Aquarium Cycling with Betta

Hello,

First time posting here, so thanks for any advice.  I've had a male betta for over 1 year now.  He was in a 2.5G filtered/heated aquarium, which I am aware was terribly small for a betta.  I recently acquired a 10G tank.  I have an aquaclear 20 filter on there and it is also properly heated.  The nice lady I bought the tank from also threw in a full spectrum LED hood so I could grow some live plants.  I put 2 hornworts in the tank with him and he seems to approve.  In the small tank I routinely had algae issues, so I included 2 apple snails to work the substrate.  The betta seems ambivalent to the snails or at times mildly intrigued, but he does not attack them.

My question has to do with the cycle.  I've been testing the ammonia levels for the last week with a liquid reagent test kit, and recently the other levels (nitrite, nitrate, hardness, alkalinity and pH) with some strips.

I have yet to detect the presence of any Ammonia or Nitrite, which would feed the nitrate levels.

My question is, should I be doing anything to speed along the cycle, as well, if I have no measurable levels of ammonia or nitrite, should I be doing any water changes.  Aquarium Advisor suggests I do at least a 9% water change based on my stocking level and filter capacity.

Thanks for any advice!

-MegaSnail-

Hello Megasnail and welcome to Canadaquaria. You will find lots of awesome people here.

How long has the new tank been running? It can take 4 to 6+ weeks to complete a full cycle.

AquaAdvisor isn't a terrible program, but it's quite rough in its estimations (sometimes consecutive and sometimes much less so). I would advocate for larger changes per week, particularly during a cycling period. You do have a very low stocking level, which is quite possible while you haven't seen anything showing up for your tests (pending length it's been going).

Seeding new filters with biological filter media from a previously established filter can shave weeks off a cycle. Unfortunately if that original filter has been dry, or without an ammonia source for a short period of time, you may be out of luck. All about patience.

We would love to see some photos of your tank. Consider making a tank journal too. That way everyone can watch your tank's progress.

Welcome MegaSnail,

As was mentioned with such a small bio-load you might not be able getting any measurable levels to detect. Just the same I would do a 25% water change each week to be safe. I am not a big fan of test strips, but some swear by them(not at them).

Good luck

Steve

MegaSnail wrote:My question is, should I be doing anything to speed along the cycle, as well, if I have no measurable levels of ammonia or nitrite, should I be doing any water changes.  Aquarium Advisor suggests I do at least a 9% water change based on my stocking level and filter capacity.

Welcome to the forum MegaSnail,

I don't think that there is a need to "speed" the cycle along. Consider the risk vs benefit of the action, and I would propose to allow the cycle to run its natural course. Water changes do not accelerate the nitrogen process. Why not consider adding more live plants ? They would add more nitrogen absorbing capacity ?