5 Gallon Planted Betta Tank Journal!

INTRO:

Hi everyone,
So i have a 5 gallon tank that was set up early November. This was my first real planted tank where i actually knew what i was doing and payed attention to substrate and lighting. This was my first dirted tank and i didn't do a great job with it. I kind of used to much dirt and clay. It went very well and really started rolling after a week or two. Then i ran into problems with it smelling and dirt and clay coming up so i had to take it down :(. When i set it back up i used dirt and clay again, but i used less of it and instead of capping with black gravel, i used white Pool Filter Sand, so i wouldn't run into problems with it seeping through the gravel. The scape got messed up and lots of the plants didnt acclimate well to the change. I also feel like it was my fault for plant die off, because i kept moving the plants and it probably wasn't good for them. Anyways, i now have the tank with just some rocks, a little bit of bacopa and some dwarf sag. The dwarf sag and bacopa are doing great, but i definetly need to rescape it! So I wanted to document the journey of this tank and show how it goes and progresses. Anyways now i have some questions for you guys....

INHABITANTS:

So i will definetly keep my Betta Winston in there. He is a double tail male betta that is very close to my heart and very beautiful too! I tried doing cories in there but he wasnt very good with them and didnt kill them, but he chased them around a lot, while my oher betta dosent mind my cory in his tank at all! So i was wondering if i could put anything else in there with him. I was mainly thinking like shrimp or possible some snails or otocinculus to keep the algae down. Maybe just some amano shrimp since they are big and then like 2 otto's to keep the algae controlled?

SUBSTRATE:

Alright so there were a few options that i think for substrate...

1. Keep the dirt and PFS on top. This is alright but i think a dark gravel might look better.

2. Keep the dirt and do eco complete or flourite sand over it. I like eco complete and have used it with dirt in other tanks and have had very good success. I also like the color and think it works great!

3. Just do eco complete and supplement it with root tabs

4. Use something like Moler clay or something else? Any suggestions?

LIGHTING:

So right now i have the regular hood that it came with on and i have a 10 watt full spectrum, 900 lumens Compact Florescent (CFL) bulb in there. It seems to do well, but i want to make sure everything does good. I want it to be high tech and have good lighting so that i can grow ludwigia and all that other stuff well. So i haven't been able to find any T5HO lights or anything that would fit on a 5 gallon. I feel like i could add come clip on CFL lights though and each one could have a 10 watt or 13 watt bulb. That would give me a good amount of light I think! So tell me your ideas on that please.

AQUA-SCAPING/PLANTS:

Alright so first off, i'm looking for a nice piece of driftwood with branches coming off to use as a nice center piece. I like something like this... http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?79871-Newbie-pl...

That is not mine, but i like driftwood like that not just regular little pieces. So i want to attach java moss and then some java fern to the driftwood and have it grow over and have a nice affect. Then i want to have the driftwood centered in the middle and have crypts on the side of them. I also want to have Dwarf sag in the front of the driftwood. Then i want to try out tougher plants in here as well. I was thinking of trying out Glossostigma elatinoides in the foreground as well as either dwarf hairgrass or dwarf baby tears. I think the dwarf baby tears would be easier though but im not sure. I then want to have stargrass over by the crypts on either side of the driftwood. Then i want to try out some ludwigia. I was thinking either, repens, needle leaf, or narrow leaf, possibly Ludwigia glandulosa? I don't really know the exact species that i want to do. I will probably either do the glandulosa or rotalla magenta. I think it will give it a nice red color and will look good against the crypts. Then i want to add some wisteria and bacopa to the back. I was thinking of doing some small rocks in there too, but i don't want to go overboard. What do you think?

FERTS:

So I've actually never used any ferts like excel or anything like that. People seem to love them and i also heard that dry fertilizers work very well too! I want to try to use stuff like flurish excel, possibly root tabs, and then other stuff like that. I want to have nice plant growth out of this tank and healthy plants so what other ferts would you reccomend? Maybe some Seachem iron, potassium, plant supplement?I also heard about co2 and i've actually never done co2. I was planning on trying a DIY setup on other tanks but from what i heard it can cause some pretty bad stuff like a ton of algae, ph fluctuations, and a lot of other stuff and really isn't what it is cracked up too be. I heard that if your going to do pressurized is the best. Someone told me that flourish excel is actually great to use in tanks and better than doing co2. I also heard from mrmomtanks that the API co2 booster works well and is a good supplement for people that can't do co2 in their tanks. So give me some suggestions on that please. Also should i use root tabs, and if so which ones would be the best?

Thanks for reading my LONG entry! I'm sorry, but i just want to get a great setup and i am serious about this tank and its going to be the first one where i really try to go High-Tech with high light, ferts, and great substrate. I hope you guys enjoyed and leave some suggestions down below on what i should do!

