Will 1 betta keep a biofilter happy?

[harpreno]

I'm cycled! (Finally!) I have a 10 gallon tank with live plants, and it is devouring 4ppm of ammonia every 24 hours. Hopefully my "rescue betta" can move out of his temporary punch bowl in a couple of days. But now I am wondering--will he produce enough waste to keep the biofilter going?

Thanks!

 

[Exigenn]

It will adjust, for the first few weeks he is in there just do water changes weekly 50%

 

[ImACoolguy]

Will be fine. My brother and I keep 1 Betta alone in a 10g planted tank.


Caleb

 

[trennamw]

What's your eventual goal for the tank?

1 Betta wont maintain enough bacteria for 4ppm ammonia per day but you probably don't need that much.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

 

[harpreno]

Goal for my 10gal. tankw

Well, with this fine fierce fighting fish that I had no intention of adopting, I just want him to be happy. My 1.5 gal. punchbowl seems a little cramped. While Rusty's being king of his domain, my goal is to learn how to maintain a tank, take care of the fish, the plants, etc. There's a lot to learn!

Down the road PR (post Rusty) maybe I'll have a few friendly tetras or some such.

 

[FishFlow]

Agree, 1 fish won't keep up with 4ppm/day. No biggie though, when you add fish down the road, just have to add in smaller quantities.

 

[ManedWolf]

If Rusty is the only planned inhabitant for your tank, then you'll be just fine! He won't be putting out nearly that much ammonia, but there's no need to. The bacteria colony size is just overkill at the moment and will slowly adjust down to match the waste he does produce.

 

[ScotJudd]

The aim of the rule '4ppm ammonia processed within 24 hrs' will enable a tank to be fairly well stocked straight away. This is not applicable in your case and the bacteria colony will back off to suit the waste of your fish. But this has not been a waste of time, you now know that your set up is capable of coping with a much higher bio load if needed, handy thing to know if you decide to add more stock.


Sent from my iPad in West Yorkshire, U.K.