Starting back up

[asanderd]

Hello everyone I'm not exactly new to the hobby but I'm about 10 years away from it. I used to have a 10 g beta tank and a 29 gal for a carnival goldfish. My mom bought me a 5g Marina kit for my birthday because I was admiring some Betas. I know its small but until I get my office/craft room set up I don't have room for a larger tank. The filter is a Marina Slim S10. Other than a Beta, could I get away with a few Corys and a couple small mid level swimmers?

Filter media
The filter has two slots and came with two filter cartridges, a Bio-Clea. with Zeolite "best for goldfish" and a Bio-Carb "best for tropical fish" cartridge Can both of these be used for setting up? I plan on eventually buying a filter sock to make me own filters for less. But I'm not sure which media would be best for a small 5 gal. Also all what water testing kit will I need?

Fishless Cycle

My kit came with a dinky little 1oz bottle of Fluval Cycle. Also I want to fishless cycle but have never done it before. Can I use the Cycle and not have to do the thing with adding Ammonia for a few weeks or will I still have to go the Ammonia route? And if so, can you point me in the direction of a good site to reference?

Any other fish combo suggestions very welcome.

Sorry this is so long winded; I just want to get this tank going right, from the start

 

[fishwonder]

Here is one way to customize the Marina Filter.

However this is the best way to customize any filter. Simple pot scrubbies. Yes that's a Marina S20.