Thanks, Braden :D

EDIT: I'm going to be making this into a iwagumi tank i think. Here is the Journal for that...

http://fishtanktv.com/forum/topics/iwagumi-styled-tank-journal

I have a lot better idea in my opinion, of what i'm going to do and i think it will be good with out the dirty mess.

Thanks, Braden

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on March 4, 2012 at 10:09pm

I've got a few comments Braden that hopefully help you get the ball rolling.

A larger tank the easier it is to maintain - the bigger the better. There are many reasons for this, but think of it this way: the larger your tank is the closer it comes to mimicking conditions in nature where fish live without filters, heaters etc. I would ditch the 5 gal as soon as you have enough $ to afford something bigger. Try to buy something used if money is an issue but make sure its not a leaker.

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I'm glad you kept some plants in the tank - very important especially in your inherently unstable 5 gal environment. You can research plants all you want, but they are generally very cheap. Stick a sprig of hornwart or elodea in your dirt and see what happens! They are pretty easy plants to grow. Check out your local waterways too. Can't beat the price and these plants are ridiculously hardy. Since you have a Betta include some water cabbage or floating wisteria. Bettas LOVE floating plants and build their nests there.

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I'll be dirting my tank this Spring. Right now I'm using pots. I'll get my soil from the forest - a mixture of clay soil, worm castings, and sandy loam. I'm very interested in finding out how your capping gravel/sand works out. Keep me posted. Pool sand sounds like a possibility. I'm also looking at the clay pellets that garages sell to suck up oil slicks and hazardous waste. My only concern is that these pellets might eventually disintegrate and need to be topped off with something else. I'm impressed with a substrate brands in my local fish store made by Red Sea and Fluval. They're round, small sized, nutrient rich, and dark colored - all important characteristics. But they're also expensive! I only need a top layer of about i inch; so we'll see. BTW, your Dwarf Sag may end up covering the bottom so the color of your cap layer may not matter.

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As far as light goes, I would throw out all the expensive talk about whatever being pushed these days. All you need to be aware of is two things:

1) Lumens. This is the level of light or brightness. Dustin's right. With a dirted tank, you won't need the recommended dosage. They say 17-40 lumens p/sqinch of surface area is an acceptable range. I'd go further and say 10 lumens p/sqinch is fine - maybe less

2) Color spectrum. I think (not sure) the red color spectrum is around 3000 Kelvins. Look it up. I think (again not sure) incandescent bulbs have red but they may heat up your water. You'll have the same overheating issue with sunlight, but sun is your best option if you can control the temp fluctuation. You probably can't lose with daylight bulbs either - just make sure they include the red spectrum.

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As far as scaping goes, all I can say is have fun. I wrote a response to Paul under "New Pics..." if you're interested. But this area is a matter of taste and especially having fun. After all it IS a hobby. Its very difficult for a tank containing rocks, wood, and plants not to look good.

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You won't need any ferts if your using dirt - especially with something like miracle grow. Adding them would just be asking for trouble. In a couple years you MIGHT think about fertilizing your substrate if it gets exhausted, but don't forget, fish waste refertilizes the soil. Plus, your clay and other organic stuff have high CEC values - that's good. Its the ability of soil to actually suck iron and other nutrients right out of the water and hold them until the plants roots make use of them. This also helps prevent green water (algae) and keeps the PH stable. Unfortunately pool sand has a zero CEC value but the other stuff makes up for it.

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I hope there are a few things here you can use. In closing

-- Definitely keep your eyes open for a larger tank. It will make your life a whole lot easier.

-- Have fun with the tank and don't get locked into a certain landscape unless that's what you really want.

-- You made the perfect choice with Bettas. They're very tolerant of the bad water conditions that could easily crop up in such a small tank. (But even Bettas have their limits)

-- Breeding your Betta is fine but make sure you have a another tank for the female after she lays her eggs. Your 5 gal tank is too small for both of them no matter how many hiding places you make for her. The male will kill her.

On that happy note, good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Braden on March 4, 2012 at 11:46pm

Thanks for the information! Just out of curiosity when did i mention breeding him? I was actually thinking of changing it too a 10 gallon. I would however have to get rid of my 5 gallon hex which is housing one of my bettas right now. The scape plan is looking really good too. I still have a while to think everything over because i would be re-doing it in the summer. I got a little lost when you were talking about ferts. I like dirt but if you want great plant growth you should really supplement with ferts. I don't use ferts, but some of my dirt tanks could use the extra boost of fertilizers every once and a while. I was thinking about dosing a lot, but instead i may just wind up using like flourish excel and maybe seachem plant supplement or flourish potassium as i seem to get holes in my leaves which is bot very pretty and doesn't make the leaves look beautiful either! I'm probably not going to use any root tabs, especially if i have Eco-Complete, because that is a great substrate combination in my book. Any other ideas? I'm really thinking about setting up a 10 gallon there seeing as i can use the same filter i already have, i already have a hood for it, and then also it will have its benefits too. IT will be more stable, there will be more room to aquascape which is important to me seeing as im working with pretty small tanks, and i think it will just be better.

