Introduction: Hey guys, it's braden, and i wanted to give you a little information on my newly setup 5 gallon betta tank. I've had this tank set up for about a week now and it has a double tail male betta currently in it. I may want to add a couple otocinclus cats but i think the reason for my algae is because my tank is getting way to much light, and i need to get a timer. I have live plants and i'm running no co2 or fertilizers. My tank is dirted using a mixture of mexican red clay for a source of iron and a layer of miracle grow organic choice potting mix. It has to be organic as it has a lot of nutrients and minerals for the plants  to use basically like a fertilizer. Regular potting mix can have harmful chemicals that can kill your fish. The filter i'm running is from my 14 gallon, so i'm seeding in bacteria from that tank to the new one to cycle it faster.Equipment: For the tank i'm running an aqua-tech 5-15 gallon HOB power filter. I got this filter with the tank in a started kit for 30 dollars. This filter is very nice and i have 2 of them because i like them a lot. I did have a problem with the output flow of the tank as it was knocking the betta around and making him angry. I decided to make a filter baffle that works great and doesn't decrease the flow of the filter but it disperses the water better so that it doesn't stress out the betta and everybody's happy. My next piece of gear, is my elite 25 watt heater. This heater was purchased on amazon for less that $12 dollars and has a nice adjustable knob. At first i was going to get the 50 watt but people told me that this was a better choice and it was about 10 cents cheaper :D. Anyways i have it set to about between 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit, and my betta is extremely happy and loves his tank! The next thing is lighting. Since i have a planted tank i had to get a good light that could support my plant growth. I decided to go with a 10 watt CFL. This bulb plugs into my incandecent hood, while still allowing me to grow plants. It is 600 lumens and full spectrum. It is not really high light but all my plants are doing very well and the dirt and clay help to gie it a boost and make up for the lighting. I'mm looking for a 20 watt tubular type CFL but it has been very tricky to find and the one that i found was like 25 or 30 watts, but its only 3000k so i don't know if i should just stick to the one i have now. I want to get a timer as i need to control the amount of light, and will probably run it for around 8 hours a day.
Heater: http://www.amazon.com/Elite-Submersible-Preset-Heater-25-Watt/dp/B0...
Filter: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Regent-For-5-15-Gallons-Aquarium-Power-Fi...
Tank kit: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tetra-Aquarium-Starter-Kit-5-Gallons-Fish...
Timer (that i want to get): http://www.amazon.com/Marineland-PA0401-Aqua-Timer-24-hr-Grounded/d...
Plants: For my plants, i currently have...
1 Bannana plant with 6 leaves (from my 14 gallon)2 Ludwigia Palustris bunch plantsAround 5-8 dwarf sag5-8 stems of Brazilian Pennywort1 bunch of rotalla indica (from my 14 gallon)2 small amazon swords (from my 14 gallon)Some variety of anubias on driftwood1 java fern plant (on driftwood)1 bunch of rotalla walichi1 crptocoryne wenitii greenDying Micro swords :(1 pot of dwarf hairgrass1 Cryptocoryne parva pot
Most of my plants besides the rotalla, ludwigia, amazon swords, and bannana plant, were all purchased from aquariumplants.com and the others mentioned, were from petco. Here is my youtube channel link and i have a couple videos of my 5 gallon, and will be making an update video today. If you want to learn more about my tank or the process of dirting my tank, ask me!
Future inhabitants: I'm not exactly sure if i want to put something else in there. I would like to put at least 1-3 amano shrimp to help clean the bottom and the plants. I was thinking about maybe 1-3 corydoras cats but i feel like a lot of people will give me crap if i only put 1 in since they are schooling fish. I was thinking of maybe putting in a couple of otocinclus but once I limit the light, i feel like i wont need to have any algae eaters because it will be balanced. I dont want to add any tetras or community fish because a 5 gallon is just to small to do that with. I have gotten a new marineland 6 gallon eclipse tank from petco for $17 for the whole kit, lights, filter, ect.!!!!! It was originally $80 and i got a good deal on it for 17 because it was most likely being discontinued. This will house a betta and maybe some of the choices above. I'm also setting up a 5 gallon marineland hex 5. I gave this tank to my cousins a long time ago and they never used it so i'm going to get it back and set it up on the space next to my other 5 gallon. After this i may be getting a 5 or 10 gallon tank for my desk but I'm not sure about that yet.Plans for the 6 gallon: Well for the 6 gallon i'm going to do a similar setup as the 5. I'm going to use dirt clay, and cap it off with gravel, just like the 5 gallon, and it will also have live plants and a betta. This one i want to have 2 pieces of driftwood one with a few java fern plants going up and down it, and the other with anubias. Then i want to do italian jungle val for the background aswell as some ludwigia repens and palustris. I want to have a red tiger lotus for the midground and maybe some rotalla indica. For the foreground i will be doing a couple of narrow leaf chain swords, dwarf sag, a couple of banana plants, and maybe one other.
Thanks for reading this extremely long toic, but i just wanted to tell people all about my new tank and whats going to be happening in the near future before and after christmas.
Thanks, Braden :D

YOUTUBE CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/user/Braden8558?feature=mhee