Was this a good idea???

[Videl]

I set up my tank, relatively small about 2 foot long. I began cycling the tank a week ago. I heard that bettas are strong and hardy fish and has a high probability to survive cycling because of its labyrinth lung breathing ability. I poured dechlorinated water into my tank and set up my power filter. The temperature was at 73 degrees F when i added my male betta. My betta stayed in the new tank for about a week now. Being impatient, i looked for ways to speed up the cycling process. What i did is that i first took out the betta and placed him in his own 1 gallon tank. Since i already have another tank fully cycled, i siphoned water from the cycled tank and placed the water in my new tank, only about 9 litres or so. I then took the new filter and made it run on in the cycled tank for an hour or so hoping to collect some beneficial bacteria. After the hour, i placed the filter back to the new tank and left it running to clear all the fish waste siphoned from my cycled tank. I left it running until the water was clear of visible waste. Should i put my betta back in the cycling tank to speed it up even more? Was this a good idea? Did i speed up the cycling process by doing the method i done? I plan on getting a goldfish for my new tank in a couple of days. Heard goldfish were great fish to produce waste. Could a goldfish finish off the cycling process and survive??? Thankyou for patiently reading and i hope to hear some advice soon before i do anything that is wrong.

 

[@ombomb]

Leave the Betta where it is (1G is still too small IMO).

Don't buy a goldfish.

It was a very silly idea.

Adding water from another tank achieves next to nothing.

Having a filter in a cycled tank for an hour achieves next to nothing.

Don't buy anymore fish.

Do a fishless cycle.

Try and work out whether it's a good idea before you do it.

Was this a good idea???

A resounding no.

 

[rdd1952]

Adding water from a cycled tank doesn't do any good. The beneficial bacteria colonize on surfaces and do not exist in the water column. Using a filter from an established will definitely help seed a tank. By all means, stay away from the goldfish. Your tank isn't large enough for more than maybe one goldfish. You need 20 gallon for the 1st goldfish and an additional 10 gallon per goldfish after that so 3 GF equals 40 gallon. Don't try to add ammonia to speed the cycle. That will only create unnecessary stress and damage to your betta. Put him bake in the tank and just test the water daily to make sure the ammonia and nitrite don't get over .5 (preferable .25). Also, the 73 degrees is a little cool for a betta. He would do better at 76 to 78 degrees.