New to fish: Betta tank shopping list

[Shazamo]

Folks, thanks for all the advice.

I went with what I first wrote, but used plain gravel instead of the fancy stuff. I'm 2 days into fish-less cycling. So far, so good.

A question about cycling: the Flex V came with carbon and biomax for the filter. Should I leave them in during cycling? I did.

And when is the best time to add plants? While cycling or after?

 

[KopDS]

Yes, leave the filter set up fully, you want the media in the filter to be as full of bacteria as it possibly can be which is why we do the fishless cycling.
As for plants, I have always added plants during the cycle, This will hopefully give them a chance to get over any melting before adding livestock (melting leads to waste which can add to nitrites).

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Folks, thanks for all the advice.

I went with what I first wrote, but used plain gravel instead of the fancy stuff. I'm 2 days into fish-less cycling. So far, so good.

A question about cycling: the Flex V came with carbon and biomax for the filter. Should I leave them in during cycling? I did.

And when is the best time to add plants? While cycling or after?

1 - The carbon does not need to be a part of a regular filter set-up. Carbon is best used as a means of removing unwanted meds from the tank after an infection. I never keep carbon in my filter on a regular basis. It is only useful for up to about 4-6 weeks (depending on your tank) and then you have to replace it. That cost adds up. I just fill that section with more biomedia, I prefer ceramics as they never need to be replaced, just rinsed out every so often.

2 - Different opinions exist on the best time to add plants. My personal preference is during the cycle, with a caveat! Some plants don't do well in the presence of ammonia at a concentration of 3 ppm. So, to protect them, I lower the dose of ammonia to 1 ppm rather than 3. The tank should cycle through 1 ppm faster (especially since plants will use the ammonia themselves!). Then once the tank can cycle through 1ppm in 24 hours, I'd give 1ppm in the morning and 1 ppm in the evening. Once the tank can cycle through that in 24 hours... I'd lightly stock. Roughly half the full bio-load you are planning. So, if you were going to go with 2 shoals of fish, I'd start by adding one full shoal. Then about 2-3 weeks later, assuming all is well, add the next shoal. After adding the second shoal, keep a close eye on your ammonia and nitrite. You might see a small blip, but usually its nothing to concern yourself with.


3 - if you plant heavily enough, with fast growing plants, the entire cycling process can be skipped as the plants themselves will deal with the ammonia (plus whatever bacteria they will bring with them). This is called a silent cycle, but generally, this is not something recommended for new folks to either plants or fish. The substrate would need to be planted extremely densely, ~75% of the substrate covered with plants, and fast growers, not slower growing plants like anubias. Floating plants, like duckweed, are actually great for this as well, as they grow very fast and serve as a sort of 'nitrogen' sponge. This can then be easily scooped out and used in the garden as a type of mulch/fertilizer for your garden plants!

 

[HarpyFishLover]

Then once the tank can cycle through 1ppm in 24 hours, I'd give 1ppm in the morning and 1 ppm in the evening. Once the tank can cycle through that in 24 hours... I'd lightly stock. Roughly half the full bio-load you are planning.

Pardon me for interjecting, but is stocking the tank when it's not fully cycled yet a good idea? Or am I just misunderstanding?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Pardon me for interjecting, but is stocking the tank when it's not fully cycled yet a good idea? Or am I just misunderstanding?

Not a problem interjecting. Getting questions answered is how we learn.

Let me start by asking a different question: "What does 'fully' cycled mean?"

The answer to that is the answer to your question. "Fully cycled" simply means that the FULL amount of ammonia produced by the fish can be processed by the tank. A tank that can fully cycle 1 ppm in 24 hours can't handle the same bioload as a tank that can process 3 ppm in 24 hours, but it can handle approximately 1/3 that load.

A tank that can cycle through 1 ppm in 12 hours can handle approximately 2/3 of the load of a tank that can handle 3 ppm in 24 hours.

No tank is ever 'fully cycled' to its maximum. You can always add more fish, increasing the bioload, and the tank would have to increase its bacteria colony to compensate. But, there's a limit to how many fish you should stock in a given tank, and we use the 3ppm dose to replicate that. But, if over the years, the fish die off and you end up with 1/10th of the original group of fish, then your tank is no longer 'fully cycled' for a 3ppm bioload. You would need to slowly increase the stocking back up, or... pull the remaining fish out (and house them temporarily elsewhere) and 'recycle' the tank... growing the bacterial colony back up to the necessary size.


So, what I was suggesting was that because there are plants, they are potentially going to be damaged by the ammonia, it would be prudent to limit the ammonia in the cycle, and then stock slightly more slowly. Its not a big deal, and it will lead to the same result... a fully stocked planted tank. This method has worked for me several times in the past. And it doesn't take long to get the full stocking after the initial cycle is completed. Once the colony is going, it can grow fairly quickly to deal with an increase in bio-load... under optimal conditions these bacteria will double roughly every 12-24 hours. So, it won't take long to get there once its started.




EDIT: I forgot this is a single betta tank. Getting the tank to handle 1 ppm every 24 or 12 hours will be sufficient. The bioload of the betta isn't nearly that much compared to a 'fully' stocked tank.

 

[HarpyFishLover]

Wow, eaglesaquarium, very informative. And good to know, too, that my new tank's cycle doesn't last as long as I thought it would.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I try to be helpful.