journal of low tech betta tank

[tiintinn]

after reading and getting inspired by fellow forum-ers, finally got it together to redo my betta tank to a small low tech planted tank...
there were 2 moss balls that was residing in the tank for abt 1 month...

decide to start this thread to get advise and feedbacks from all

below is the specs of the tank and initial drafting of what should goes into the tank have shifted the moss ball to another temporary holding area before starting the planting..

Tank size17.5cm(L) x 13.5 cm(B) x 15cm(H) (Ocean free)

Pants (wishlist)
anubias nana
hairgrass
us fissidens

fauna (after cycling ~ 1 month)
guppies or CRS shrimps

substrate - Gex soil red

Lighting - 11W PL light Aqua Zonic

filter - Boyu submersible filer SP601-E

Fan -Dymax windy w-7

attached are images of the existing tank and equipments (piece together bit by bit)

[tiintinn]

Part 2

have managed to contact a forum brother and got some US fissiden in one tau huay container...really nice...

decide to put plans into action..as will be dropping by his place the next day to get the fissidens

shifted the moss balls to 2 containers that i bought while the tank, DW was cleaned and did a mock up of the mounting of the equipment.

realize that the the gears that i piece together was er... too big for my small tank... which ended with having to mount the fan behind the light using a glass block

[tiintinn]

as the story continues

so... left the "mock-up" setting for a day. went to get the fissidens and also a nana with seller he also pass me some "floater" (not sure the name) and one other rooted (also not sure the name of this plant)...

it was a good trip and a good bargain buy..

came home and started to tied the fissiden to the DW...got advise that we can actually use thread for tying so when ahead with that suggestion. It was my first time with plants so too a while to settle the tying (not sure if its the tension was enough)

all went well (after filling water) till i started the filter, the motor decided to fail on me there were temperamental rotation problems when the pump in placed up right (like the mock-layout), after "battling" with the filter for 45 min, managed to get the pump working (but only in horizontal position )

all the sorting out of the pump have made a mess of the water and because of the re-positioning the tied DW have to be shifted and the nana and the other plant have to be secured into the soil. All in all, total mess, water is much cloudier , there were also white residue that had landed on the plants and moss balls (think its from the soil after the brown cover is "broken")

with all settled, though tired..was happy that it look okay for now

today(third image), the water was clearer than yesterday. didnt see any bubbling, so crossing my fingers that all the stirring and mess didnt cause too much damages to the plants.

will update and as i go along.

hope to get all your feedback and advises!

many thanks!

[dwarflala]

Hi bro.. I love the idea of a planted betta tank... I have 3 myself. kekeke...

Ok back to your tanks... You might want to remove the hygrophila difformis. They are monster plants. They grow fast and they grow big. You can try ferns to replace them. Ferns are slower in growth. Adding hair grass around to cover up the soil will look nice for your setup too...

[cottonball]

hi, is the filter on the pic shown is place directly on the soil???
wouldn't it cause the filter to clog easily...

[tiintinn]

Hi dwarflala,

thanks for ID-ing the plant, didnt actually know what's the name but the bro gave it free-of-charge when i bought the US fissiden. am thinking of removing them including the nana (they are really big in the small area)

wondering if you might be able to advise which fern will be good for a planted beta and if growing hair grass grows well in small tank...(was actually thinking of 1-2 petite nana)..

currently am still able to keep the temp around 28 deg C. hopefully the fissidens grows well...(am seeing some "dying" off..sigh)

cottonball : yup the pump is lying on top of the soil cause of earlier motor problem, am think whether i should get another HOF (not luck with filters, being having problems with them)

[unpluggedmusic]

hey.. i like it.. especially ur driftwood.

i was wondering if we could detach the mossball and tie it to wood, i wonder how will that look like... anyone done that?

[tiintinn]

Hi Unpluggedmusic,

thanks for the comment, found it while scrapping through a spiderweb covered pail of wood in a LFS in bukit batok

just saw from C328 that they tied moss ball (separated) on to DW

am still hoping for the fissidens to sprout new leaves (my first time of tying them seems totally wrong) am trying to dose Flourish excel 2 times per week, will this be a good call?

[tiintinn]

Hi all,

a little update to this journal

decide to do remove the hygrophila difformis and the submersible pump as wanted to make more space (image 1)

went to C328 to get mini nana and hairgrass and did a mini re-scape of the plant, added more gex soil (image 2) and finally went to get a HOF from Hong Yang the next day.

(image 3) went to visit Colorful and bought another mini nana and got some free small stones from uncle did another minor adjustment to the scape and added more soil

wondering if anyone could advise if i could get cherry shrimps into the tank think of about community of 6 and prob 1 otto but will cycle the tank for another week. currently the hairgrass are still not sprouting.

[teowxu]

i'm afraid your shrimps will be eaten up by your fauna. By the way, try to spread out the hairgrass. you are planting it too dense. In the future, your hairgrass will have problems of spreading and may float up instead.

[bbpippen]

hi bro, how long has the setup been ? and whats the temperature of the tank ?

[tiintinn]

Hi bbpippen,

the tank is setup for 1 1/2 months..
the temperature of the tank is the range of 24-28 (have a clip on fan)

wondering also if this is a good place to ask the price of getting Fissiden from you but need your help to tied on DW...

many thanks

[broken arrow]

nice set up

[bbpippen]

Hi bbpippen,

the tank is setup for 1 1/2 months..
the temperature of the tank is the range of 24-28 (have a clip on fan)

wondering also if this is a good place to ask the price of getting Fissiden from you but need your help to tied on DW...

many thanks

hmm the temperature is fine, hows the moss now ?
Nowadays i wont have time to customised tying of fissidens on dw.. but i do have a dw that i can sell you, pm or text me if youre interested alright ?

[tiintinn]

Hi bbpippen,

the moss turned brown as did a spot dosing of Excel flourish while adding an additional DW..(will post image later) and also 2 cherry bard (for eating of while crawlies)

currently residents
10 cherry shrimps
2 cherry barbs
2 nerite horn snails

wondering if the fissidens will sprout new leaves from the brown one or brown=dead moss

notice that when i does wondergro macro and micro, algae appears on the side of the tank, currently am trying to dose only abt 3 days apart....also going to have water change of 10~15% 2 times per week, will this be okay?

temperature is still in the range of 24-28.

all advise are very appreciated!

[tiintinn]

Been a while,but thought to upload an image of the nano tank

Updates done
- remove of fissidens
- Christmas moss tied to driftwood
- plant downoi
- plant Staurogyne sp "tropica"

Cherry barb have both jump out of tank, in place have introduce 4 golden tetra

Cherry Shrimp is left with 2 adults...



That all folks.