Starting my Cycle

[Essjay]

For 1 betta (unless you've changed your mind?) 1 ppm is plenty. That's all I used for my betta in a tank smaller than yours.

Remind me - the feathery looking plant, is it live or fake? If it's live I reckon that between the plant and the Safe Start you should be OK to get fish once ammonia drops to zero. But that depends on whether you can actually manage to go to a shop to buy fish at the moment. If you can, do a big water change once you hit zero, then go shopping. If you can't, add a tiny bit of ammonia once a week and when the shops open again, do the big water change and go shopping. You used 24 drops to get slightly over 3 ppm, so 1 or 2 drops ammonia once a week is enough.

 

[matthew xia]

Ahh this is great news Essjay - thank you for all your help with my watery woes. The plant is live - Anarcharis Elodea Densa I think, from Pets at Home (and we're planning to get a little more - something floating like Frogbit).


I am a little worried about how to get it back up to 1ppm but I'll go slow and test after half an hour then add more if necessary.

Still going with 1 Betta and a little snail family.

Do you have any thoughts about the water change? With regard to how much RO/DI I should be mixing with tap water for the big change.

 

[Essjay]

Are you sure that plant is elodea? The leaves look too fine. I am by no means a plant expert but it looks more like cabomba or hornwort. Elodea, cabomba, hornwort. Someone who knows about plants will be able to say exactly what it is.
But whichever it is, it will use ammonia

Looking back through the thread we established your tap water GH is 15 dH (275 ppm). Using 50% tap and 50% RO/DI will reduce the hardness is 8 dH which is fine for a betta. You have a small tank, so just before buying a fish I would replace all the water in the tank now (assuming it's 100% tap) with the tap/RO or DI mixture so the fish goes into the GH level the tank will be at straight away.

 

[Libbyd]

Pleased this is improving.
I know this is jumping ahead but any idea what sort / colour of betta you’d like?

 

[matthew xia]

Ahh - so the big reveal is... (it's not really a reveal if you read back into older posts....and how I discovered this forum)... this Betta is for my 6 year old daughter - the tank is in her room and she is the most hopeful and expectant kid right now! We knew nothing about fish and 'accidentally' ended up with our tiny tank and two orandas who died within about 4 days. Discovered this forum trying to save those fish and then decided we wouldn't make the same mistakes again - people here really helped. So .... who knows... I think she would like one that is a combination of colours - so bi-coloured or multicoloured (like the Galaxys) or a marble perhaps... You?

 

[JuiceBox52]

Ahh - so the big reveal is... (it's not really a reveal if you read back into older posts....and how I discovered this forum)... this Betta is for my 6 year old daughter - the tank is in her room and she is the most hopeful and expectant kid right now! We knew nothing about fish and 'accidentally' ended up with our tiny tank and two orandas who died within about 4 days. Discovered this forum trying to save those fish and then decided we wouldn't make the same mistakes again - people here really helped. So .... who knows... I think she would like one that is a combination of colours - so bi-coloured or multicoloured (like the Galaxys) or a marble perhaps... You?

Galaxies are amazing bettas. Super beautiful

 

[matthew xia]

Are you sure that plant is elodea? The leaves look too fine. I am by no means a plant expert but it looks more like cabomba or hornwort. Elodea, cabomba, hornwort. Someone who knows about plants will be able to say exactly what it is.
But whichever it is, it will use ammonia

Looking back through the thread we established your tap water GH is 15 dH (275 ppm). Using 50% tap and 50% RO/DI will reduce the hardness is 8 dH which is fine for a betta. You have a small tank, so just before buying a fish I would replace all the water in the tank now (assuming it's 100% tap) with the tap/RO or DI mixture so the fish goes into the GH level the tank will be at straight away.

Thanks - as ever Essjay - I'll make sure we're at the point I can water change and then I'll do your 100% at 50/50 - I haven't cleaned my filter yet - should I do this and if so any tips?

 

[Libbyd]

Ooh I’d like a koi one but I think I’ll need to order online or one like you said with different colours I’ve seen some beautiful blue and white / silvery ones. I also want shrimp and they come in a variety of colours like blue or red so I was thinking maybe something to contrast with the Betta. I might be more excited by the shrimp than the Betta because I have kept 2 Bettas before but shrimp are new to me. I have found bettas to be such cute little characters before though so I’m looking forward to having one again- your daughter will love it ! The perfect ‘pet’ fish I think !

 

[Essjay]

I haven't cleaned my filter yet - should I do this and if so any tips?

There shouldn't be much debris on the filter unless the plant has been shedding leaves, so leave cleaning the filter for now. Normally a filter is cleaned every 2 to 4 weeks, but with a new filter it is safe to leave it for a a while. Have a look a couple of weeks after you get the the fish and if the media is covered in brown goo, wash it by squeezing/swooshing it in the water you take out during a water change.

 

[matthew xia]

Ahh Libby - you're an old pro! I didn't realise you had kept Bettas before. I was told that shrimp and Betta can be happy tank mates but its dependent on the temperament of the Betta... So we're going with armoured snails. Ha - yeah the perfect 'pet' fish indeed - she's so excited.

And thanks Essjay - that's super clear.

 

[derekpittx]

Are you sure about the GH and KH readings? I know London has hard to very hard water but it also has high KH. And 14 to 28 is a huge range, you need to pin it down more accurately. Have you looked on your water company's website to see what level they give for hardness? They are unlikely to give KH, but if they do they'll call it alkalinity not KH. tubemate

 

[matthew xia]

HI Derek, I did eventually pin it down I believe (Essjay helped me work it out / convert the figures)... this is from an earlier post:

The Water Board claim the water is:
Hardness (Total) as CaCO3 - 274
Alkalinity as CaCO3 - 201
Nitrate in tap water - 31.7

So I'm using a RO/DI filter which gives me readings of 0 on all of the above and a PH of 6.0 and then mixing it with 50% tap water.

 

[matthew xia]

An update for those following...

I've just done a 100% water change using 50% RO water and 50% tap water. New water test results:

Kh - 80ppm (previously 201)
Gh - 180ppm (previously 274)
Ph - 7.6 (I hoped this would be a little lower)
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 10ppm (there was 31.7 in the tap water at source)
Ammonia - 0.15 (possibly from me disturbing the gravel?? It was zero the last few days...)

(I've also added moss balls, some wood, an Indian almond leaf, a Betta Hammock, and have two more plants on order - java fern and a Cryptocoryne beckettii 'Petchii' on Lava Stone).

How's this all looking fish fans?
@Byron @essjay @Deanasue @Libbyd @PheonixKingZ ??

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Looking very good!

I’m glad you got those parameters down.

Note: Because of the fact that you added driftwood, your pH might lower.

 

[matthew xia]

*punches the air*