Fixing up the 10 gallon

dvd_wightman

dvd_wightman

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Dec 18, 2006
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Springfield, New Jersey
Once my Betta died about two months ago, I quit fish keeping for a little while due to my tough schedule. Now things have calmed down, and I would like to start again. I have a 10 gallon tank and will be buying a new filter and heater sometime next week. I would like to try fishless cycling, but not exactly sure how. I know to use pure ammonia, but I have a few questions.

1. Do I use water conditioner while cycling?
2. Should I do water changes, and if so how often and how much water?
3. Once the cycle is done, how big of a water change do i do?

Any help and or articles would be appreciated. Thanks for the help!
 
dvd_wightman said:
1. Do I use water conditioner while cycling?
2. Should I do water changes, and if so how often and how much water?
3. Once the cycle is done, how big of a water change do i do?
Click to expand...

If you do not have fish in the cycle, you dont need conditioner because the conditioner is purely to help the fish.
 
Last edited:
Good choice :)

1. no need for conditioner - no fish
2. no water changes until you see lots of nitrates
3. cycle is done when you have seen ammonia, then ammonia and nitrites, then 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and a big load of nitrates (15 - 20 ppm). Then, you celebrate :) do one big water change (90%), refill, and add fish :)
 
hendrixpujols11 said:
If you do not have fish, you dont cycle, which should answer the first to.
?
Click to expand...

you can cycle without fish, as I think you already know, but you need a source of ammonia...I used fish food and some old filter media...there are people here who can advise on available ammonia sources in your area - not every product containing ammonia is good for aquarium use

and the stickie threads here are great for info on cycling etc
 
hendrixpujols11 said:
If you do not have fish in the cycle, you dont need conditioner because the conditioner is purely to help the fish.
Click to expand...

If you don't condition the water the chlorine will kill the bacteria; thus, you completely mess up the cycle by not using a dechlorinator.
 
agreed, i did a fishless cycle once and would never get rid of the ammonia, very frustrated, later on found out that the chlorine killed the bacteria.
 
You can get some bio-spira which has active live bacteria in it to jump start an uncycled tank. It does tend to be a bit pricey though. You can also put some fish food in the tank as if you have fish in the tank. The decomposing food will act in the same way as the bio-spira and help to cycle the tank. With no fish in the tank, you can let the levels get quite high.

Marinemom
 
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