Can you actually cycle small tank???

[Pearly]

I've heard from more then one person that cycling of small tanks (such as 2.5 gal) was not possible. I have 2 of those, and 2 tiny 1 gal "betta bows" kits that come with filters and lights. I put gravel as substrate, little bridge/cave ornament for hiding, piece of driftwood, planted with variety of live plants and stuck a piece of dry almond leave in each. Those tanks house my "death row rescue" Betta's and snail or couple of ghost shrimp. After some initial trials and tribulations (daily testing and PWC's as needed) I've now started getting readings of 0 ammonia and nitrites and 5-10 on nitrates, and that is pretty consistent now. Should add that the whole time the fish and snails/shrimp were fine, bettas flourished with much more vibrant colors and splendid fins and tails, each one displaying their own distinct personality... If those reading hold up... would you say those tanks have gone through a nitrogen cycle??? And yes, we did have ammonia and nitrite spikes, I've been using Prime to condition water but more then anything just very rigorous testing and water changes. Hoping that maybe now all that hard work will start paying off by not as high maintenance and more time to enjoy the fish (I.e. take pictures of them ??!!!! and post them here???) what do you think? Am I cycled or is it just coincidence?

 

[shellieca]

I've heard they can be cycled but maintaining a stable cycle is difficult. I personally have not tried it. If your readings continue to be 0 ammo/nitrites <20 nitrate then I'd say they're cycled.

 

[Pearly]

Great! Thank you. I'll keep an eye on the levels. Heard there can be some issues with nitrates. Do you have any magic bullet to keep those in check?

 

[patrickriley2010]

I believe you can cycle it its just the fact of the nitrates spiking lots of water changes should help keep it cycled if you say it is already

 

[Pearly]

Got it, thanks! It'll be interesting to see how things develop. Whenever I manage to rehome my 2 bettas from those tiny tanks, I think they will become pretty ornamental little planted water features with maybe snails/shrimp... Thinking of adding plants to the filters somehow to make them more of... an ornamental plant thing... Will have to figure put how to do this with this particular type of a filter, but for now it's fun to think about and make plans thank you for your input

 

[Pearly]

Well... Happy to report that my last tank is done with its minicycle which took couple of weeks. All tank inhabitants did ok (daily and at times more then that pwc's, Prime, Stability, lots of live plants and good food I'm sure is what has helped them get through this roller coaster. Now everybody's ammonias and nitrites are zero with nice healthy nitrates, but one of my small betta tanks had nitrate spike just now (to 40!!!) already did pwc. Will retest tomorrow. Is there anything orher than pwc's to be done to prevent those nitrate spikes?

 

[JumperGirl117]

I have a three gallon witha pleco and a betta and I change a gallon every other day when I can and every third day if I am slammed with things to do. My readings are preety predictable so I hope your is as easy as mine.

 

[Pearly]

Can you have a pleco in that size of a tank? I thought they would grow real big and had massive bioload. I have snails and ghost shrimp in my betta tanks. Seems they do great job cleaning the bottom of my tanks

 

[fishfan88]

I have a three gallon witha pleco and a betta and I change a gallon every other day when I can and every third day if I am slammed with things to do. My readings are preety predictable so I hope your is as easy as mine.

Why kind of Pleco??

 

[JumperGirl117]

Common. And I am fully aware that he has to go to a bigger tank. When petco has the dollar per gallon sale I am going to buy a bigger tank and move the pleco into it. I am going to keep the betta in the 3 gallon.

 

[patrickriley2010]

Common. And I am fully aware that he has to go to a bigger tank. When petco has the dollar per gallon sale I am going to buy a bigger tank and move the pleco into it. I am going to keep the betta in the 3 gallon.

You have to cycle the big tank first

 

[JumperGirl117]

I am fully aware it's not ideal but he was a misguided attempt at a I love you present and the bad advice from Wal-Mart. So instead of a snail I got a pleco. Wasn't to happy myself. For right now they will both be fine since finding a tank under 100 gallons around here is impossible.

 

[JumperGirl117]

You have to cycle the big tank first

Yep. Buying the new filter on the 19th. I just have to figure how big of a tank I want.

Edit: I have free reign on any filter since he bought the wrong fish. And in order to buy a filter I have to know how big hence my tank problem. If anyone has any questions just pm me, it wasn't meant to go off of a bunny trail from the original question and I was just sharing my experience and believe me this is the biggest hassle of my life. I have a two year old and a 6 month old and it is hard to do the water changes that I need to.

 

[patrickriley2010]

Yep. Buying the new filter on the 19th. I just have to figure how big of a tank I want.

Edit: I have free reign on any filter since he bought the wrong fish. And in order to buy a filter I have to know how big hence my tank problem

Since who bought a wrong fish filters cost way more than a fish.

 

[JumperGirl117]

We were going to get a bigger tank anyways. And my husband came home with it.

 

[Pearly]

Going off bunny trail... Story of my life

 

[Pearly]

Yep. Buying the new filter on the 19th. I just have to figure how big of a tank I want.

Edit: I have free reign on any filter since he bought the wrong fish. And in order to buy a filter I have to know how big hence my tank problem. If anyone has any questions just pm me, it wasn't meant to go off of a bunny trail from the original question and I was just sharing my experience and believe me this is the biggest hassle of my life. I have a two year old and a 6 month old and it is hard to do the water changes that I need to.

Bless your heart!!! Got your hands full with your babies! It's almost like having twins having them this close together. I hear that maintaining bigger tank is much easier then small ones once you have them going. I've never returned an animal to the place of purchase but think if you find that your pleco will get too big for any tank that you can put in your house, maybe try rehoming him. My lfs will trade in fish for smaller. If you want clean up crew for your betta, I love ghost shrimp and snails. The ghosts do a fine job in keeping the bottom clean and snail will do the algae if you need that. Best of luck!

 

[Pearly]

I have a three gallon witha pleco and a betta and I change a gallon every other day when I can and every third day if I am slammed with things to do. My readings are preety predictable so I hope your is as easy as mine.

And forgot to thank you for this post

 

[JumperGirl117]

Your welcome. It might not necessarily be considered cycled or it may be sucky combination but lnoike I said my readings are consistent and everyone is behaving like they normally do.

 

[Pearly]

An acquaintance of mine has betta male in 2.5 gal filtered in with albino BNP, I asked if the pleco would stay in this tank... and apparently "there was no problem with that set up" .........they are ones of those folks who have owned 25 gal fw/community for 15 yrs and have never tested. They know about ich and that's about it. When casualties happen they go to petco to get new fish... Still, Good people... Not unsophisticated, very well educated in their professional fields... Just different philosophies... Topic that I've seen being brought up on this forum at least couple of times