bhcaaron

I don't know whether to start my 10G or my 20G tank. I was hoping on starting my 10G and am now startig to get advice on lighting. I was originally going to get fish only, barebottom tank, but, I want a happy fish. If I do the 10G I will have one male betta. If I end up doing the 20G I would probably place a small group of female Bettas, maybe three. I can't have strong water movement since Bettas live waters that are close to stagnant and cannot handle much current. I'm guessing this will affect the types of plants I can have, but, this doesn't eliminate them all, right?

I plan to have an Asian theme with a piece or two of Asian driftwood. The temperature will be at 82F. pH will probably end up being 7.0 though I would preffer to lower it to between 6 - 6.5. I have my eye out on an Azoo Oxygen Plus Bio-Filter 11

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3954&prodid=7364&catid=3

and Azoo 6500 Air Pump to go with it

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3669+3713&pcatid=3713

Since it has two outlets I will also be getting an 18" Flexible Bubble Wand for additional water movement and aeration.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3669+12084&pcatid=12084

Knowing these things about my possible future set up, does this eliminate my possibility of having an Asian theme with my plants? Is that enough water movement for them? Is it too much for the Bettas?

atmmachine816

This sounds like a good idea.

Most plants the current isn't a big deal. It's more lighting. What lighting are you planning on having, this determines what types of plants you can have. Depending on the types of plants you have, they may not want an bubble wand, though unless you are going high tech it should be fine. When I had my betta I found this filter is also a great filter to have http://lagunaponds.com/usa/aquatic/p...01001400021501 It's internal so you can place it wherever you want and it's output is adjustable so you can have it pointing at a wall for a very low current tank. And it's easy to clean and removes an amazing amount of junk for such a small filter. They have a larger size too. The sponger filter you have is fine too, I just found that the filter I had removed more waste and kept the water moving a bit more than my sponge filters without bothering the betta. The air pump and bubble wand look good and your betta/s should like them. Your plan sounds good so far, two questions.

What type of lighting are you going to have?
Do you have any plants in mind yet?

Kevin

if you have the reg. flourescent bulb that comes with the tank, i would recommend the water sprite, mine is always sprouting new "babies" for me...and the leaves are great for resting on hiding in once it grows dense enuf

you could go to a pottery store and see if they have one of those glazed asian women w/ a basket on their shoulder or something like that

atmmachine816

lol thats a good idea kevin asian woman. They sell budha's at my LFS's for bettas, somebody here has one for her betta, can't remember who.

Isabella

If you'll have lots of plants, a bubble wand/airstone is not a problem as long as it's turned off while the lights are on (lots of plants will require more CO2 in water during daytime, so turning the bubble want on during the day will dissipate CO2 from the water faster). I mean, this is probably not a concern in tanks with low light and low-light plants, where no CO2 is added, but I just wanted to mention that anyway. If you'll have just a few plants, don't really worry about the bubble wand - you can have it on and off whenever you want to, I guess.

And, yes, what type of lighting (how many WPG) will you have? What substrate? These factors will determine the kinds of plants you can have.

sirdarksol

I would beware getting the ceramic woman unless it is made specifically for an aquarium. Many of the glazes, slips, and coloration for pottery utilize metals, including copper, which could leech into the aquarium water.

Kevin

oops...didn't know about that

bhcaaron

Nice Idea Kevin, but, I'm not decorating with and Asian theme. I think the word I was looking for was biotope and not theme. I just want my Betta's home to be as natural as possible. I was thinking of getting Asian plants only and Asian Driftwood. I am still looking for lighting. I found flourescent bulbs for aquariums that are 10W each. That would bring my wpg to 2. I'll see if I can at least find 15W so I can bring it up to 3 wpg.

As for substrate, the plants I choose will dictate what I get. I'm reading lots of good things about Flourite, but, I'll have to wait to see. With the latest set back, I probably wont be able to start cycling my tank till next week so I'll probably have two more weeks after that to get plants. A week after that I'll probably be ready for my Betta.

bhcaaron

atmachine, thanks for the info. I would like to order everything from one place to save on S&H. So far I've found DFS to have the cheapest pricing on everything I'm looking for. Since DFS does not carry that, I may not be able to get it. If I find that this site offers the same things and saves me or is at least the same as DFS I'll order from there. I'll check and let you know later.

Kevin

try www.aquariumlivestock.com
they have a good selection of live plants, and most of their prices are the same or lower than dfs

bhcaaron

Thanks. I haven't chosen a site for plants yet, I'll definitely look on that site. I found one that offers a service for $20 which includes their suggestion for what you want and blue print for suggested aquascaping. I may try it and buy the plants where ever I can get them the cheapest.

atmmachine816

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/cat/...5/category.web Here's another place with cheap prices, don't know if they have everything you want though. What type of lighting are you getting, do you have the incadescent hood that you can buy screw in compact fluorescent bulbs or standard fluorescent.

Don't know much about what plants are asian or not so can't help much there, best way to find that out is to figure out what plants can go in your tank once you know and then find which ones that you can have are asian. Isabella can probably help you on substrate, she know's a bit on that.

