Me and Ibster...why wait?

[Sinnamingrrl]

My betta "Ibster" has been living in a little betta bowl for awhile now. He and I are sick of it.

Ive setup a 25 gallon tank, added all new gravel, new fake plant, chunk of wood from an old tank, (all rinsed and cleaned before adding) and using a brand new Fluval 3plus, submersible filter. I just got Ibster 2 days ago, (from some guy who ridiculously named him "blue", no offence of course), but i did a little water change of his little bowl and added the little bit of old water to the new tank which is filled mostly with tap water, used cylcle to hopefully speed along the cycle process and aquaplus to remove clorine.

and i wait....

next morning..today...i tested PH and am sitting at a very happy 7.0, temp. of the tank is 75 degrees. Sounds great to me...i would float him in right now, but....

Ive been reading about Nitrates - trits, and ammonia, I have never done anything about either of these things before, no testing no adding nothing. Ive had many other tanks before and they have always been fine, and my fishies live and live happily at that. Whats the deal with ammonia and Nitrates?

Waiting for a response before I let Ibster be free in his nice new BIG tank.

 

[schiejr]

Nitrites, ammonia and nitrates are all byproducts of fish waste so there should be none now. The primary concern is to make sure these stay at safe levels after fish are introduced -avoid overfeeding and overstocking. I would put Ibster in now. If you leave Ibster in the tank alone for 4-6 weeks and do partial water changes, you should have no problems at all.

 

[aquariumfishguy]

Some tap water contains nitrates, but other than that there should be nothing else.

 

[Sinnamingrrl]

yuk

well i put ibster in the tank and yesterday it started getting very cloudy and now it has a green tint to it, what shoud I do?:sad

 

[andytwite]

Firstly, congrats on getting your betta into a really big tank! (for him anyway)

Secondly, if he is the only occupant of that tank, then you will have a hard job cycling it. Compared to the volume of water, he will be producing a negligible ammount of ammonia, which you will then be removing with any water changes.

Personally, I would take Ibster back out of the tank (if he is the only one) and put him back in the betta bowl.....he'll be fine if you do regular water changes and it's only temporary.

Then I'd fishless cycle the big tank and then add your full stock. Read up on fishless cycling here

Also, do some research on "cycling products". I think you'll rapidly come to the conclusion that they are a complete waster of money and actually contain none of the bacteria required for tank cycling....it just isn't possible to keep them in an airtight, unrefridgerated bottle. The ONLY product that has been lab tested with proven results is BioSpira by Marineland........and good luck trying to find that anywhere...

As for your cloudiness, it could be a bacterial bloom, but the fact it is going green sounds like an algae bloom. This usually means: too much light (fluoresent or natural), too many phosphates, introduction of algae from another source (driftwood) that has then multiplied.

As I said, I'd remove Ibster, drain and refill the tank and fishless cycle it. It'll be quicker and less stressful on the fish!

 

[Sensei_the_dojo]

Also remember to do plenty of partial water changes in Ibster's bowl so that ammonia, nitrites and nitrates don't build up there while you're cycling the larger tank. And be very, very careful not to overfeed. In aquaria leftovers = poison as they break down into ammonia, etc.