Betta in almost-cycled tank

Hey fellow aquarists! I’ve always loved aquariums and with working from home now I set up my Fluval Spec III in my office. I have had a couple bettas in that tank no problem so it was my intention to put the betta in the tank after a fish less cycle. BUT I was weak!!! And there is a betta in there now!! The tank has been set up for a week and the betta has been in there for 3 days. He isn’t exhibiting any unusual behavior and is eating normally, very active! I have been dosing the tank with Prime every day in addition to Stability. I also put some Dr Tim’s One and Only in the tank both at startup and with each partial water change. Currently my ammonia is at .25ppm, nitrite also .25ppm, and nitrate at about 5-10. So at this point now I actually want to move the betta to my 5 gallon Spec, of course utilizing all the current filter media from the Spec 3. My question is would it be best to wait for the cycle to be finished in the Spec 3 prior to setting up the 5 and moving the betta to it? My thought is moving him to the 5 now would give me double the water buffer and make the cycle complete even faster. However I don’t want to do this if it will stall the cycle or worse, stress the betta! So far he isn’t seeming very stressed beyond the occasional glass surfing which I have seen fish do in the past when putting them in new tanks (a year or so ago I had to take down my 30 gallon planted tank because I had to move and I couldn’t stay away too long lol). So do I wait for the cycle to be done and stable and for the 3 to be balanced before moving to the 5? Or is sooner better to get him in the bigger, better home?
Any advice at all would be extremely appreciated!!

 

Your close enough where i think you should just wait for the tank to cycle before changing him over.

 

Your close enough where i think you should just wait for the tank to cycle before changing him over.

Ok! How many days of 0 ppm ammonia and nitrite would be sufficient before the move?

 

once they both hit zero add him in and continue to test for the next week or so at least. Especially if you see any irrecgular behavior especially his eating habits.

 

once they both hit zero add him in and continue to test for the next week or so at least. Especially if you see any irrecgular behavior especially his eating habits.

Will do!! Thank you so much!

 

Will do!! Thank you so much!

Good luck and as always pics are always encouraged

 

Ok well!!!!!! Haha here’s the little dude!! I named him Mist because of his awesome translucent fins, and when I put him in the 5 gal I’m going to do an all natural setup with black seiyru stone, black gravel, and a black matte background on the tank to really make the white fin edges pop!!! Also getting some low light, water-nutrient plants like Anubias, Hornwort, maybe java fern, and some floating plants. I will post updates once I finally get that 5 set up! Super excited!!!

 

So today my ammonia is reading at about 0.25 ppm still but my nitrites appear to have gone up since yesterday to about .5-1 ppm. I did do a 30% water change two days ago. Would you recommend another 30% today? Or am I just being too paranoid? Lol

 

So today my ammonia is reading at about 0.25 ppm still but my nitrites appear to have gone up since yesterday to about .5-1 ppm. I did do a 30% water change two days ago. Would you recommend another 30% today? Or am I just being too paranoid? Lol

I don’t do anything less than 50-75% WC’s on any of my tanks. One other thing. Have u tested your source water? And if it’s the API kit the ammonia can sometimes show .25 when it’s really zero. But I would still wait for nitrites to disappear. Doin less than a 50% WC is only cutting your parameters into thirds where as a 50% or more will cut them in half or whatever percentage you do. I would do a 50% add your declorinator and test again tomorrow

 

I don’t do anything less than 50-75% WC’s on any of my tanks. One other thing. Have u tested your source water? And if it’s the API kit the ammonia can sometimes show .25 when it’s really zero. But I would still wait for nitrites to disappear. Doin less than a 50% WC is only cutting your parameters into thirds where as a 50% or more will cut them in half or whatever percentage you do. I would do a 50% add your declorinator and test again tomorrow

Ok!! So I did the 50% WC last night and tested my source water! The tap is bright yellow, clearly no ammonia. BUT I am so glad I did it because it showed just how BARELY green the test comes out for the aquarium water! So the test sheet indicates it is less than or equal to .25 ppm. I tested it again today, 24 hours after the water change, and the aquarium water is still a very lime green, same as yesterday. Nitrites are at about .25. I am thinking another 50% tomorrow may be good to help the bacteria catch up? Or should I test it again tomorrow and only do a 50% WC if the ammonia and nitrite are higher?

 

Test tomorrow and do the WC if its higher. Did you test your PH? I' have heard a low PH can stall a cycle. just adding that in there to cover all parameters.

 

Test tomorrow and do the WC if its higher. Did you test your PH? I' have heard a low PH can stall a cycle. just adding that in there to cover all parameters.

Ok will do! I did test both my aquarium and source water PH. Aquarium is about 8.2 while the tap is 7.8. I talked to my LFS about it and he said that I should let my tap water sit for a couple hours or so with an air stone to settle the PH which I found settles at about 8.0, before putting it into the tank. My water also has high KH and GH. Do you think letting the water sit is important at this point? My concern with that is the temperature will be 4-5 degrees cooler than what is in the aquarium by that point. I am hoping that when I take out the air stone out after the cycle is done (my current plan) it will stay at a steady 8.0. So fortunately I do not have acidic water to start and have high KH to resist drastic changes, but I still want to keep it at a steady 8.0 to avoid shifts with water changes.

Thank you so much for your advice!!!! It has been such a huge help!