Possibly the impossible?

[Cassifrassy]

Okay guys, I'm interested to see what any of y'all have to say.

My male betta, Ludwig, is in a heated 2-2.5 gallon vase. I know this isn't the best set up, but he is active and healthy, and from what I can tell, perfectly happy.

I suppose I've never considered it, but his tank technically is "planted" as I have a sprouting stalk of bamboo in his vase, as well as a marimo moss ball we fell in love with at the pet store.

That in mind, I had never tested his water parameters before setting up and cycling my 29 gallon, when I had to buy an API Freshwater Test Kit.

To my surprise.. These were the results over the past few days.

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

I've read that live plants can soak up nitrates before you can get a reading of them. Is this true?

And if it is, does this mean that I actually cycled a 2.5 gallon vase?

 

[sheilashoelady]

Probably not. Do you do 100% water changes?

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[Cassifrassy]

No I don't. I do two 50-75% water changes a week.

 

[sheilashoelady]

A fully cycled tank will have nitrAtes present. It looks like you just remove almost everything and it starts from scratch so nothing has a chance to build up.

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[Cassifrassy]

I am aware that cycled tanks have nitrAtes present. However, I am also aware that live plants feed on nitrAtes.

What else could be going on? I should at least have ammonia building up from a fish being in such a small body of water, but there's nothing there.

 

[sheilashoelady]

Nitrates can be removed via plants in extremely heavily planted.

My best guess is that doing 2 water changes of that size in a week are removing the ammonia, especially since it's only 1 betta.

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[Cassifrassy]

Hm. I'm going to monitor the water for a week and see what the water parameters do with no water changes. I'm curious

 

[sheilashoelady]

Sounds like a good experiment. Assuming you are using the liquid kit?

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[Cassifrassy]

Yes ma'am, API Freshwater Master test kit.

And no worries about Nitrate bottle #2, I beat the ever lovin' snot out of that thing.

 

[sheilashoelady]

Bahaha. Yeah, that bottle is good stress relief

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[Cassifrassy]

More like a workout! Haha

 

[absolutangel04]

In that small of a space, there is a chance the biofilm on the substrate and glass is harboring enough bacteria to help keep ammo down. It is also possible that you are just changing it before any ammonia can accumulate. Also, plants can take up ammonia as well. It depends on the individual plant, but they can use more than just nitrates.

 

[Cassifrassy]

Interesting. Tomorrow would be my normal PWC day, but I'm going to leave the water alone and continue to watch the water levels. I'll check back in on Wednesday (my other water change day) if you guys are interested

 

[sheilashoelady]

Definitely. Keep us posted.

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[Cassifrassy]

Will do!

 

[Cassifrassy]

Alright folks.. So earlier update than planned.

As Sheilashoelady knows from my thread about my 29 gallon, my tap water has an ammonia reading of .25ppm. When I compare my tap (.25), to bottled water (0), my 2.5 gallon tank is definitely at 0ppm. So something is going on here, and I suspect those ammonia bugs are at work!(;

 

[Lainey183]

That's pretty cool! How do you heat the vase?

 

[Cassifrassy]

That's pretty cool! How do you heat the vase?

It's just a cheapo Aqueon 10 watt mini heater. From what I've read (since purchasing) they really aren't the highest quality, and a bunch of them come out of the package not working.. However, I guess I'm a lucky gal, because mines always worked great.

 

[Plantaholic]

I tried something like this in a 10 gallon. I do think the moss balls are little nitrate sponges! Essentially, I was fishless cycling the tank with a filter cartridge from an established tank and feeding the bb store bought 100% ammonia. I tested for a few days with the tank empty. And when I was getting the nitrite spikes I stopped doing any wc's. Soon I was hitting 40ppm nitrate, and dropped in 2 of the moss balls. I continued to add ammonia with no water changes only topping off the tank, to keep my ammonia dosing in-line. A couple days later my nitrates were at 0(shaking bottle 2 vigorously!). It was amazing to see, but at the end of the day there are many things that a pwc takes out of and puts in to the tank other than nitrates. Gotta keep doing pwc's!!

 

[Cassifrassy]

I tried something like this in a 10 gallon. I do think the moss balls are little nitrate sponges! Essentially, I was fishless cycling the tank with a filter cartridge from an established tank and feeding the bb store bought 100% ammonia. I tested for a few days with the tank empty. And when I was getting the nitrite spikes I stopped doing any wc's. Soon I was hitting 40ppm nitrate, and dropped in 2 of the moss balls. I continued to add ammonia with no water changes only topping off the tank, to keep my ammonia dosing in-line. A couple days later my nitrates were at 0(shaking bottle 2 vigorously!). It was amazing to see, but at the end of the day there are many things that a pwc takes out of and puts in to the tank other than nitrates. Gotta keep doing pwc's!!

Oh don't worry, I'm not going to neglect the fish! Haha I'll be monitoring his water very closely. I'm just putting this "cycle" to the test!