Pete's 5 Gallon Paradise

[JessieVB]

Thank you to everyone who helped me on my thread about a having a filter in a one gallon, just wanted to give the update. I'm very proud of the deal I got. I got an Aqua-Tech 5 gal. hex for $30 from Wal-Mart. From PetSmart it the Marineland 5 gal. hex is $37 on sale (till the end of this month btw).

So here's all the stats:

5 gal. hex
15 watt light
Bio-wheel filter
2 lb. white gravel mixed with about 4 lb. blue/green gravel
1 turquoise decoration
1 airstone
1 apongeton
1 Betta

Couple questions:
How good is a bio wheel filter? I have absolotely no experience with them. I've only ever used HOB filter and UGFs.

Is it possible to put tank mates in now? I'm thinking either a couple ghost shrimp, or I really like some of the guppies at PetSmart (they call them sunset tequilla guppies--they're bright yellow with orange fins).


Last comments--I'm not totally happy with the gravel and deco. I like the white gravel and came from the original set up so it has the beneficial bacteria. The apongeton plant came from the original tank as did the airstone. I'm not so fond of the blue, but it was blue or neon colors--for me blue is better than neon. But other than that I am completely happy with the new tank, and eventually I'll replace the gravel with something more natural and hopefully get in some petrified wood and more plants. It looks sooo much larger. I'm just waiting for the water to clear up a bit before putting Pete (the betta) into the tank.

Here's some pics, sorry about the quality. Lost my camera cord so these are from the cell:

^ You can see Pete is anxious to get into his new home!

 

[An t-iasg]

I wouldn't put a guppy in with a betta. Bettas are aggressive toward fish that are colorful and have long fins. The betta will think it's another male betta, and try to kill the guppy. The only tankmates I would consider in that tank are ghost shrimp or a snail. Bettas may try to eat ghost shrimp, so get larger shrimp to minimize that possibility.

 

[JessieVB]

No pretty guppies then. *sigh*. No worries, I'll just set up a tank over the summer for my sister and hopefully she'll want them .

Perhaps I'll pick up a snail--it won't eat the apongeton will it?

 

[Purrbox]

Some snails are completely plant safe while others will treated a planted aquarium as a salad bar. You'll definately want to avoid the large Ramshorn which has cream/yellow and brown stripes following the swirl of the shell. The other one that you want to avoid is the Cana. One that is particular good is the Brig and is commonly sold under the common names Apple Snail or Mystery Snail. You can identify a brig by looking at the swirls on the shell. If the base of the swirl joins with the prior swirl at a 90 degree angle, it's a Brig. They come in a variety of colors, and I've seen them at both Walmart and Petsmart in Yellow, Ivory, and Light Blue.

 

[JessieVB]

I assume most apple snail would be fine to put in also then?

Pete is in the new tank and seems to be liking it. He looks more purple to me (he's usually close to pink in coloring).

Only one downside to the tank: the filter output creates a current that is too strong for him to swim properly , and unless I'm watching him, he hides in a space behind the plant and in front of the tank ornament. After tinkering with the place where the water comes out, I can adjust how much water is coming out, but unless its a certain amount then the filter floods over the brim. So I think I need to simultaneously adjust the amount of water being taken into the filter and how fast its going back into the tank. I have the filter turned off so that he can swim wherever he wants right now.

I have a potential solution. . . I'm thinking about taking the tube from the UGF of the 1 gallon, attaching it to the intake line for the filter and perforating the tube so that hopefully less water is being taken into the filter and then putting my adjustment to the filter output area back. Will this dampen the current enough for Pete?

 

[An t-iasg]

I once had a betta in the Eclipse 5 gallon hex and the biowheel current was strong. I tried to modify it and ended up with a littel puddle on the desk. You can try your idea of the old UGF tube, just be careful of water spilling out. I ended up taking the filter out altogether and using a sponge filter and an airpump, adjusted by a gang valve. I know the sponge filter takes up space on the bottom of the tank, and the tank doesn't have a big bottom area to begin with, but the betta was more comfortable.

 

[tawolcott]

how bout a sponge over the intake?

Something like one of these. Sponge-all for Bio Wheel Pros & 660R Power Heads | Sponges & Foam | Filter Media & Accessories | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

 

[mr86mister]

I was thinking of the same as tawolcott. Just make sure that sponge is porous enough so that the water doesn't back up into the filter.

 

[Karackle]

Pete's home is looking good! I'm glad to hear is color has brightened up, sounds like he's happier in there for sure! I don't have any new suggestions for reducing the flow, but i think your plan as well as some of the other suggestions sounds pretty good though!

 

[Purrbox]

I assume most apple snail would be fine to put in also then?

The Cana Snail that I mentioned in my earlier post also goes under the common name of Apple Snail and can decimate a planted aquarium in short order. That's why it's so important to know what you're looking for when buying the larger snails. Check out AppleSnail.Net for more information.

Basically the BioWheel filter is a HOB with a gimmick to up sales. Apparently to work as advertised it would have to be much larger, and therefore completely impractical for aquarium use. It is however good at creating surface turbulance and as a result aerating the water.

Another way to decrease flow is to cut some polyfiber and place it in the outflow.

