Ok, so I just introduced myself and my messed up background on the Member Introductions forum if you want the long, painful version of my story.
Too Long; Didn't Read version:
I have a 5 day old 10 gal tank with my betta and a zebra nerite snail in it. I want to eventually add 2 African Dwarf Frogs and 6-7 neon/cardinal tetras. My tank has a Tetra Whisper 10i filter with the "Bio-Bag" carbon filter and "Bio-Scrubber". Not sure what all that means anyway. I also have a 25 watt heater that is keeping my tank at 78-79F.
Questions:
1. I was told that adding my betta during cycling would be fine, but now I'm not so sure. I keep reading about fishless and fish-in cycling and have no idea what I'm actually doing. My tests are the Tetra Easy Strips and they are showing between 0 and .5 for the ammonia (that's as precise as these go), 0 for nitrates, around 1.0 for nitrites, 150 for GH, 0 chlorine, 120 for KH, and between 7.2 and 7.8 for pH. I don't really know what all that means for me. I get the basics of how the nitrogen cycle works. I have been reading about fish-in cycling, which I guess is what I'm doing since the betta is in there, but since my ammonia test doesn't tell me if I'm above .25 or not, I'm not sure if I need to be changing water now or if I'm good. The strips are saying .5 is safe, but that's not what I've been reading, and I'm not at .5, I'm just not sure where I am under it. I also started off adding API Quick Start to the tank, but the bottle didn't say to add it daily while cycling, so I haven't been doing that. Is my betta safe, and should I be doing something different to keep him safe as the cycle progresses? He seems happy for now and is the first betta I've had to be blowing a bubble nest.
2. I keep reading about adding filter material to cycle a tank quicker. I'm not sure how that would work with my Whisper 10i. It just has the Bio-Bag (with carbon) and the Bio-Scrubber (kinda a sponge type thing I guess) as they call them. Main reason I'm asking about this is because I want to get a quarantine tank going for the frogs I want to get, and for any time I have to quarantine fish in the future. I'm not sure that I want to permanently add another filter to my tank just in case I'll need it for quarantine b/c the betta and frogs don't like a lot of water movement. I put an airstone in with my betta w/ a 10gal air pump and had to return it because he couldn't get any relief where he didn't have to actively swim. (He doesn't seem to like my TARDIS or the hidey holes I got.) I don't want to have that problem again by having a filter in there on stand-by for a QT. For the QT, could I just get another whisper filter that uses the same size bio-bag or bio-scrubber and replace the one from the main tank when I need to put the old one in the QT?
3. Is there a way to do a quarantine tank for the frogs such that it doesn't need to be fully cycled? I'd like to get the frogs now so they can be quarantining while the main tank finishes its cycle. Then, when both are done, I can just move them into their permanent home. I'd then use the QT to start quarantining the tetras. As mentioned in question 2, I have no filter media (that I know of) to put in the QT, so I'd have to start from scratch. I would be willing to do daily water changes for a while if that's what it would take. The one wrench that is thrown in this is that I'm visiting my sister in 2 weeks and would be away from home for 4 days. It is only a 3 hr drive, and my niece would be thoroughly entertained by the frogs, so I'd be willing to take them with me, if that was possible. Is this going to be possible, or am I going to have to wait forever before I can get my frogs?
4. Do I need a 10 gal for the QT or would something smaller work, like 4 or 5 gal? I'm in an apartment and storage for the QT and supplies is an issue.
5. If you read my intro, I also have an anubias I've been treating for fungus that killed my last betta, and ich that the tetras that killed him had. How long should I keep treating it before I can put it in the new tank? Do I need to be treating it for ich since it sounds like ich is in the water anyway and there isn't much point for treating the plant? Is it worth it to be treating it anyway? I have it in my old 1 gal unfiltered tank right now, if I continue treating it, how often should I change the water?
Thank you so much for reading the novel. I would try to be concise, but I don't really know what info is pertinent, so I'm just typing everything. I really want to finish buying everything that I need so my husband doesn't kick me and the fish out of the house for spending so much money!
