New Betta! (tank upgrade, page 4)

[wystearya]

Right, I plan to remove any dead/dying plant matter promptly. 

I also remove any poo I see quite regularly, daily if I see it out in the open.

I don't plan to add anything other than the duckweed I have until after the duckweed is growing well.  And then only some other 'easy' plant. 

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Post Merge: December 22, 2016, 11:56:56 AM

You all got into my head!  (lol)

Next payday I will be getting a small air pump and some stones.   
(And a check valve, and a regulator valve, and air tubing.)

I think I am just sorta mad at myself for tossing out all my old aquarium equipment.  I *had* this stuff!  But I guess with the stress of moving I just got to the point of 'throw it all away'! 

Ah well, at least the stuff will be nice and new.  And clean! 

[Noxxbunny]

That feeling is why I now hoard all my aquarium equipment even when I'm not using it. I know that would happen to me too. The second I get rid of it...I know I'll need it. I haven't used my little 2.5 gallon tank in over a year, but I have it!

Oh, aside from anubias nana being easy, check to see if your local stores sell marimo moss balls. The only care they need is for you to roll them around once a month or so. And they'll live for years. Occasionally, bettas even like to roll them and play with them themselves. I know Petco even sells them as a "betta buddy" now. I have them in all my tanks minus my crayfish tank. Since my crayfish would just go all Edward Scissorhands on it.

[wystearya]

lol yup.  I am going to scour my boxes one last time, but I don't think I kept *any* of my stuff.  (That will teach me!  lol)

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I hope it's ok I link to this, its a neat looking DIY sponge filter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmXWmgOJAcY

Or this one (minus the charcoal):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkmUUo3xMEI

I am thinking about doing one of these!

[lostpony]

Good finds!

The 1" tube greatly improves the efficiency by creating a clear in/out flow so be sure to inlude that.

The first one lacks a method to keep the airstone from creeping up out of the filter, and using a heavier airstone that the cheapie they show will help or you might need to secure the tube at the top of the tank with a very gentle clip or some tape.  Otherwise the weight of the airtube outside the tank will tend to pull the airstone up inside the tank.

Don't use polyfill intended for craft, that could have who knows what poisons!  What a dangerous suggestion.  Get floss from the aquarium store, it's super cheap and intended for use in aquariums.

Both these designs have a huge advantage over a lot of production sponge filters and that's that they have a contained vessel that when lifted out of the water isn't going to dump all the waste right back into the tank.  Also they look nice and natural.

If you do use carbon ever, just use carbon never that white ammonia absorber junk the second video shows, that deprives your beneficial bacteria of the ammonia it feeds on and will suppress the development of your biofilter.  Regardless of the stated 30 days for carbon replacement, never leave carbon in there for more than a week because it will concentrate bad stuff, then release it again so get it out of there as soon as it's done its job....usually to remove medications or something.  If things are healthy, it should never be needed.

In my 5 gallon reef, I only occasionally had any mechanical filtration for a day or two if I had a lack of water clarity, and I used a piece of that 1" tubing, a little speck of that floss and an airstone only, and had to lower in a cup to remove it so it wouldn't dump the waste back in.

Don't forget to share pics of your finished results pleeeeze....have fun!

[wystearya]

Don't use polyfill intended for craft, that could have who knows what poisons!  What a dangerous suggestion.  Get floss from the aquarium store, it's super cheap and intended for use in aquariums.

I was going to ask if there was a specific type of material I should be using since it will be in the tank.   
Thank you!

I already have a small glass jam jar (fully rinsed) and some unused gravel.  I'll just need the rest.  Though if a find a cute glass container, I may get that too.  Payday is next week, so unless I happen to get some surprise cash for Christmas I doubt I will get anything before then.  But at least I can plan ahead!

I have an idea for securing the airline tube, and if it works I will share pics of that too.     If not I am sure I can rig up something.  I already have clear packing tape holding the light and heater cords together on the outside of the tank.  lol

I will be sure to share pics! 

[lostpony]

One of the best parts of aquarium keeping is figuring out how to do things better and cheaper than off-the-shelf equipment.

[tikibirds]

tikibirds - It will be interesting to see if Opalescent changes color with time!  I'll update if he does!

Also, I am not sure about the 'bite' mark.  All I know is if you could fill that in, he would look 100% normal.  No abnormalities at all.  His spine is very straight, you can see it in the right light.  So, I don't know.  *shrug*
Not that it matters really, I would never try to breed him, he is just my pretty pet.   

Some of them have a "gene" that is called the marble gene. I don't know the scientific name but in forums we just call it the marble gene. Basically it means that the fish will start one color and change over time to another color. It's pretty cool.

I did find some very interesting information about filterless tanks:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/beginner-freshwater-aquarium/standalone-nitrogen-cycle-aka-cycling-plantless-185561/

As I had known/suspected, you don't have to have a filter to hold the nitrogen cycle.  The bacteria will grow all over the tank itself and any and all décor.

Add some plants, do regular small-ish water changes, and your good to go.
Plants give off oxygen, so I see no need for air stones.  >> Just my personal stance on this!