 

[JessieVB]

Thank you everyone for the filter suggestions! I will try to order one of those sponge things or pick one up, but in the mean time I will see if the first idea will work for now. Right now I'm only running the filter when I'm at home so that it doesn't tire him out too much.

Thank you very much for your help Purrbox! I will take a look at that and see if I can find a Brig snail. I have algae wafers--will they at least distract the cana snail (if I can't find a Brig) or will it see my plant and say "lunch"?

editted to fix a misreading...

 

[Purrbox]

The Cana's simply can't be kept with plants. They will chomp on your plants reguardless of what else you tempt them with.

 

[JessieVB]

Good to know. I will keep my eye out for a Brig snail (thats the one you suggested right?). Thank you so much for your help!

 

[tomherndon]

my devalued against the euro $0.02. . .

an external filter may not be necessary if it remains simply a betta home. I'm not sure how snails will change this protocol that works on my 2 gallon hex. . .

Clean/condition two large (quart) yogurt containers or any other matched container of similar size/mouth-diameter:

Nearly fill one of them and let the water come to temp/dissolved treatment gases escape. Use the second one to dip an equal volume of tank water out of the habitat. Pour in new water. Refill treatment container from the tap. Pour the tankwater into your favorite houseplants. Stack the filled one in the empty one in the convenient-to-you spot. . .

Do this as often as you like during a month, but at least one time per week.
4 qt = 1 gal, so on a weekly that's a more than 20% water change a month in a five gallon for a fish that thrives in less than discus quality water.

 

[JessieVB]

Thank you for the suggestion. I just upgraded him from a 1 gal. tank so I was planning on using that tank to treat water for PWCs, I also have 2 plastic cups and a good sized bowl devoted to water treatments/tank needs.

 

[Purrbox]

Good to know. I will keep my eye out for a Brig snail (thats the one you suggested right?). Thank you so much for your help!

That's correct. Just look to make sure the swirls of the shell meet at a 90 degree angle and you'll have the right one.

 

[JessieVB]

I will keep my eye out for the Brig snail. If I think I find one, I will definitely post pictures to be sure.

I added the old UGF tube to the intake line in hopes of dampening the intake flow--its moderately less. . . Pete is not thrown around the tank anymore, which is definitely an improvement. He seems to be a light purply-pink. It seems to depend on the way the light hits him. I have some good pics of him on the dig. camera that I will upload to my album when I get them off of it. In the mean time, I got some new pictures with the cell.

Adjustment to the outflow area:

Modified intake, and Pete checking out my handiwork (will definitely get a sponge as the intake still needs to be reduced):

Pete resting:

His hiding spot:

Getting ready to hide:

 

[JessieVB]

Just wanted to update on how the new tank is coming along. Pete seems to be doing well and seems to like his new home. His face definitely looks darker to me, and his appetite is good . . . abit unsure of the freeze-dried bloodworms I've offered a couple times, but they're new to him.

The apongeton is growing, 2 new sprouts that I think may be leaves by tonight or tomorrow night. I do have what I think are diatoms on the leaves . . . and something on top of the brown algae. Its hard to tell what the second one is but it looks like it may be either a really dark green or black. I know the diatoms will go away on their own, but do I need to worry about the second algae? I can try and get pics if that will help.

No new snail yet, but I haven't had a chance to get to Wal-mart or PetSmart (College classes have decided that I need to have a presentation, and 2 tests this week... so wish me luck. That and I'm too busy trying to keep the thermostat at home at a reasonable level... the roomies, I think, are trying to fry me out of the house *sigh*).

 

[An t-iasg]

Pete is beautiful! My bettas have nice color when they are happy and content. When I took one betta out of his old tank in preparation to put him in a new tank, he turned almost gray in the bucket. When he got into his nice new tank, his colors brightened considerably. I think I can see that his blue areas have almost iridescent shine to them!

Diatoms will go away on their own. They wipe away or vacuum up very easily, so there's no harm in doing a few more water changes to remove them. When I set up my new betta tank a few months ago, I did water changes twice a week to try to get rid of the diatoms. It didn't make them go away faster in the end but I just wanted to get as much of them out as I could.

The green algae may not be algae at all - it may be a form of bacteria called cyanobacteria. Is it slimy? Cyano can be found in tanks with low light and/or low water movement. I have a small spot in one of my betta tanks. Cyano also can thrive in the absence of nitrates. The ammonia that your betta produces turns into nitrites and then nitrates. Plants will utilize the nitrates in the tank. You only have the one plant (right?) but it may be using all the available nitrates. Check your nitrate level with a test kit or have the lfs check for you. If necessary, you could add some liquid nitrate supplement. Seachem has a good line of liquid fertilizers. Some potassium will help the plant too, and especially if you're going to add more plants to the tank.

 

[JessieVB]

I am definitely planning on getting some plant fertilizer as I definitely want more plants in the tank.

I think you may be right about the cyanobacteria--I had an outbreak in the 1 gal. that I thought I got rid of, and there is little to no water movement in the tank because the filter is too strong for Pete. I only see the dark colored algae on the plant, perhaps I should move it to where there would be more of a current and wipe off the algae. Can't hurt.

I will get the water parameters as soon as I can.