonia. You only need a few ml or smaller then a teaspoon. Its simple and it may smell when you open the container, however, once in the water, its so diluted it has no smell. If your concerned about touching the ammonia, pick up nitrile gloves (in medicine section). The latex and vinyl don't offer the same protection. The way I do my cycles is put in the intial ammount and wait. It won't be till 1-3 weeks down the road that you'll have to add ammonia again.