Betta Tank Water?

Hello! I found a completely clean, fully operational 2.5G minibow in my basement and I have got the perfect space for it in my room. I am wondering if I can shorten the cycle time if I fill it with water from my 29G tank. I'm not asking if I simply don't need to cycle it, but if I can possibly shorten the cycling time

Thanks in advance!

 

Put a heater in there and raise the temp to 80 and add some fish food .The fish food will allow algae in the tank .Dont add condotioners in the tank until done cycling .I read that on a forum last week as I started cycling my new 60 gallon tank . I am also growing foreground and plants in the tank .Idk how effective this all actually is but that's what I read .

Although you have a 2.5g idk of the heater temp that high would be necessary .If anyone else has more insight they may be more of help .

 

beneficial bacteria doesn't live in the water, so using water from your tank won't do anything. your best option is to use filter media from your established tank and put it in your new tank.

 

Sorry, I misunderstood your question .

 

Little fry babies it's okay, you still gave good advice! higher temperatures do tend to speed up a cycle as well.

RainBetta i've heard that it's much harder to cycle a smaller tank, so it might take longer than average if you can't use seeded media. but I think if you do use seeded media, it could potentially instantly cycle your small tank. i'm not 100% sure if that's true though.

 

Little fry babies it's okay, you still gave good advice! higher temperatures do tend to speed up a cycle as well.

RainBetta i've heard that it's much harder to cycle a smaller tank, so it might take longer than average if you can't use seeded media. but I think if you do use seeded media, it could potentially instantly cycle your small tank. i'm not 100% sure if that's true though.

What’s the rationale for a smaller tank possibly taking longer to cycle? I know you just heard this anecdotally but wonder if they also gave a reason.

 

Willed i'm really not sure, or at least I can't recall at the moment, but i've read it several times (like 10+) on this forum that it takes longer for really small tanks, like under 5 gallons. maybe because less volume makes things much more sporadic? it might be harder to control ammonia and other spikes, etc.

 

Thank you midna

 

Majority of the bacteria is in the filter media and not in the water so transfering the water will not really help. It's better to transfer a portion of the filter media from your older tank to "instantly" cycle the other tank.

 

Willed i'm really not sure, or at least I can't recall at the moment, but i've read it several times (like 10+) on this forum that it takes longer for really small tanks, like under 5 gallons. maybe because less volume makes things much more sporadic? it might be harder to control ammonia and other spikes, etc.

Oh that makes sense. I have learned here that’s a benefit of big tanks, bad things take longer to get out of control.

 

Smaller tanks don’t take longer to cycle. They cycle normally if you just allow nature take its route normally. My former 2G tank cycled in 6 weeks. I had a single filter in it and some substrates and my paradise fish. It lived well I there but I had to move it to a big tank after I got advise from the lovely Fishlore fam.

 

I also have read that smaller tanks take more time. I think I read that on the forum that I found the heater and fish food advice from as well . Makes sense to me!

Willed i'm really not sure, or at least I can't recall at the moment, but i've read it several times (like 10+) on this forum that it takes longer for really small tanks, like under 5 gallons. maybe because less volume makes things much more sporadic? it might be harder to control ammonia and other spikes, etc.

Smaller tanks don’t take longer to cycle. They cycle normally if you just allow nature take its route normally. My former 2G tank cycled in 6 weeks. I had a single filter in it and some substrates and my paradise fish. It lived well I there but I had to move it to a big tank after I got advise from the lovely Fishlore fam.

I agree with that, too .But it does take a little longer for them to cycle. Stranger things have happened, I guess. Lol .

 

Any thoughts on Tetra SafeStart?

 

beneficial bacteria doesn't live in the water, so using water from your tank won't do anything. your best option is to use filter media from your established tank and put it in your new tank.

I wouldn't say it won't do anything. It will probably help a little but not much.

Any thoughts on Tetra SafeStart?

Safe Start works very well but you have to shake the daylights out of it before using it.

 

Safe Start works very well but you have to shake the daylights out of it before using it.

Okay, thanks! I've read mixed reviews about how successful it actually is, so that probably had to do with the "mixed" reviews

 

I wouldn't say it won't do anything. It will probably help a little but not much.


Safe Start works very well but you have to shake the daylights out of it before using it.

At first I thought that Dch48 quoted my post. I didn't realize that midnaposted almost the same thing before me. LOL

 

Thoroughly rinse established filter media, like a sponge, in the 2.5g while the new filter is running. After the muck clears up, add your fish. Do a partial water change if you have to, since it’s a small tank.