Cycling

[braxenburg]

Hello Eveyone,

I want to set up a 10 g tank can i set it up and put in my male bettta and some plants and not do any thing else, then put in some other fish after a month or so?

Im not quite sure how the hole cycling thing goes(when u put in all the ammonia and test the water so if any one can explain, i've been to lots of sites and still dont understand!)

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ferrikins]

your proberly be better putting in about erm, 4 danios, as they nice little hardy fish to cycle with, and leave the betta for now.

the cycle with fish can take anything from 4-6 weeks, unless your tank is like my fist undergravel witch took 4 months

still gotta do those PWC's though, and test about every 3-4 days to make shore everything going smoothly.

 

[PaintballFan07]

u should try doing a fishless cycle, so u wont have to find a new home for those danios. Here is a website for info on fishless cycle.http/www.aquamaniacs.net/cyclingsafelyfishless.html . Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[shadow]

If you wanted to use the betta, that would be fine. Just don't add him in wait a month and then add 4-5 more fish as that would kill off the beneficial bacteria. Slowly add them in. Just keep up with the water changes and they should be fine.

 

[clutterydrawer]

If you cycle with the betta you need to test the water for ammonia and nitrIte every day and do lots of water changes to keep them under 1ppm. however I'd really recommend doing a fishless cycle, less stress for you and the fish.

 

[Slyspy]

It can be quicker as well.

 

[shadow]

If it's just a betta that is in a 10 gallon tank, you don't need to change the water every day as if it was in a gallon tank or a small betta bowl. Probably twice a week would be ok for him until the tank is fully cycled.

 

[braxenburg]

WOW!!!! Thanks for all the replys everyone!!!!

 

[Slyspy]

This may be obvious (if so sorry) but if you use the betta to cycle the tank you don't need to add ammonia (it would kill it anyway). It produces its own, though slowly. Then again it may sicken or die in the process anyway.

I used the fishless cycle method for my first tank recently and it worked nicely and of course nothing had to die. Plus once its done you can add all the fish at once.

Thought I'd elaborate on my earlier answer!