Starting 5 gallon betta fish planted tank, I have questions!

[Corypower]

I recently upgraded my tank to a 10 gallon and the corys do perfectly fine with my betta it really depends if your betta is chill or a hot head

 

[carligraceee]

Alr thanks everybody! I’ll keep ya updated! One more question, would beneficial bacteria be useful for this tank? If so what kind/brand do you recommend!

SeaChem has a great one. I found it in any local LFS.

 

[kateh]

Hey all, finally everything arrived, except the plants, and I set up the tank. I used the fluval stratum substrate, and I throughoutly washed it as best as I could, then put it in my tank and filled it, but now my tank is a ugly cloudy brown mess, did I do something wrong or should I wait for the dust to settle also, should running the filter help! Thank you! Attaching picture,

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

Nothing wrong. Wait overnight,

 

[carligraceee]

Hey all, finally everything arrived, except the plants, and I set up the tank. I used the fluval stratum substrate, and I throughoutly washed it as best as I could, then put it in my tank and filled it, but now my tank is a ugly cloudy brown mess, did I do something wrong or should I wait for the dust to settle also, should running the filter help! Thank you! Attaching picture,

Haha this happens to me whenever I add substrate. It is dust and debris and it will settle in the next few hours.

 

[Avel1896]

Hey all, finally everything arrived, except the plants, and I set up the tank. I used the fluval stratum substrate, and I throughoutly washed it as best as I could, then put it in my tank and filled it, but now my tank is a ugly cloudy brown mess, did I do something wrong or should I wait for the dust to settle also, should running the filter help! Thank you! Attaching picture,

Let the filter do the job

 

[BLK]

Good luck to you and Jeremy! Your excitement and enthusiasm show. Sounds like you really care about getting it right this time. The two best words of wisdom I've received so far are "be patient". I'm new too and doing my best to honor and enjoy this miraculous journey...

 

[BLK]

Good luck to you and Jeremy! Your excitement and enthusiasm show. Sounds like you really care about getting it right this time. The two best words of wisdom I've received so far are "be patient". I'm new too and doing my best to honor and enjoy this miraculous journey...

Very experienced and helpful folks here - as you can already see.

 

[Rocky998]

Hi there! I am looking to make a five gallon planted betta tank, preferably as quick as possible, as it’s for a special occasion, and I just have some questions. I have been doing research and watching as many YouTube tutorials as possible but I could still use some help. Some of my questions are, how long do I wait to add the fish, how do I cycle the tank, do I need to cycle the tank before the fish is added, and can I “skip” cycling the tank, by getting a already cycled filter. Also some possible tank mates would be great! Feel free to correct me if my knowledge is wrong, YouTube isn’t the best resource

I had a betta and got really bad advice from YT... Said that I could add in fish food and wait 3 days and boom cycle is miraculously done... Not the case. All in one month my fish got ich and died. Cycling a tank can take 2 weeks all the way up to 6 weeks. You need an API test kit (not a strip test kit) do a liquid one and follow rhe directions carefully. A lot of people (like myself) are doing a cycle called "diskless cycling" when you read about it online it can sound complicated but on here people put it in easy to understand terms. Do that and you should be safe.

Other notes:
1 no fish during cycle
2 no plamts during a fishless cycle (there are other cycles that allow it but I highly reccomend diskless cycling)
3 get ammonia and test kits for the fishless cycle.

I am not as experienced as others on here but I am posting only what I know. Go to others like @Slaphppy7 for more information. Or if interested in a different cycle method which I dont really like but I'm sure is effective go to @Avel1896 for that information. @Byron also is very knowledgeable...

 

[Avel1896]

3 get ammonia and test kits for the fishless cycle.

NO NEED TO ADD AMMONIA as long as tank has substrate and filter medias !

2 no plamts during a fishless cycle (there are other cycles that allow it but I highly reccomend diskless cycling)

Plants are important for tank balance !

 

[Rocky998]

NO NEED TO ADD AMMONIA as long as tank has substrate and filter medias !


Plants are important for tank balance !

But when doing a fishless cycle, you cant add plants due to the ammonia. If he chose to do a fishless cycle and added plants or fish he'd kill them all.
But yes plants are very important for tank balance...

 

[Rocky998]

NO NEED TO ADD AMMONIA as long as tank has substrate and filter medias !

But it is important you give time for those bacteria to multiply and if the filter media is dried then most likely all the bacteria is dead.

 

[Avel1896]

But when doing a fishless cycle, you cant add plants due to the ammonia. If he chose to do a fishless cycle and added plants or fish he'd kill them all.
But yes plants are very important for tank balance...

Wrong !
I always fishless cycle WITH plants and NO ammonia add.

 

[Avel1896]

But it is important you give time for those bacteria to multiply and if the filter media is dried then most likely all the bacteria is dead.

Wrong again !
BB multiply as well with plants.

 

[Rocky998]

F

Wrong !
I always fishless cycle WITH plants and NO ammonia add.

ishless cycle is ammonia... You are talking about a silent cycle which is a different version of a fishless cycle