10 gallon cycle??

[rocktrns]

Today I just got a 10 gallon tank kit.
I have a betta in a 1.5 gallon tan.
I want to move the betta out this 1.5 gallon tan into the 10 gallon,but I also want to add more fish to the 10 gallon.
I want to know what is the fastest way that I can cycle my 10 gallon,and stepby step on how to cycle it.
I heard that I can by bacteria,but I want to do a fishless bacteria.
I also want to know what other fish will go good with my Delta tail royal blue betta fish.

 

[kdogg85]

step 1- add ammonia(no perfume or additives) till you get 4ppm
step 2 -check it till it drops to 1 ppm then bring it back to 4 ppm
step 3 -check everyday on ammonia
step 4 -when ammonia has drops to zero within a 24 hour period check for nitrite and keep putting ammonia in till the water comes to 4 ppm
step 5 -when nitrite drops to zero and nitrate shows up change 50% of water till nitrate is less than 20 ppm
step 6 -add fish slowly and check ammonia, nitrite and nitrate every day till ammonia and nitrite drop back to zero
step 7- after each round of adding fish and the levels of ammonia and nitrite come down to zero, let the tank run for 1 week to let the bacteria setttle then add a couple more fish till you reach 90% tank capacity

This worked for me, if anything sounds weird just let me know

 

[rocktrns]

Well once my tank has completly cycled how long do I have to get fish before bacteria die off?

 

[kdogg85]

usually a day. when your ammonia and nitrite are 0 and your nitrate is less than 20. 24hrs would be the longest i would go. the bacteria die off pretty fast

 

[Falcon]

Personally I wouldn't worry much about cycling for a Betta. Make sure it is the same temp as what he is in and set him loose. Very hardy fish, but not great with community fish. May have a hard time finding tank mates for him.

 

[dkpate]

I used Bio-Zyme to cycle my betta tank, and it was done in a week. If you have media/substrate from your old tank, that has not dried out, you can use that to seed your tank too. Is it going to be filtered? If it is, and you cycle it, you only have to change the water once a week or so. If you leave bettas in old water, they are prone to fin rot and all sorts of other fun stuff.
You could try some dwarf corys in with your betta, but some bettas will not tolerate any other housemates lol. 3 of my bettas don't mind my snails, and one eats every single one. It just kind of depends on the betta. If you do get some sort of fish for a roomie, make sure you will either be able to promptly divide the tank, or take the new fish back. Try to QT your new fish too, so you don't bring any diseases to your betta.
Good luck!

 

[supradupafast]

Personally I wouldn't worry much about cycling for a Betta. Make sure it is the same temp as what he is in and set him loose. Very hardy fish, but not great with community fish. May have a hard time finding tank mates for him.

Ummm.. Cycling a tank is extremely important for your fish's health and saving yourself from alot of stress.
As they are somewhat hardy fish, they are vulnerable to Fin Rot and other parasites. The most important thing is to keep your tank clean, and keep up with your PWC. From my experience, I am not such a fan of the Fishless but my tanks were cycled with fish and keeping the Ammonia / Nitrites below .25 during the cycle. It all comes down to personal opinion. Most important thing is to keep your fish safe, and keeping up with Tank maintenance.
Good Luck

 

[Falcon]

I am not a big cycler. Yea, I know, blasphemy on this site. Sorry. I can see you cringing.

I have cycled one tank in twenty years. Most are bought, setup, and filled in a day. I should be an awful fishkeeper, right? Not the case. I never lose fish, a majority of them live for years, and I haven't seen ick in 18 years.
I didn't have a test kit for 18 years either. Just got one 2 years ago for giggles, really. Numbers are always great.
I don't use dechlor, I age all my water.
I am a diligent and successful fishkeeper. Guess you would call me lucky.

I certainly understand that it works well and I know how to do it. I wouldn't tell someone it is a bad idea. By all means do it.
But when it comes to a Betta? Use the Betta as your cycle fish. Bettas can live for weeks in a cup of water as they are air breathers as I am sure everyone knows. (makes me ill to see them like that). A Betta is as good as a Zebra Danio for helping age your tank. Just IMO, of course.

