I'm no expert, but this is what I do know.

You're better of going with a larger tank. Ten gallons are hard to maintain and more susceptible to abrupt chemical swings than larger tanks.

If you go with a 10, start with one or two danios or other hardy fish. Then you'll want to do a 10-20% water change once a week. I usually wait 4-6 weeks after putting the danios in to even consider adding any other fish. But I also have live plants in my tank, so that helps with the water quality.

Tracy

Hamburg, NY? I'm in East Aurora! Anyhoo, the larger the tank, the more stable the environment, as "faltered" indicated.

The idea is achieve a filter medium that has adequate "good bacteria" to breakdown wasteproducts. The trouble with a new set up is that the filter medium doesn't have any "good bacteria" and it needs to be developed. What develops it? Wasteproduct producing critters. In this case, fish. Too many fish producing wasteproducts will overwhelm the tank (bioload) and the tank will become cloudy, not to mention toxic. So what you want to do is go slowly and put one fish in and let that one fish produce waste products and trigger the Nitrogen cycle. Buy a test kit and monitor the progress of the cycle. Once the Ammonia spikes and comes down and the Nitrite spikes and comes down, then you can safely add more fish... but again, a little at a time.

hmmmm....I was confused about this issue also--- we had considered setting up a 10 gal tank with a betta for my elderly MIL to give her something to look at, but ditched the idea in part because I just wasn't sure about this whole cycling thing. Plus, from what I had read here, it sounds like you need a tough and tolerant fishy friend or two to start making your "bioload" to get things going.

Is there a way to cycle a 10 gal tank w/o a fish or with only one betta and NOT kill the poor thing? I don't understand how to cycle a tank and not kill someone with all the spiking yukky chemicals. I must be missing something... Help anyone?

Your betta is not going to die if kept alone in a 10 gal tank, the ammount of nitrogenous compounds that could be released by the fish is insignificant.

"Cycling" takes place with aerobic bacteria from the genera Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter, plus nitrogenous compound on which the bacteria feed. Nitrogenous compounds turn into ammonia ( toxic to fish ), then by bacyerial action ammonia is turned into nitrites ( also toxic to fish ) and then into nitrates ( toxic only in high levels ). Without getting into detailed technical data that is what cycling is all about.

Whether the aquarium is 5 or 500 Gals the nitogen cycle
principle does not change. It just takes LONGER to com-
plete the nitrogen cycle with a lighter load. The com-
plete cycle should take in the vicinity of 3-4 weeks.

Fleur [and Raul] are right on. The cycle takes place weather you want it to or not. How long it takes depends on size of tank, bio load [number and size of fish], how much and what kind of fish food you use and probably many other factors. When the ammonia peaks less hardy fish often die. I would guess bettas would be ok for cycling as their sometimes found in mud puddles in their natural habitat. They also can breath air which may help them survive in poor water conditions. My 240 gal sw tank took over 11 weeks to cycle [and i added bacteria].

Yes, you can cycle a tank without fish. If you do a fishless cycle you can add regular household cleaning ammonia to the water...but just be sure it is the kind without detergents or fragrance. You have to take plenty of readings and watch the levels. There is plenty of info on the net about doing a fishless cycle.

James
I'm curious as to why it would take your 240G SW tank that long to cycle?
What kind of animal load? Added bacteria
from a cycled tank or store bought (bottle)? I suppose it
takes a lot of bacteria to populate that size tank.

My flowerhorn, which is a little bit more than an inch, was moved from a 1.5 gallon cracked tank that was still cycling to the 75 gallon, I moved the filter pad mid cycle.

I was hoping not to do a water change and it would cycle by itself without the ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites peaking up high enough to kill my fish. I feed the baby flowerhorn about 4-5 granules a day.

I was in the same mind as cassieinla that perhaps I wouldn't have to do a water change with a super low bioload on this tank and it will cycle well enough with that much water. Any thoughts? Again I repeat, it's about an inch of fish in a 75 gallon tank.

Cassie,

Keeping a single betta in a 10-20 gallon tank will make you quite a few betta lover friends. They do very well when they actually have more room to turn around than a broom in its closet. Just be careful about water flow - They need calmer water (Both to breath from the surface and to sit stress free with low effort).

Live plants change the game. Large amounts of fast growing stem plants (Elodea / Anacharis comes to mind) utilize ammonia/nitrites/nitrates and heavily indent the cycling process. More importantly, so long as they're not decomposing, they're beneficial. Take out dead pieces immediately to prevent nitrate spikes.

It's entirely possible to do - with diligent water changes. (It will obviously use more dechlor - or effort to age tap water) You'll want to test regularly (Daily/every 2-3) to monitor the cycle as you go until it's run its course, and be ready to change water per tests. Feeding very lightly will help prevent spikes. Ammonia spikes still fry gills, you'll need to be careful. Even though they breath from the surface quite a bit, bettas will show stress/develop illness in poor water.

cookie,

FH's are a bit of a strange one in those situations. Quite a few get moved from unexpected spawns to spare dry 55+g tanks with nothing more than a seeded sponge filter and seem to do quite fine. Owners tend to do the discus thing - Frequent large waterchanges + powerfeeding.

The 75 will probably pick up mid cycle with the seeded filter (As long as you kept it wet and in tank water - no chlorinated tap water). You'll likely have to change water since it's a flowerhorn and I'm sure you won't be able to resist feeding it. ;) With an accurate test kit on hand, should end well if you pay attention to water quality.