Too Long; Didn't Read version:
I have a 5 day old 10 gal tank with my betta and a zebra nerite snail in it. I want to eventually add 2 African Dwarf Frogs and 6-7 neon/cardinal tetras. My tank has a Tetra Whisper 10i filter with the "Bio-Bag" carbon filter and "Bio-Scrubber". Not sure what all that means anyway. I also have a 25 watt heater that is keeping my tank at 78-79F.
Questions:
1. I was told that adding my betta during cycling would be fine, but now I'm not so sure. I keep reading about fishless and fish-in cycling and have no idea what I'm actually doing. My tests are the Tetra Easy Strips and they are showing between 0 and .5 for the ammonia (that's as precise as these go), 0 for nitrates, around 1.0 for nitrites, 150 for GH, 0 chlorine, 120 for KH, and between 7.2 and 7.8 for pH. I don't really know what all that means for me. I get the basics of how the nitrogen cycle works. I have been reading about fish-in cycling, which I guess is what I'm doing since the betta is in there, but since my ammonia test doesn't tell me if I'm above .25 or not, I'm not sure if I need to be changing water now or if I'm good. The strips are saying .5 is safe, but that's not what I've been reading, and I'm not at .5, I'm just not sure where I am under it. I also started off adding API Quick Start to the tank, but the bottle didn't say to add it daily while cycling, so I haven't been doing that. Is my betta safe, and should I be doing something different to keep him safe as the cycle progresses? He seems happy for now and is the first betta I've had to be blowing a bubble nest.
2. I keep reading about adding filter material to cycle a tank quicker. I'm not sure how that would work with my Whisper 10i. It just has the Bio-Bag (with carbon) and the Bio-Scrubber (kinda a sponge type thing I guess) as they call them. Main reason I'm asking about this is because I want to get a quarantine tank going for the frogs I want to get, and for any time I have to quarantine fish in the future. I'm not sure that I want to permanently add another filter to my tank just in case I'll need it for quarantine b/c the betta and frogs don't like a lot of water movement. I put an airstone in with my betta w/ a 10gal air pump and had to return it because he couldn't get any relief where he didn't have to actively swim. (He doesn't seem to like my TARDIS or the hidey holes I got.) I don't want to have that problem again by having a filter in there on stand-by for a QT. For the QT, could I just get another whisper filter that uses the same size bio-bag or bio-scrubber and replace the one from the main tank when I need to put the old one in the QT?
3. Is there a way to do a quarantine tank for the frogs such that it doesn't need to be fully cycled? I'd like to get the frogs now so they can be quarantining while the main tank finishes its cycle. Then, when both are done, I can just move them into their permanent home. I'd then use the QT to start quarantining the tetras. As mentioned in question 2, I have no filter media (that I know of) to put in the QT, so I'd have to start from scratch. I would be willing to do daily water changes for a while if that's what it would take. The one wrench that is thrown in this is that I'm visiting my sister in 2 weeks and would be away from home for 4 days. It is only a 3 hr drive, and my niece would be thoroughly entertained by the frogs, so I'd be willing to take them with me, if that was possible. Is this going to be possible, or am I going to have to wait forever before I can get my frogs?
4. Do I need a 10 gal for the QT or would something smaller work, like 4 or 5 gal? I'm in an apartment and storage for the QT and supplies is an issue.
5. If you read my intro, I also have an anubias I've been treating for fungus that killed my last betta, and ich that the tetras that killed him had. How long should I keep treating it before I can put it in the new tank? Do I need to be treating it for ich since it sounds like ich is in the water anyway and there isn't much point for treating the plant? Is it worth it to be treating it anyway? I have it in my old 1 gal unfiltered tank right now, if I continue treating it, how often should I change the water?
Thank you so much for reading the novel. I would try to be concise, but I don't really know what info is pertinent, so I'm just typing everything. I really want to finish buying everything that I need so my husband doesn't kick me and the fish out of the house for spending so much money!