# Betta and cycling



## FinnFan (Aug 28, 2007)

Hi all  For those of you who don't read the "intro" section, My name is Christina and I rescued my betta, "Finnegan" from a dirty Meijer cup. If you want to see pictures of him, go to my intro, titled "Greets!"

Anyway, onward to my question.

He's in a 2 gallon bowl with gravel and two plants (java fern and anacharis). I am doing daily water chages of about 2 cups. Weekly 100% water changes. Do you think this is enough for a cycle, without harming him? Or do I need to buy some Biospira?

Also... when I clean the entire bowl out, do I dump the gravel out, too? Will that kill the good bacteria that have built up? How do I get the whole bowl extremely clean, without killing the bacteria?

Thanks much


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Unless you have some sort of filter, you can never really cycle the bowl. The gravel really isn't enough surface area. This really isn't a bad thing as long as you can stick to your water change regimen (you can have the water tested to see if your water changes are frequent enough). The smaller the container, the harder to control. When you change all the water, you know he has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and hopefully 0 nitrate (some tap water has nitrate).

If you think that sometime you might miss a week or two or you feel you need to change water less often, I'd recommend a small round sponge filter and a tiny air pump. Even with 100% water changes, a sponge will cycle eventually, but don't reduce your water changes until you know for sure that its complete. bio-spira is a easy way to do that.


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## FinnFan (Aug 28, 2007)

So, bowls don't really cycle, ever? It's a 2 gallon bowl, with about an inch of gravel (in the thickest part). I'm not exactly sure what the surface area is... maybe 9 inches by 6 inches? I've never measured, so this is just a shot in the dark.

I'd like to think I've got a good bacteria system in there, eating up unwanted stuff. But my plan for this particular bowl, was to keep things quite simple. I don't mind the daily changeouts of a cup to a cup and a half. My houseplants love the water. (I'm thinking of getting more houseplants too!)

Thank you for your patience and time in explaining these things.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

It will grow bacteria, but without flow, it most likely won't be enough to handle the waste from your betta. Balanced systems without filters usually have very small animals such as a single shrimp.


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