 

[kdogg85]

I would cycle it if you can, just get a bag of substrate from another tank and throw it in and then add the betta. The bag of substrate will compensate some for the lack of bacteria and make life a little less stressful

 

[dkpate]

IMO, bettas already have enough stress from being kept in those small containers, and should not have to go thru a terrible cycle. I take great care of my rescued bettas and they still suffer side effects from being in those small containers, so I keep their life as easy as possible.
Bettas are not complete air breathers, they still use their gills, and can therefore still get ammonia poisioning.
+1 for kdogg with the substrate. If you get some, and are not going to keep it in your tank, just put it in the foot part of a nylon, unworn/unwashed, and tie the top. Squeeze it once a day to get the bacteria floating around to seed the rest of the tank. I did that with one of my tanks and I never even had a cycle.
Bettas don't make a big mess, so if you are able to seed your tank, you will be okay without having to go thru a cycle.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I am not a big cycler. Yea, I know, blasphemy on this site. Sorry. I can see you cringing.

I have cycled one tank in twenty years. Most are bought, setup, and filled in a day. I should be an awful fishkeeper, right? Not the case. I never lose fish, a majority of them live for years, and I haven't seen ick in 18 years.
I didn't have a test kit for 18 years either. Just got one 2 years ago for giggles, really. Numbers are always great.
I don't use dechlor, I age all my water.
I am a diligent and successful fishkeeper. Guess you would call me lucky.

I certainly understand that it works well and I know how to do it. I wouldn't tell someone it is a bad idea. By all means do it.
But when it comes to a Betta? Use the Betta as your cycle fish. Bettas can live for weeks in a cup of water as they are air breathers as I am sure everyone knows. (makes me ill to see them like that). A Betta is as good as a Zebra Danio for helping age your tank. Just IMO, of course.

so you see no harm in poisoning a fish? making it suffer in a toxic environment, burning its gills, when you can do something to prevent that. that is just plain irresponsible fishkeeping imho, and a prime example of the bold, underlined text

btw rocktrns, once the tank is cycled, if youre not ready to add fish, you can still add ammonia to keep it cycled until youre ready to add fish. Since you cant predict how long it will take to cycle, and generally cant go to the lfs the day it does finish, adding ammonia will suffice until you get a chance to go

 

[rocktrns]

MY dad wants to do a cycle with fish,and with acouple of dianos. once the tank is added can I add my betta?

 

[dkpate]

What are you gonna do with the danios when it's cycled?

 

[Falcon]

so you see no harm in poisoning a fish? making it suffer in a toxic environment, burning its gills, when you can do something to prevent that. that is just plain irresponsible fishkeeping imho, and a prime example of the bold, underlined text

I am not poisoning my fish. I don't start a tank and throw 50 fish in it. I start very small.
Sorry... I was afraid this would happen when I uttered those words "don't cycle it".
Don't want to sidetrack your thread.


/done

 

[spoonman]

If the 1.5G tank has a filter I would just move the filter to the 10 gallon tank and fill the 10G with water and move the betta straight over. The filter will have the right amount of bacteria in it to support the bioload of the betta and the 10G will be fine. When you decide to add more fish later the bioload will increase and so will the bacteria.

 

[rocktrns]

The 1.5 gallon has a small filter,but my kit came witha bigger one.

 

[dkpate]

But you can still move the media over into the new tank to seed. It will either not have a cycle, or only take a week or so. MUCH faster!

 

[supradupafast]

I Agree. If you take the Media that was in your small filter, and put it in your 10Gal filter's compartment (with the new Media), you will have a transfer of "Good" Bacterias and like dkpate said, you may not even see the tank go through the spikes you normally would see if you weren't seeding the tank at all.
You could also take the Decorations & Some of the gravel and seed your 10 gal. The more you transfer, the better (Of course, I am assuming your Betta is Healthy and a parasite Free tank)

 

[dkpate]

I didn't even put mine in the filter cause it wouldn't fit. I just stuck it in the tank and gave it a little squeeze every day. It looked like crap, but it worked!

 

[rocktrns]

Well I'm planning on adding other fish later too.