Quickest way to cycle?

(It’ll take a while before I get to the question but I love reading other people’s stories and you might too, so please bear with me or scroll down until the next paragraph). My older sister had a betta as a class pet in her older years in elementary school. He lived in a large, beautiful planted aquarium in the class, but students were allowed to bring him home in a nice, small, filtered and heated five gallon for two days (I didn’t understand why this short at the time, but I would definitely do this too if I were a fourth grade teacher). He lived for a whopping five years, no he wasn’t replaced by the teacher, while my oldest lived to be three. After this experience, my parents agreed fish were good starter pets. I’ve made many mistakes that have never happened more than twice, such as too high of a water level and over feeding. I’ve been keeping Bettas for five years, not consecutively, but the first two years I did not take the best care of them. The third year, as I was getting older, I obviously realized bowls were not what bettas are supposed to live in. I moved my fish into a ten gallon that I still have today and did the best I could to take care of them. My worst idea was a 3-betta sorority in a 10 gallon. Oops. More recently, for the past two years, I’ve been trying to do my best with a new betta, since I witnessed my last betta’s death only seconds after he had an excruciatingly long seizure. The more research I do, the more I realize I suck at being a good fish mom. I was hoping by now with all of my experience I could move up to saltwater, or at least something with more of a variety than bettas. I’m proud that I know that I am not prepared for this challenge, but hopefully by next year I can take responsibility of a 20-gallon with schooling fish, and of course my beloved bettas. I’m still a student and my parents are done with fish, but I love these fish so much I’m allowed to keep them if I take care of them with what I have. That means no buying new tanks, only new plants, food, decoration, and the essentials like filter cartridges and heaters. I have help with the process of taking the water outside and replacing with fresh water, which means I have to get it done ASAP so my parents aren’t annoyed. I don’t have a spare tank to keep my betta in for full water changes besides small bowls. It also means I have such a short amount of time, like two days, to properly cycle it, and I am disappointed to say I have sadly and guiltily only done a two week cycle once before. This is literally all I had to say:

Is there a quick way to cycle a tank properly enough so that a healthy nitrogen cycle occurs? Ex. Can I opt out on cleaning my decorations so I have beneficial bacteria already set in my tank? And if fish in cycle is an option, how can I do this safely and quickly? I do have an API masterkit.

 

What size tank are you moving from? To which size? Why are you taking the Betta out for water changes? Does he freak out? The quickest way to cycle a slightly bigger tank is to move everything to the new tank. Gravel, deco, filter (NOT with a clean cartridge) and all of the water. Keep and eye on the ammonia levels and do water changes. Do you have Prime water conditioner? This will help protect your fish during any cycling.

 

1. 10 gallon—>10 gallon
2. I take the betta out because it’s hard to add clean water for 100% changes with him in there
3. He doesn’t freak out, my net is large and his fins don’t get caught in it.
4. Water conditioner - Prime Concentrated Conditioner for Marine and Freshwater

Questions: should I add a percentage of the dirty water into the new tank to quicken the cycle?
My gravel gets very dirty because I added a nerite who poops all of the time so should I still not clean it when adding it to a new tank?
My filter cartridge is NASTY
If I have more questions, I’ll just post them in a new thread

 

I would put the betta in your bowl. Add 3/4 of the water into the new tank. Rinse and swish your old filter cartridge as much as you can in the old tank water thats left over. Try to clean it as much as you can. Put it back in the NOT cleaned filter. (I know its nasty) Try to clean the gravel as much as possible before adding it to the other tank. Dont rinse in the sink. Most of your benificial bacteria is in your filter on that cartridge. Some is on the deco and gravel. By not cleaning any of this stuff you most likely will not start to cycle all over again. Should go without a hitch.

Why are you doing 100% water changes? 50-75% is plenty. I dont think you need to take the fish out either.

 

Thank you soooo much, I was planning on cleaning tomorrow so the quick response is appreciated. I'm not sure why I do 100% water changes, I guess it makes me feel good knowing that I have a fresh tank where I have control over what happens to the tank from this point until my next 100%. I do, however, do 10% weekly changes, or something close to that, starting a little while after I clean it so that I don't take out too much of whatever is naturally happening in there. I will definitely start to do 50% changes instead because I think my fish will appreciate less disturbance. If you are reading this, should I add a background? My tank is in my room in indirect light from a window and I have bright blue walls from when I was younger so it's easy to see his reflection. This was such a big help.

 

Just dont throw away the cartridges from now on. Use them until they fall apart or get too clogged to clean. Tear the fabric off and put it in the filter with the new cartridge (for about a month) if you have to replace it. Your BB that eats the ammonia is highly colonized there. Only slightly everywhere else.

I would add a background if he is constantly puffing up at himself. Otherwise its your call.

 

He puffs up at anyone who walks into the room unless it's me. Is that weird? You don't have to answer, just something for me to ponder.

Sh

I would put the betta in your bowl. Add 3/4 of the water into the new tank. Rinse and swish your old filter cartridge as much as you can in the old tank water thats left over. Try to clean it as much as you can. Put it back in the NOT cleaned filter. (I know its nasty) Try to clean the gravel as much as possible before adding it to the other tank. Dont rinse in the sink. Most of your benificial bacteria is in your filter on that cartridge. Some is on the deco and gravel. By not cleaning any of this stuff you most likely will not start to cycle all over again. Should go without a hitch.

Why are you doing 100% water changes? 50-75% is plenty. I dont think you need to take the fish out either.

Should I just stop doing 100% all together, or should those become yearly things. In the future, I will definitely take the time to fully let a tank cycle the way it’s supposed to.

 

I know a lot of people do like 50% a week 75% once a month. I have never done a 100% water change. I do 50% once a week. Gravel vac while Im in there. As long as its every week it seems to work fine for me. It kind of depends on what stock you have also.

 

I know a lot of people do like 50% a week 75% once a month. I have never done a 100% water change. I do 50% once a week. Gravel vac while Im in there. As long as its every week it seems to work fine for me. It kind of depends on what stock you have also.

Ok.

 

Goldfish and Small tetras are going to have massively different bio loads. Know what I mean? A single betta is a pretty low bio load.

 

Goldfish and Small tetras are going to have massively different bio loads. Know what I mean? A single betta is a pretty low bio load.

I see. Also, I’m thinking about getting tetras in the near future. Since they are schooling fish, would I quarantine them together so they don’t get stressed?

 

Yeah for sure.... How many quarantine tank do you have? lol

 

Lol