Kevin

atm, thats the same website i posted, i just gave him the one that takes you straight to the live aquatic stuff

Isabella

So you'll use CO2 too? If you'll have 2.0 wpg or more of lighting, you'll need to use CO2 in order for your plants to do well. I've learned on Plant Geek that the point at which you'll need to start using CO2 is at 2.0 wpg and up. You can use CO2 below 2.0 wpg too, but CO2 becomes necessary at 2.0 wpg and above. This is because at 2.0 wpg and above plants metabolize much faster - so fast, they need CO2 to do well.

EDIT: Aaron, I've just read Jake's advice in this thread on Plant Geek: http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/viewt...?p=63572#63572 - is he suggesting getting more lighting than 2.0 wpg? If he is, then listen to him, he knows much better. Maybe the general rules are different for very large and very small planted tanks. A 10 gallon tank would be classified as rather very small.

Jim

Isabella,
I am so glad you posted this. I saw a bubbler a couple days ago, and was wondering about getting one. I already did the great rebuild (more on this later...lol), so I was hoping I wouldn't need to run right out and get one.
Well, I just figured it out, and at noon, when all my lights are on together (they're on overlapping timers) I'm sitting at about 1.80 -1.85 wpg So I guess for now I'm safe. But I'm glad to know that if I jack the lights up anymore I'll need one as well.

Jim

I like your idea about going all asian, it's very ambitious. But I'll warn you, I thought about doing the same with an all Amazon tank, but it turned out I while I did with some plants, I just couldn't help but kill others. So now while mine is all Jungle, it's actually only about 80% South American. But at the same time, there are so many exotic varieties out there it was easy for me to find something that; although not from the right region, still matched the look and feel I was looking for.
So good luck with your tank, I can't wait to see pictures.

atmmachine816

Oops

Ya your right Isabella, wpg rule is just a general rule of thumb like inch per gallon, small and large tanks the 2.0wpg for co2 doesn't apply, I remember that from my research in tanks.

bhcaaron

Wow, Isabella, ATM, Kevin and Jim Thank you all! I'll read the advice and see what I'll have to do. I still don't know what plants I'll end up having, but, even if it just looks Asian and makes the Betta feel at home I'm ok with it. I'll go bulb hunting after. Now I'm off to order my stuff from DFS. Yayy! I finnally get to order! Woo hoo!

atmmachine816

O what a fun feeling it is to order stuff, then track it, and finally...............recieve it

bhcaaron

hehehe...

I'm just trying to find this site for plants first. I remember seeing this site that offered a service for $20 that mapped out the tank with suggested plants for you. You just gave dimensions, lighting and all spec and what you wanted in the tank and they did the rest. If you gave a dollar amount they would even send the plants up to that same amount.

Isabella

Aaron, you're from Arizona, right? Have you heard of a plant website azgardens.com (Arizona Gardens)? I've ordered from them and received EXCELLENT plants. I absolutely love the Crystal Vals, Jungle Vals, and Uruguay Sword I got from them.

I paid a lot for shipping because I chose overnight FedEx shipping, and I'm in New York. But I figure that you could have your shipping much, much cheaper since you're in Arizona (if I remember correctly).

bhcaaron

Yep, I've visited their site. I like it too. I've read a little of their FAQ's and they seem a little rude, but, oh well. I just won't talk to them I guess lol. I think I want to get that site a try (just for the planning) and order the stuff from AZGardens. That is my thought anyway lol.

Isabella

I've hard only negative reviews of AZ Gardens on Plant Geek, and I agree that many things they write on their webiste are outright rude (they even provide incorrect info on the fish they sell). But if I am to be objective and honest, as bad as their reputation is, they've sent me excellent plants. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I was just lucky.

Gozer ordered from AquariumPlants.com - of which I've heard only negative reviews too - and he received good plants as well.

I can't guarantee you that if you order from AZ Gardens, you'll receive excellent plants. All I am saying is that I personally have received very good plants from them.

bhcaaron

Maybe I'll just put a cactus in from my back yard lol

Isabella

... well, "it's never wrong to try and to possibly fail, but it's always wrong to never try at all ... "

P.S. I wish I had a giant cactus growing in my backyard! LOL

bhcaaron

They're called Sahuaro and they grow half an inch a year, so a very tall one could very well be over a century old!

Isabella

Wow, didn't know that! You learn something new every day It would be such a shame to cut down 100 year old cactus! They're like trees (some "desert" variety, lol). I hope they don't get cut down over there!

bhcaaron

Every once in a great while you hear about something like that. Mostly its nature itself that does that. Not only do we get great gusts of wind (they'll crush houses sometimes - usually one or two a year) but many get pulverized by lightning.

Isabella

That's good to hear (as opposed to hearing of people doing this). At least people respect these plants/trees there What are they exactly? Plants? Trees?

Seriously? Wow - sounds like a harsh environment to live in, but interesting too! I never visited Arizona or its surrounding states. Have to do that one day I want to visit all states actually, someday that is, if I ever have the time ... lol

At least you have a very dry climate in Arizona. It's way too humid in NY. Yuck! I am dreaming of moving out into some temperate dry climate.

bhcaaron

Yes seriously. Strong winds in the winter and 130+F in the summer. There are no seasons in between. But this is in the are where I live. Climate varies GREATLY depending on where in Arizona you live. You could travel a couple of hours in which ever direction and the climate would be extremely different.