Small fresh water quality issues

[Pearly]

And about little platty girl... Was better this am so I fed them their usual breakfast (betta pellets and tetra tropical flakes) she ate great and noticed she goes after the betta boy's food! Also got bag of frozen peas and fixed one for them as some of you guys suggested (microwave for 10-15 sec, take skin off, break up into tiny pieces)... They went crazy for it!!!!! So question now: how many of those peas and how often can I feed them? The only other this they jump on like this is the frozen brine shrimp so they think it's a treat, but how much is not too much???

 

[Alyxx]

Thank you! Made trip to Lfs in a hurry this am, literally. Was so rushed got speeding ticket on my way there! 3rd one in 5 months! Never had any tickets! But anyway, ended up getting sand for the new "used tank" and no, would not take chances with used substrate. Got sand and some stones to anchor plants down. Ran out of time tonight, can't wait to set it up. Thank you for your expertly advice. Very much appreciated

Better watch those tickets! They get expensive quick!
Now remember, rinse the crap out of that sand. Then rinse it again! If small dust particles end up still in the tank, it will get cloudy and it can take a while to settle. And you run the risk of clouding later on if you stir it up. I made that mistake in my 56 gallon - I got black blasting sand, which is notoriously dusty, and I didn't quite rinse it enough. So water changes will sometimes stir up the dust. It won't hurt anything but it is annoying. Also, if your water clouds up when you fill the tank (the water hitting the sand directly will stir it up, and some lighter bits of sand may stay in the water column for a while) don't turn the filter on until it is mostly settled. Sand can damage filters if they suck too much of it up. Once the tank is filled up for the first time this shouldn't really be a problem later. Since the tank is used, clean it well with hot water and vinegar before you start setting it up. Then rinse really well. What kind of plants did you get?
Setting up new tanks is so much fun!

 

[Pearly]

Well, still have not set up the tank!!! Too many sick people around? And yes? Vert much looking forward to doing it. The plants are: 1) anubia, windelov java fern, green cryptocoryne, wisteria, also got tall mossy/grassy/ferny cuttings from lfs (can't recall name of it) also got little "fallen flat boulder upon 2 rocks forming like natural bridge (it's resiny-something, they didn't have drifteood, but I'll keep looking. Also got couple of small bright colored fake plants just to help bring out the beautiful colors of the fish in natural looking tank otherwise. For substrate got light colored sand (not white) and few polished stones for plant anchoring. If I could just get at least 3-4 of sleep tonight (worn our after last night!. Then maybe Easter weekend I could get things going. Well if no time for me to check in here in next few days happy Easter to everyone out there.