Thanks, Braden

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on March 5, 2012 at 1:20am

You didn't mention breeding Bettas but I figured since you have one you might decide someday to move in that direction...

Go with the 10... or bigger if you can. You said you have the filter and the hood so you're good to go. And you're exactly right about the stability. When it comes to tanks - the bigger the better.

Don't sweat the scape plan. When you finally decide on a design, make sure it can be changed. You'll always want to reserve the right to change your design.

The key is getting good dirt. Dustin doesn't fert and neither do I and we've got the most difficult plants growing like crazy. Nobody in the business who I've ever spoken to has recommended fertilizing a newly dirted tank either. I suppose if you want to do it you can but I'm just not seeing it. Maybe after a couple years a dirted tank MIGHT need a boost. As a general rule I hate adding ANY chemicals to my water and too much XL can kill fish. Be careful.

Not sure about the holes in your leaves... even in my tank I sometimes get a plant that doesn't do well. Sometimes they're just in a natural dormant phase. Personally, I let it pass because there's way too many plant species out there that grow like crazy in my tank. Don't get hung up on that one species that doesn't like your tank - but that's just me talking. If you want to concentrate on a certain species go for it.

I never used Eco-complete. It sounds good but don't the pebbles have sharp edges? I like a soft or rounded cap layer that doesn't hurt the fishes' delicate mouths.

Anyway, take your time and do what's fun. Be careful not to spend too much money. Some pet store people will tell you anything to make a sale. I have a 20,000 gallon pond in my backyard. I spent $3.00 on it last year to purchase the fish - 30 Comets. And the store let me pick out the white ones.

Keep me posted.

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Permalink Reply by Braden on March 5, 2012 at 4:07pm

Dustin does use fetilizers on his tanks. He uses the flourish products sometimes to give an extra boost i think? I'm not sure but i thought that he has mentioned it in some of his videos!

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on March 6, 2012 at 12:32am

It's suppose its possible that Dustin has used Flourish in a dirted tank. But then again, I think he's tried just about everything in the years he's been keeping fish. I've got notoriously difficult plants like Crypts, Hairgrass, and Lace plants growing like crazy in my dirted tank; so I just don't see the point of adding chemicals.

If, in about two years, my soil becomes exhausted, I will definitely add ferts. My favorite is Lily tabs. I used them to help the Lilies in my outdoor pond and they seemed to work pretty well. But when my Lily roots jumped the pot, they spread throughout the pond's naturally fertile substrate and their growth exploded; so I don't use them anymore in my pond. Nature works.

I wish I could recommend some other ferts but I just don't know that much about the subject. If you do decide to add them let me know how it turns out. You sound like a budding scientist, and its an interesting subject.

I doubt Diana Walstad (author of "Aquarium Plant Ecology") adds ferts, but like a true scientist, she's always fooling around with new and different soils. Once again, proceed with caution because my experience has been generally negative. Fish have died as a result of adding flourish. Good luck with your experiment and keep me posted.

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Permalink Reply by Braden on March 6, 2012 at 4:36pm

Alright thanks! I have decided that it is going to be a high tech tank and im going to have my betta and then get some otocinlus cats and some snails. It is going to be a 10 gallon and i will probably be using dirt and clay, then eco complete on top! I am planning to use ferts such as flourish excel and flourish trace, possibly something else, but now im going to focus on lighting.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on March 6, 2012 at 7:41pm

Good deal Braden. A lot of people, including myself, love the technology and science aspect of the hobby. And after a lot of trial an error, I personally have been led back to the natural approach of which Diana Walstad is the main proponent.

Diana is a bonafide scientist who applied her knowledge to the aquariums she kept in her home. I'm guessing she never intended to write a book about the subject when she was studying biology or working in her field, but that's the way life goes sometimes. It can lead you into all kinds of different directions.

It sounds to me like you're following your curiosity and that's what its all about. Maybe you'll drop the hobby and become a biologist or maybe you'll discover something that influences the way I and others keep our tanks. Who knows?

I can't resist making a comment on lighting though. Guess what my recommendation is? You guessed it. Sunlight! Nothing really comes close. But I guess if you're gonna use artificial lighting, daylight bulbs are best. There are all kinds of lights out there: LEDs, Metal Halides, incandescent, T5s, T8s, etc. You can even use candles and a freakin blowtorch if you want. But light is light. A T8 with 1000 lumens and a daylight color spectrum of say 6000 is exactly the same as a set of LEDs with the same specs; the only difference is the price. Keep that in mind.