Demosthenes

I'm cycling a new 2.5 gallon aquarium and since I don't have a filter yet I've been keeping the water aerated with a small pump. I used all water from a cycled fish tank and even sloshed the media from the filter in the water to try and give that some help. I've dropped some shrimp in there as well to try and get it going and I don't have any means of testing for ammonia yet. The thing is, I have a ton of bubbles at the top but they're not from the air pump. The top is foamy, mostly around the area where the bubbles come up. It's not soap, I rinsed the aquarium out, and it's not oily. I rinsed the new gravel off too, and there's a plant in there that my other fish kept eating.

I just have a mass of white bubbles at the top, is this normal? Any ideas? The pH should be at 7, that's what my other tank's ph is at.

Lucy

I'm not really sure that you can properly cycle a tank without a filter. Most of the bacteria grows on the filter media, very little is in the water. You'd be transferring more nitrates than bacteria.

Not sure what the white foam is, except maybe decay if this a peice of raw shrimp.

Demosthenes

It's a small piece of raw shimp.

Lucy

I'm thinking it's from the shrimp. See what other members suggest though.
Good luck.

Nicolas Rodriguez

Yeah, im fairly sure you need a filter to cycle a tank, its pretty pointless to try it without one, i wasent aware you could even get a 2.5 without an attached filter O.o

Demosthenes

I got it from a friend for free. She said the filter worked and I realized half of it's missing, there was no intake :/

agabr123

i'd suggest a red sea nano art deco filter, i have them in my 2.5s and they work really well

Demosthenes

Price ranges?
I'm broke

agabr123

hmm, i want to say between $12-16 depending on where you look, if you can find the mini-whisper that works too but IMO isn't as good, i haven't found it sold on it's own, it came in a small kit that i bought (1.5) until i could get my 5 gallon up and running

shadowavenger

a Penn plax corner filter. 5 bucks! just connect your pump to it!

Bubba the Gump

definitely need the filter, when cycling a tank your really cycling the filter not the water, as for the bubbles its probably from the shrimp and the fact your not running your water through a filter.

cerianthus

You can defintely cycle the tank w/o any filter as long as no oily film builds up on top. Aeration should be fine since you used the water from established tank (faster cycling) although running any small filter will be beneficial in long run. Nitrifying bacteria will colonize on any surface area (gravel, glass, plants, deco) as long as oxygen/NH3 and NO2 are avail.
How fast it will take to cycle, no one knows. Only testing will reveal.

As far as keeping bacteria active w/o source of NH3 is another story thus would recommend to add one small fish (hope heater is on 2-1/2G) with minimal feeding until you can verify thru testing for ammonia (NH3) and nitrite (NO2).
in case any amt of NH3, NO2 increases, you can always use water from another tank to do water changes which will further assist in cycling process.
Foam might be forming cuz all the organic matters (protein, fatty acid, etc) present in the water since water is from well established tank, that is if tank is free from any soap.
As far as pH of 7. Should be OK for most FW fish.
What do you intend to keep in 2-1/2 G tank?
Corner Box filter, Sponge filter, internal power filter are OK but probably will take up too much space in 2-1/2 G tank. You may want to look into Small World Filter or its equivalents which can be hooked up to air pump. I do not remember wether you can cut out your own foam and add your own carbon rather than buying replacement cartridges. So look into it before buying since cost of replacement cartidges can add up.
Hope this helped!

aschaal03

The bubbles are probably formed from protein. That is usually what a film or foam on the surface indicates. This happens from feeding too much food, fish poo, and from that shrimp you threw in there . You can just suck it off using a siphon/gravel vaccuum. If there is a film, it can keep gases from being exchanged.

An hang on the back filter will also take care of this for you, and help to prevent it in the future.