planted 10g betta tank

[blizowman1]

Opaque bottles?? Oh and I put a background on the 10g today....

 

[UnarmedCrayon]

Looks really good to my eye! Amazing deep blue color on your fish, the black makes him pop

 

[Fresh2o]

Opaque bottles?? Oh and I put a background on the 10g today....

The Glutaraldehyde will break down when exposed to light.
The background makes your plants stand out.

 

[blizowman1]

Yea I'm glad I put it on lol and ill be glad to get a bag of Eco causes stems won't stay planted in this gravel.... And my beta is just a good ol Walmart fish lol..... Does anyone keep shrimp of any kind with there bettas.... The 10g seems so empty with just little ol him in there

 

[blizowman1]

Ok so new question lol I've used eco complete on my 90g since I set up the tank..... In this 10g should I use eco or should I give flourite sand a try. I can get eco on amazon for 20 bucks for a 20lb bag. And the flourite is 25 for a 15lb bag.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

So what did you decide on the lighting?

For substrate, why stop there...you can get a 9 liters of ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia shipped for $35. It's on a clearance sale right now from ADG.

http://www.adgshop.com/Aqua_Soil_Amazonia_p/104-021.htm

 

[blizowman1]

I'm using two 10w mini fluorescents asy lighting for now cause everything seems to like the bulbs... And idk about spending that much lol eco may not be as good but it's cheaper for more. And I have it in my 90g so I know what to expect

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Yeah eco is good... just thought I'd give you more options is all. Aqua Soil is considered the cream of the crop due to nutrients and buffering capability. It's rare to find it priced low like that.

 

[blizowman1]

Do you have any tanks with the Ada stuff in it

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Not yet...I've used Floramax, fluval stratum, and UP Aqua Shrimp Sand. Billbug68, Max, and Joey use it here. Tons use it on TPT. Since the price is good, I actually placed an order last night for AS.

 

[blizowman1]

What's your fave of the substrates you've used

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

LOL...I like them all so far. Never tried AS so that's part of the reason of me getting it. But, the ones I've tried, I'd say that all have pros and cons. I like Floramax because it's economical yet durable. It also holds slopes well for aquascaping. However, it lacks in nutrients. Fluval stratum looks nicer but is a bit delicate, IMO. Not sure about nutrient content though. The UP Aqua looks really nice because it's really black and the pelletized granules are small and durable, but it's kind of light...It's also pricey. We just grew an HC carpet with a bunch of downoi in it successfully using this substrate. It also buffers for shrimp with supposed nutrients beneficial for shrimp.

 

[eAts]

Yea I'm planning on getting a back ground for it and probably either a bag of Eco complete like I have on my 90g or maybe some fluval stratum.
Do either of you know if those bulbs are in the super low light level? And can you recommend any low light plants I could keep in here cause my 90g is high tech so I'm not real sure how to do low tech lol. And it being low tech should I start liquid dosing at some point? And do I HAVE to dose some thing like excel ?

For my ten gallon betta tank, I have the same hood, but I just bought some compact fluorescents between 13 and 20 watts. I use excel on the ten gallon and the PPS pro ferts I use on the 45 also. I know with the compact fluorescents I'm using I would say I get low to medium light, though I don't have many medium light plants, just lots of crypt species, a small sword, some watersprite and hygrophilla corybmosa

 

[blizowman1]

Well so far these 2-10w mini fluorescents seem to be working very well I'm even noticing growth from my pogostemon yatabeanus and ludwigia repens, and both my crypts are sprouting new leafs. I think my parva might actually start to grow now. I ordered my bag of Eco last night so next week I switch the black gravel with the Eco....... And I've been entertaining the idea of putting shrimp in with the betta too. So I might run to Walmart and get some ghost shrimp just cause they're cheap and it'll let me know if my betta is gonna kill them or not even pay them attention .

 

[blizowman1]

Well no new additions to the tank except adding more plants

And here is a better shot of the lighting

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Really nice home for a betta. Wish more betta owners would create such a nice environment instead of those tiny unfiltered cubes/bowls.

 

[blizowman1]

Thanks I'm hoping to order some plants next week or the week after and replace some of the stems in my 90g and add some more low light plants to the 10..... I'd like to figure out some kind of low light carpet type plant

 

[blizowman1]

Ok idk how many people are really following this thread but I figured I'd give an update on the 10g. I have recently taken out all the black gravel and replaced it with one whole bag of Eco complete. It has given me a nice 2" thick substrate.

After about a week of having the eco in te tank I have added a new plant..... I bought two bunches of dwarf four leaf clover and put it in the front of te tank.... I may have to get in and spread it out a little more but wanna see how it's even going to grow in the tank.

Another thing that I've started realizing is that all my new growth on my plants seem to be turning white.... When do I need to start dosing ferts and excel??