2.5 gallon mini-bow

[Trubador]

Just received a 2.5 gallon mini-bow aquarium with Whisper Quiet filter and lamp. Here's what I have done so far so you have background for possible future advice:

Put gravel in bottom along with fake plant
Added tap water to fill along with tap water conditioner
Ran filter and lamp for 24 hours
Added one betta fish two days ago
fed lightly once per day

Questions:

I guess that by default I am now in a fishey cycle, and I want to make sure I don't kill the fish

Should I do 30% water changes weekly?

Since I only have one betta fish in the tank, will the biological population that builds up in the filter, gravel, walls, etc... be enough to keep the levels of nitrite and ammonia at zero?

Should I be doing anything else besides changing the water weekly?

Did I make a major screw up by adding the fish after 24 hours to a new tank? This is exactly what the fish store guy said to do, but some quick research in google has me questioning the fish store advice.

How long will it take to cycle the tank this way?

 

[Trubador]

Also, I think I understand the process of water changes, but I have heard talk of cleaning the tank as well. This has me confused, because If I wash down the walls of the tank and the gravel etc...don't I end up removing all the beneficial bacteria that has built up?

 

[spirals]

I'm assuming by cleaning the tank they just meant wiping algae/gunk off the walls and cleaning the same stuff off small areas of filter. That won't harm the bacteria bed because it would mostly be in the filter and the gravel.
Keep an eye on the ammonia/nitrites/nitrates and be diligent about your water changes and you should be ok

 

[Marinemom]

Cleaning the walls of the tank to remove algae and gunk is fine. The good bacteria is mostly in the filter and on the gravel so don't worry about that. Just keep testing your water daily and do water changes as needed and you will be able to keep the levels safe enough for the betta during the cycling process. Usually a fishy cycle takes anywhere from 4-8 weeks and sometimes longer.

Good luck with it and keep us posted on the progress.

Marinemom

 

[Trubador]

Cleaning the walls of the tank to remove algae and gunk is fine. The good bacteria is mostly in the filter and on the gravel so don't worry about that. Just keep testing your water daily and do water changes as needed and you will be able to keep the levels safe enough for the betta during the cycling process. Usually a fishy cycle takes anywhere from 4-8 weeks and sometimes longer.


Good luck with it and keep us posted on the progress.

Marinemom

So, even in my small 2.5 gallon tank, a cycle will occurr? And is something I should test for? Some places have me believe I don't need to do anything but change 50% of the water every week or two. There is so much information out there that I have myself thoroughly confused, overwhelmed and nervous about this supposedly simple to maintain betta fish.

 

[Trubador]

I just measured ammonia and nitrite for the first time. The fish has been in the tank for two days now. Ammonia concentration was 1.0 ug/l and nitrite concentration was 0.25 ug/l.

I siphoned out about 1/2 of the water and then refilled it with the same temperature treated tap water. I measured the concentrations about an hour later and ammonia is down to 0.5 ug/l and nitrite was somewhere just above zero.

does this sound normal? Is this good that I have some ammonia and nitrite, in other words that the nitrite wouldn't be there at all unless some bacteria was present to consume the ammonia and produce nitrite?

I am sure glad i checked though, even after just two days, some ammonia was present. i hope the little guy is Ok, especially since I still have 0.5 ug/l.

I think i should do another 50% change tomorrow night, what do you think?

 

[Trubador]

Well, I couldn't wait. O.5 ug/l seemed high to me to leave alone, so last night I did yet another change. But this time I changed about 85% of the water. I also tested my tap water to make sure I didn't have any ammonia in it. I don't.

Now to see how long it takes for ammonia to show up again. I sure hope it's at least several days, I hate to think that I'm going to have to do daily water changes for a fish that I was told was low maintenance.