# Help me cycle my new aquarium, please!



## ohmyfish (Feb 20, 2010)

Hello friends!  I'm back in the fish game and found GTA Aquaria by googling "Biospira". lol I'm starting completely from scratch here. My last aquarium was just 5 gallons and was without a heater. That was my best attempt.  After a year, I'm back in the game.

Let's get straight to the business...  

I just bought a 12 gallon Marineland Eclipse (the glass one), a heater, and 'Estes' marine sand that is safe for freshwater tanks. It has been running for three days with the heater at *78 degrees, a bio-wheel, the standard cartridge, and a decent water flow that shows many tiny oxygen bubbles throughout the tank. Water is dechlorinated. I've left the fluorescent light on for 1-2 hours each day for viewing. My water is clear.

Question 1: I want to cycle my tank but am unsure which route to take. I plan on just buying female bettas. I do like mollies and guppies though. I will likely stick to hardy fish and only a few. With that knowledge, would you suggest a fish cycle or fishless cycle?

Question 2: I could really use some used media. Where could I obtain some in Toronto? Is anyone offering?

Question 3: Do they sell any bottled bacteria in Toronto? Does Big Al's sell any?

Question 4: Can you cycle with 1 male betta? If not, why not?

Lastly, I would like to say hello to everyone! I appreciate this forum. More importantly, I appreciate our fish and I hope to become a better fish keeper. Like many, I neglected my fish and was ignorant of certain things. I still am. I'm here to learn and keep fish happy. If I can only accomplish my first cycle...


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

ohmyfish said:


> Question 1: I want to cycle my tank but am unsure which route to take. I plan on just buying female bettas. I do like mollies and guppies though. I will likely stick to hardy fish and only a few. With that knowledge, would you suggest a fish cycle or fishless cycle?


I would go with a fishless cycle. This is to prevent unnecessary stress on fish. For example, if you were to buy a Betta that you wanted now, and used it to cycle, it would cause undue stress on it, possibly shortening its lifespan.



ohmyfish said:


> Question 2: I could really use some used media. Where could I obtain some in Toronto? Is anyone offering?


You may want to post in the Swap and Shop to see if anyone is selling some media and/or willing to trade some of their old media to help you seed your filter.



ohmyfish said:


> Question 3: Do they sell any bottled bacteria in Toronto? Does Big Al's sell any?


There has been some debate about whether bottled bacteria are truly effective or not. I have read that Biospira is the only one that works, but more often than not, reports regarding the product's efficacy have been conflicting. The easiest (and cheapest) way is to just skip out on bottled bacteria.



ohmyfish said:


> Question 4: Can you cycle with 1 male betta? If not, why not?


You can, but as I suggested above, I would recommend a fishless cycle.



ohmyfish said:


> Lastly, I would like to say hello to everyone!


Welcome to the GTA forums!


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## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

I agree with the above.

Fishless cycling is the way to go... With the amount of time and money you'll probably end up investing to keep your fish healthy, why purposely expose them to ammonia and nitrites when it could have been avoided?

Other benefit is that after the fishless cycle you can stock more at once. Still a good idea to increase stock slowly though.


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