8 Gallon Hexagonal Tank

This is the blog following the progress of my 8 Gallon Hexagonal Tank

12/01/2012 - Redesigned the tank. Emptied and removed the white gravel, been replaced with pool filter sand. Even though I cleaned the sand for hours it is still slightly murky ... Placed 4 pieces of driftwood and attached java fern to the smallest one. Plan to get more java fern and java moss to cover up the mirror at the back for the betta, now named "Uncle Sam" ;D. Running a sponge filter for now, still can't find a small enough HOB for the tank. Irritating because the sponge occupies a lot of swimming space and ruins the natural look.

14/01/2012 - Placed an airstone in the tank - that flopped, woke up to find water all over the back of the tank and about 10% of the tank on the floor ... Need to still find a way to "finish" the tank. Will be looking for tank mates for uncle sam, and something to complete the look as the airstone didnt do it.

 

Here is the before and after pics of my hex tank

 

do you know what your going to put in as tank mates? I'm going to be getting cherry shrimp with my betta, that's as soon as I get some Christmas moss and a tericoter pot for them to hide in.

 

I'm weighing up the options between red cherry shrimp, pygmy cories and Assassin Snails... Either way I'm going to rehome the betta for the first two weeks the tank mates are there, so that the betta doesn't call it "his" territory and kill them

 

not a bad idea, I can probably do the same for the shrimp to settle but I would probably give them a week (each to there own right)cause my fish wouldn't like being restricted like that for to long. I don't have any other heated tanks though so I will either have to make him a stocking cage to put into the tank to separate him from the shrimp, or have my betta in a lolly jar.

 

Yeah I have about 7 tanks running at the same time so its not too troubling to find space for him. Two of those are quarantine tanks (very important IMO) so I'll house him in there!

Shrimp/snails are probably our best bet as cories need a large foot print tank and the betta is less likely to take to them than the snails or shrimp

 

You have to be sure that they are good tank mates for him first, I've seen bettas attack snails and/or shrimp.

He'll have his own personality I guess.

 

Yeah exactly the issue. I do have a back-up plan though, so no worries!

Like I said, I will rehome the betta for a couple of weeks to help him "not" establish territory in his tank.

 

16/01/2012 - Air pump failed, luckily I was there when it happened. Managed to open it up and fix it myself with some simple vinyl tape. Betta seems bothered, but also placid. Eating very well. Sand is still slightly murky when I stir it up.

 

08/02/2012 - Tank finally complete, along with all decor and the right filter.

Got some algae growing on the plants, sand and driftwood, both green and white. Many people may argue, but I really like the look of the algae, provided it is not excessive. I aI'm to let it grow free attached to things in the tank, keep the glass panels clean.

This overall provides a really cool natural tank.

Java fern seems to be slowly fading out, but bacopa, moss and anubias are doing well, but slow growth (I'm happy there)

 

Opened

Ken

 

Update after a VERY long time spent not posting here.

Hex tank has gone into storage until this morning. I set it up and have begun plans for a threadfin rainbowfish, planted tank. I can really make this setup work well for these fish since they don't need a lot of current, prefer a planted environment, and are really mellow.

I'm going to be making a concrete background for this tank too, since I'm so sick of a stupid mirror on the back panel. This will go on my desk so it's gonna be watched all the time. For that reason, I'm going all out on this guy. I'm going to make a tiny micro internal sump for this tank too, which I'll put behind the background, and that way it will have an all natural look to it.

I also don't like the mirror glass on the outside, any suggestions on how to change that?
- My idea was just to take it off and replace it with black painted glass, but I'm not sure. Any takers?

Anyway, when I find the time, this tank will begin work and then hopefully sometime soon I'll have a really nice threadfin tank