MiniBow 7G Journal

[maxwell1295]

My new (used) 7 gallon MiniBow tank. I wanted to go with something simple so I put in a decent size piece of driftwood to take up some space. The substrate is PFS. At some point, I will be injecting pressurized CO2 using a manifold connected to this tank and my 30 gal tank.



I picked it up earlier in the week (Wednesday) and went right to work. The first thing I did was take out that pinkiish-purpleish-lavender colored gravel.


The tank came with a AquaClear 30 filter and heater.....all for $40 (thank you Craigslist).



Since I already have AC30's on my two 10g tanks, I was able to pull a sponge and biomedia from one of them.

I forgot to take pics of the background. Nothing fancy....it's just a painted glass backround. I taped it off and sprayed on 3 coats of black spray paint. I then added some plants. he Wisteria, Jave Fern, and Alternanthera reineckii (red plant) from my 30gal and picked up a couple of additional plants. One of them is some type of sword and the others (on the right) are stem plants. I could use some help identifying either one of those.



With the addition of the plants, I should be pretty much instantly cycled. I'm going to dose some ammonia tonight and see what happens. As soon as it's ready, I can put my 3 "Betta Girls" in there. Hopefully, the cloudiness will be gone by then.


Details:
Tank: 7gallon MiniBow
Filtration: AquaClear 30 HOB
Lighting: Stock hood w/14W flourescent bulb (T
Substrate: Pool Filter Sand (PFS)
Decorations: Single piece of Malaysian Driftwood
Plants: Wisteria, Java Fern, Argentine Sword, Rotala rotundifolia, Alternanthera reineckii
Occupants: 3 Female Bettas aka "The Betta Girls", 2 Ghost Shrimp
Other: DIY Jello CO2 via fliter intake (2L), VisiTherm Stealth 50w heater

[Glenc]

That is a very cool little tank! Looks great now, only going to get better.

[plecoperson]

Wow-what a pretty tank. You have a real eye for composition.

Shame to lose the purpl-y gravel though-hope you saved it!

[maxwell1295]

Well, the water cleared up overnight. Ammonia/nitrite were 0 in a little over 24hrs. Nitrate is at about 5-10ppm. I added the "Betta Girls" this afternoon along with 2 Ghost Shrimp from my 30gal tank.

So far, so good.....the girls are happy and the plants are doing well. I'm going to wait a while before adding 2 Otos to the tank. That would complete my stocking.

I mixed up a 2L batch of DIY Jello CO2, diffusing it through the AC30 intake. That will have to suffice until I get my pressurized system hooked up. A few updated pics....

[Lonewolfblue]

Very nicely done. Has a very soft, soothing look to it. Love it....

[rich311k]

Very nice. Looks great.

[maxwell1295]

Thanks for the comments. This is the first time I actually sat down and planned a layout ahead of time. I normally do these things on the fly and they don't turn out nearly as well. I kinda surpised myself with this one.

This has inspired me to tackle my next project, that mess of a 30gal tank I have. A substrate change (also to PFS) and re-scaping should be done by the weekend. I want to go for a similar look, but I'll need to add a lot more plants since it's a 30 long. The Minibow is almost square which gives it nice dimensions to work with. IMO long tanks are harder to make look good.

[czcz]

I love how rich and vibrant the color is. Won't the sword grow out the tank?

[maxwell1295]

Originally Posted by czcz

I love how rich and vibrant the color is. Won't the sword grow out the tank?

It just may do that.....if so, I can always replace it with something else and put it in my 30gal. I got it from Petco. It was one of the plants they sell in the plastic containers. It's labled as an "Argentine Sword".

[severum mama]

I really really like what you have done with the tank. Great job!!! I'm sure the betta girls will appreciate all the plants. Looks like a nice place to grow out that sword plant for your 30 gallon.