Tank Cycling

Question
QUESTION: After researching the breaking-in of tanks I'm still a little bit confused.

So the ammonia levels don't show in until after the first three days, then they spike, then fall below zero ppms, right??
It then turns into nitrIte which spikes within another week, then what is a healthy level of nitrIte?
After about a week or longer of nitrIte it creates nitrAte and the nitrate remains in the tank but can be maintained with weekly partial water changes, correct?
I know I have a lot of questions but I impulsively bought a betta, just like a rookie, haha, and am now trying to make things right.
His name is Ruben Blue I have him in a 7 gallon tank, two live plants, filter, rock cave and a light.
I've started out using the Jungle brand plant food and the Jungle brand tank fizzer things to make the water right.
I feed him the Hikari Betta Bio-gold pellets...though he hasn't taken to them very well yet, and every couple of days he gets some live brine shrimp.

So my questions are:
He's okay to be in the take while I'm cycling it, right? Some people have said it's okay and some have said it's not.
Should I add some danios or tetras to help speed along the cycling?
How often should I test the water?
And then if you just have any extra advice, please, please feel free to share it. I believe I am developing an obsession with fish. haha :)


ANSWER: Hi Deb,
 Basically the various nitrates and nitrates and ammonia levels will all rise and then eventually level off. The whole business takes about 6 weeks.  It won't happen at all if there isn't a fish in there eating and making feces for the bacteria to feed on so you need to have the fish in there.  (And yes there are tricks for speeding things up, but why bother?)

 That said, I find people go way overboard on the cycling thing. Basically, if you have a single fish in a tank, put it in there, change 25% of the water once a week, every week and you will be fine.  Don't put in more food than the fish can eat right away, otherwise it will rot and pollute the tank and then you will have troubles.

  As far as testing the water, I maintain approximately 100 aquaria, some as large as 150+ gallons and I NEVER test the water.  Do the water changes, be conservative with the food, and watch your fish and you will do fine.   

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: How long is the water going to be cloudy? I'm scared of it hurting my fish. Is there anything I can do to take the white cloudiness out? Alternatively, is there something I'm doing to make it cloudier than normal? ie...partial water changes.


Answer
Hi Deb,
 The cloudiness is a "bacterial bloom".  It doesn't actually hurt the fish. It just makes the tank unsightly.  It does however tell us that the system is not in balance yet.  Doing
partial water changes is an excellent way to HELP this and definitely won't hurt it.
 There are also some chemicals that you can add to the water, e.g., ACCUCLEAR, that basically clumps up the bacteria and allows it to get stuck on your filter media.  Normally many of the bacteria are too small to be caught by the filter and pass right through.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>