onebettanewbie
Aquarium Advice Regular
Here’s a pic of my 5.5 gallon tank with my betta. It’s been set up for 3 months now. I had a large borrowed biological filter in it for a long time and only recently removed it so now I'm anxious to "decorate."
A few stats:
Substrate and depth: about 1 inch gravel with laterite
Plants:
- Anubias barteri (one large in the left rear and one small in the right front corner
- Wisteria (right rear)
- tiny amount of surviving Micro Sword (Lilaeopsis Novae) (even less than you see here)
- two small java fern (not in picture) tucked in the corner by the filter.
The anubias have been in the tank all along and the Wisteria for at least two months.
Ferts: .25 ml a week Flourish comprehensive, but only for the past four weeks
Lighting: Flora Sun fluorescent (for about 4 weeks. Before that I had the standard fluorescent bulb that came with the hood lamp)
14 Watts, 5,000 K (I’d rather have one with 6,500 K but they're hard to get for a 5.5 gallon.)
Photoperiod: 8 hours per day on a timer
Water parameters: Ammonia: 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate approximately 10 ppm (but it may not last. In the spring the county switches from Chloramines to Chlorine for a short time. When it switches back, my nitrate may go back up to 15 ppm.
KH & GH: don't know but the county water is very hard
PH: 7.4 - 7.8
I think the tank needs at least one more foreground plant and would like some suggestions for plants and/or layout improvements. The Micro Sword was the first plant I tried to plant in the gravel. I had a really hard time trying to get it to stay in the gravel and most of it promptly died. (There’s even less now than you see in the picture which was taken about 2 weeks ago.) The pet store recommends Cryptocoryne Wendtii (probably because they keep it in stock but they'll order anything they can get). I read it tends to get root rot if you move it so I'd have to plant it in one place and keep it there. It's really hard to vacuum the gravel in a 5.5 gallon tank so I'm wondering if I should stay away from plants that need to be planted. One idea I had was to buy some java moss and put some in the foreground and a little in the glass candle holder. (Krackle, if you’re reading this, what do you do? Do you vacuum the gravel in your 5.5 gallon? Does it dislodge the plants?)
I also think the tank is rather dull and needs some color. Any ideas? Replace the background? I tried using the back of the plant scene, a bright sky blue, and I didn't think it worked well. Swap out some of the gravel for dark blue? I'm not crazy about the clay pots or the reddish rock the small anubia is tied to because I don't think they set off my betta's colors well. I know you can’t see him well in the tank so here’s a picture. Notice he has some blue in his fins.
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I'm looking forward to hearing your ideas!
A few stats:
Substrate and depth: about 1 inch gravel with laterite
Plants:
- Anubias barteri (one large in the left rear and one small in the right front corner
- Wisteria (right rear)
- tiny amount of surviving Micro Sword (Lilaeopsis Novae) (even less than you see here)
- two small java fern (not in picture) tucked in the corner by the filter.
The anubias have been in the tank all along and the Wisteria for at least two months.
Ferts: .25 ml a week Flourish comprehensive, but only for the past four weeks
Lighting: Flora Sun fluorescent (for about 4 weeks. Before that I had the standard fluorescent bulb that came with the hood lamp)
14 Watts, 5,000 K (I’d rather have one with 6,500 K but they're hard to get for a 5.5 gallon.)
Photoperiod: 8 hours per day on a timer
Water parameters: Ammonia: 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate approximately 10 ppm (but it may not last. In the spring the county switches from Chloramines to Chlorine for a short time. When it switches back, my nitrate may go back up to 15 ppm.
KH & GH: don't know but the county water is very hard
PH: 7.4 - 7.8
I think the tank needs at least one more foreground plant and would like some suggestions for plants and/or layout improvements. The Micro Sword was the first plant I tried to plant in the gravel. I had a really hard time trying to get it to stay in the gravel and most of it promptly died. (There’s even less now than you see in the picture which was taken about 2 weeks ago.) The pet store recommends Cryptocoryne Wendtii (probably because they keep it in stock but they'll order anything they can get). I read it tends to get root rot if you move it so I'd have to plant it in one place and keep it there. It's really hard to vacuum the gravel in a 5.5 gallon tank so I'm wondering if I should stay away from plants that need to be planted. One idea I had was to buy some java moss and put some in the foreground and a little in the glass candle holder. (Krackle, if you’re reading this, what do you do? Do you vacuum the gravel in your 5.5 gallon? Does it dislodge the plants?)
I also think the tank is rather dull and needs some color. Any ideas? Replace the background? I tried using the back of the plant scene, a bright sky blue, and I didn't think it worked well. Swap out some of the gravel for dark blue? I'm not crazy about the clay pots or the reddish rock the small anubia is tied to because I don't think they set off my betta's colors well. I know you can’t see him well in the tank so here’s a picture. Notice he has some blue in his fins.
I'm looking forward to hearing your ideas!