SuomiBetta
Aquarium Advice Freak
Hi everyone,
I'm restarting my 5 gal tank (equipment: tetra whisper 10i internal power filter, hydor 25w heater and a Balinese Dragon bubbler ornament) after a community tank failure (I give details in my introduction but quick synopsis: fatal secondary fungal infection with unknown initial infection that did not respond to combined Melafix, Pimafix and Aquarium salt. Also, these were Petsmart fish so who knows what happened to them) so I'm running the tank without fish and my test results are: gH 40 ppm, kH: 0 ppm , NO3: 0 ppm, NO2: 0 ppm, pH: 6.5. I used the API water softener pillow to soften the water as the test results (API's 5 in 1 strips) gave me a gH of >180 ppm which is insane for just about most fish. I thought of adding baking soda (Arm and Hammer) to the tank to boost the kH as Tetra's Easy Balance Plus is doing little to nothing to keep the tank stable. I'm hoping to add one very spoiled betta to this tank (who will be named Ragnar the Mighty) and I'd like some guidelines from more experienced betta keepers as to what parameters would be ideal for a happy, healthy betta.
I've been restocking the tank with bacteria and letting it run without fish to try and attain a steady water chemical profile before getting my fish and also to make sure that there's no remaining pathogens left over.
I'm restarting my 5 gal tank (equipment: tetra whisper 10i internal power filter, hydor 25w heater and a Balinese Dragon bubbler ornament) after a community tank failure (I give details in my introduction but quick synopsis: fatal secondary fungal infection with unknown initial infection that did not respond to combined Melafix, Pimafix and Aquarium salt. Also, these were Petsmart fish so who knows what happened to them) so I'm running the tank without fish and my test results are: gH 40 ppm, kH: 0 ppm , NO3: 0 ppm, NO2: 0 ppm, pH: 6.5. I used the API water softener pillow to soften the water as the test results (API's 5 in 1 strips) gave me a gH of >180 ppm which is insane for just about most fish. I thought of adding baking soda (Arm and Hammer) to the tank to boost the kH as Tetra's Easy Balance Plus is doing little to nothing to keep the tank stable. I'm hoping to add one very spoiled betta to this tank (who will be named Ragnar the Mighty) and I'd like some guidelines from more experienced betta keepers as to what parameters would be ideal for a happy, healthy betta.
I've been restocking the tank with bacteria and letting it run without fish to try and attain a steady water chemical profile before getting my fish and also to make sure that there's no remaining pathogens left over.
But I believe Petsmart keeps their bettas in very soft water with a neutral to slightly basic pH (so maybe 7.0 to 7.6 on the pH scale) Aside from the obviously abusive containers they keep them in...I don't know what their water parameters are. I'm just trying to get the tank stable without the fish so that wild swings don't kill him. Perhaps I should cycle with some Zebra Danios to get a better idea? I've been looking everywhere for what an ideal betta tank's water parameters should be but the only answer I kept getting was "Bettas are very hardy fish and as long as they're in a properly sized tank with very clean water they'll be fine"
