Setting up 3 Gallon Eclipse

[slk]

Hi. I've just purchased a 3 gallon eclipse aquarium for my office desk, and hope to have a betta move in soon. However, I find that I'm confused on the issue of cycling. Is it necessary to cycle such a small aquarium before putting the fish in? If so, it seems to me that fishless cycling is the way to go -- does anyone have any experience with fishless cycling with this small a tank? The (very brief) instructions that came with the aquarium don't mention cycling -- they just say let the aquarium run for 24 hours, then add fish. Or do they mean add fish for cycling???
Also, I know that the 3 gallon is really just big enough for the 1 betta; does anyone have any suggestions as to whether it would be possible/advisable to also put in a snail or a ghost shrimp or maybe a dwarf cory cat for clean-up purposes?
As I'm very eager to actually get the fish into the aquarium in the near future, any tips that can be offered would be greatly appreciated.

[bettalvr]

SLK, WELCOME to the forum. We're glad you're here!

As for the cycling, check out the Nitrogen Cycle thread that Fishmomma posted. It will help you. You'll need to keep a close check on your water parameters for a month or so and do frequent partial water changes during this time. It can be done tho! My spouse set up a 75g and 24 hrs. later added quite a few fish and has yet to lose one. . .but he stayed on top of the water chemistry testing and acted accordingly.

As for the snail, an apple snail would do well in your tank. Will help keep it clean and not grow too big. They're great with bettas!

[slk]

Thanks for the quick reply, bettalvr. I have read the Nitrogen Cycle thread, and it is really helpful, but then I've also read references to it being impossible or very hard to cycle such a small tank.
With the snail, another thing that I've read is that they can really increase the level of let's say "the biological waste" in a tank. That's why I was wondering if perhaps the cory cat or ghost shrimp would be better.

[BettaLu&Meg]

welcome to the forum slk, i'm bettalu the breeder/mod here.

as for your tank usually 24 hours of cycling even in smaller aquariums is enough time to add your betta into, i think, and don't quote me on this, with smaller tanks 1-5gallons it ususally roughly takes about 36 hours to completely cycle, depending on room temps and lighting. I would say it would be safe for you to put in your betta in that time is your tanks water was contioned, and/or was conditioned with bacteria(sold in the water conditioner aisle), the bacteria conditioner is just like regular conditioner but it helps add beneficial bacteria and helps cycle the tanks quicker.
As for the snails, i'm personally a big fan of the golden apple snail or the RamsHorn snails being in the tanks. I have them in both my community tanks and my breeders tank. They help tremendously with cleaning everything in there path. From algae to extra food, missed from being cleaned. The downfall with snails is that they produce waste almost immediatly, which isn't harmful to the betta but can get messy if left to clean once a week. Cories on the other hand i used, and was actually annoyed on there "cleaning" job. The snails did a absolute better job in cleaning than the cories did.
as for the shrimps...be careful with getting this for your tank, so some shrimp and bettas can get along. small enough shrimp will end up in your bettas belly the first chance it gets.

[Emenon]

you'll probably need 4 corys to equal the cleaning potential of 1 golden apple snail.

[BettaLu&Meg]

that i definitly believe emenon! apple snails do such an amazing job! wierd looking but a good job

[slk]

Thanks very much for the help. I think I will go with the snail (although I have to say that I think those little corys are very cute!)

I would be interested in hearing from anyone else in this forum who has used the 3 gallon eclipse system -- specifically whether they found that it cycled quickly, and whether they've found it as easy to clean/maintain as the instruction manual indicates. I did quite a bit of research into small tanks before purchasing it, and thought it seemed perfect for what I need. So I'll just fill it with the conditioned water and keep my fingers crossed!

[BettaLu&Meg]

yes also did you take a look at the thread under the health section i created for the new betta owner, or for the "not knowing how to properly care for your betta, memebers"? if not definitly check those out, also under the feeding section on the forum i posted a thread on how-to feed them and why

[bettalvr]

Luis, I'm curious, do you remember where you got the information on 36 hours to cycle a tank? If it's an article, please post the link. I'd like to read it.

Glad to see you on here!

[BettaLu&Meg]

thanks i'm feeling alot better now and i'm going to try to stay away from those hospitals from now on, Being that i still didn't pass them all, the hospitals heres suck and they basically rushed me out not giving me anything for this! i read it and ways to cycle tanks quicker i will try to find it again but i did see other users doing ways to speed up the process with live plants and such, here's one of the articles about cycling if i find where that person said it took almost less than 2 days to be safe enough to put his... i actually dont remember what type it was, but she said it was testing levels as a week old tank would. Don't quote me on this but i think it was on maybe yahoo questions or something of that type of site.