Are you talking about natural planted tanks? You can do a cycle with just planted tanks but from from what I have read, certain plants work much better for this then others. I tried it but I couldnt keep the plants alive. I dont think I had the right type of bulb for the plants.

bettas breath air from the surface via a labyrinth organ so they don't really need airstones. I think Gournami fish are the same.

[lostpony]

Full spectrum is very important for plants so that's a common place where things go wrong.

I don't know about these days, but aquarium bulbs used to be either completely inadequate or ridiculously expensive.  I found regular "daylight" bulbs for standard lighting worked very well, and are dirt cheap in 4 foot fluorescent tubes but to take advantage of that you need a bigger tank that is four feet long.

There's a lot of cool LED lighting available now that might be good enough for plants.  LEDs are a total revolution to so many things now.

While some fish have labyrinth organs that let them breathe air from the surface, the nitrifying bacteria need oxygen too and if there is a lack of oxygen a lot of really bad things can happen.  I knew someone who ran an aquarium store that had a methane bubble form in his deep gravel that had become oxygen deprived, and when the single bubble came up within minutes all life in the tank had died.  I've never had that experience because I've always been obsessive about oxygenation in aquarium-keeping.

[tikibirds]

I have heard about the methene bubbles thing but I though that was only a problem with planted tanks.

My hood uses the long tubes and I discovered they are much cheaper at hardware stores then at pet stores. I think I have a T8 bulb. I think if you seriusly want plants, then you need a T12 bulb or whatever they are called. All my plants died while I was away but if I do plants again, I think I will stick with the "low light" species like Anubias and water lillies grew really well too. Amazon Swords did OK.

Wysteria - Have you ever heard of Aquabid? its like Ebay but for the fish world. You may be able to find some neat things on there for plants and such. My local selection is pretty bad so I usually ordered my plants/snails and sometimes fish from AB. There is also a popular planted tank aquarium forum but I forget the name. I normally just went to a betta fish forum when I needed advice but not everyone knows what they are talking about on there, especially when it comes to the treatment of illneses.

[lostpony]

When I had a rectangular 55 gallon I used Philips DX-40 daylight bulbs from Home Depot and they were great for all plants and cost very little.  They are also wonderful for taking pictures and just having good comfortable light in your living space.

I've never really end up with a lot of plants though as I usually end up with fish that chew them up when they get big enough, and mostly use the strong lighting to grow algae, which does great things for the habitat, and have plecostamuseses to eat the algae and then the mechanical filtration picks up their waste.

My Comets are currently outside so my algae cycle is fed quite nicely by natural sunlight which avoids the whole issue of artificial lighting.  In my old 5 gallon reef I used the little fluorescent cartridge lights because none of the tube lighting had enough watts in that small size and I think if I were to set up a new reef some of the LED options might be pretty exciting.

A caution on adding new life to the tank...even plants can come with new pests and the majority of fish death I dealt with over time was usually because of something riding in on new plants or fish (especially if you get a new fish here or there from aquariums stores that generally do a poor job of quarantine and sometimes sell diseased fish and not everything is curable and can take out everything you have) so for me the rule is to add things all at once from the same source but this of course also brings problems of adding so much all at once.  Kinda why I've ended up with the Comets I started with this time around.

[wystearya]

I will answer questions a little later, we are just crazy around here today.

 But I did want to share the following:

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Guess who got *just* enough money to do the pump and sponge filter!   

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Supplies - This is actually after I had began to set up making the filter.  That is why the rocks are open and it looks like there is hardly any tubing.

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I searched high and low for rigid, clear tubing...  This is the best I could do.
Thank you Hobby Lobby, lol!

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With a T connector and the included flow control I made a bleeder valve.  That way there is no back pressure on the air pump.

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I didn't think to take a pic before placing this into the tank, I was just excited!
I got the glass container at Hobby Lobby.  It was a bit smaller (and cuter) than my jam jar.

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New front view of the tank.  Opalescent is looking at me, not sure he was happy about me rearranging things. 

Post Merge: December 26, 2016, 02:03:31 PM

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PS - Look who is already checking out the filter:

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[tikibirds]

He looks happy 

[DazzleKitty]

Opal is a super pretty betta!

I remember my favorite betta I had (he remains nameless, LOL), he started out white with VERY faint pink accents and over time started to turn more pink.

Sadly, he met his fate when I was cleaning his tank and accidently dropped him down the garbage disposal.   Yeah, its embarrassing but true. It wasn't a happy day.

[lostpony]

sorry bout that DazzleKitty.  I've had my share of mishaps and it's always a sad day.

[wystearya]

DazzleKitty - I hate that happened to you!  Mistakes happen, now that I am older and wiser I shudder to think about how I kept fish when I was younger.  (No heat, etc..)

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I had heard of Aquabid, just never tried it.

But yes, I do know about quarantining live plants!  I got a rather 'lovely' ( ) infestation of snails from a plant once.  *ugh*

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No pics yet, but Opalescent has a new permanent home... a nice glass 5 gallon tank!  Just got it today!  (With some late Christmas money. Yay!)
I am using the same filter and heater, just got a new tank.  Oh, and one of those Betta Bed leaves too.