Cycling a new tank

[JackieG]

Hello, this is my 1st time on this forum. I was hoping to get some tips on what's the best way to cycle a 2.5 gallon tank I bought for my Betta.

 

[Alan26]

the best way is to use water, substrate, filter material, etc. from an established "mature" tank...so if you have one or a friend with one...do that...

...there are a ton of other methods to "cycle from scratch"...i prefer fish out cycling with a few plants and letting some shrimp or something rot with a touch of what you'll be feeding added....on something as small as a 2.5g, i would probably just add your water, substrate, a plant, some feed, and some brine...

some will suggest fish in cycling...don't do this if you are in-experienced and don't have an established tank you could move your fish to if your parameters get too out of hand...

 

[mrvincent]

It's a betta tank... My GF betta 1g tank doesn't have cycle and the fish is fine since a year.

No filtration too... I won't worry about cycle if you do good water changes each weeks...

 

[JackieG]

I bought everything at once and plus 3 different kinds of plants including some Java Moss and set it all up and put my Betta fish in it right away. Everything was fine for the 1st week then I bought 5 neon fish and that's when the problem started. The neons got Ich, they all died and now my betta has ich. I' treating it with Ich-X and following the care instructions. Some say that I will have to empty and start from scratch once the white dots are all gone, is this true?

 

[JackieG]

It's a Fluval Spec 2.5 gallons with filtration system and bought a preset water heater at 76º. Not bad for a small tank. How often and how much water should I change every week? I started it out with bottled water is that OK?

 

[cfosgate]

It would seem that your neons brought the ich with them. Your tank was fine with the Betta but adding any fish at all put you way overstocked for that sized tank.

After you have treated the tank you should be fine with the Betta. If you want more fish you need a larger tank. I would recommend http://www.aqadvisor.com to check out suggested stocking and filtration advice before you decide on how to move forward with more than just the Betta

 

[AntonTheSaint]

Anything but a betta, shrimp, or snails in a 2.5g is a no no.

 

[JackieG]

I'm still not sure that using bottled water is the best, any suggestions?

 

[AntonTheSaint]

Bottled water should be fine, unnecessary even. I've always done fine with tap water and conditioner.

 

[JackieG]

When using tap water how long do you let it sit?

 

[AntonTheSaint]

You dont. You temperature match it, condition it, and add it.

 

[JackieG]

Ok. Last question, how do you temperature match it? Do you use both warm and cold water from the faucet?

 

[mrvincent]

Yes, I open both HOT and COLD things, and ajust until I feel it's ok. (Touch the tank water, touch the tap, ajust tap, touch tank, touch tap, ajust tap, matched !, then I fill it).

The touch sense is 2C° precision. A thermometer is more accurate, but I don't waste time doing this.