Prisca's pad - a 5 gallon high tech tank

Hi everyone! Today I set up a 5 gallon tank today that will eventually house my female Betta smaragdina, Prisca. Here's the first FTS;




ANYHOW! Here's the specs;
Heater; 25 watt aquaneat filter, set to 79 fahrenheit
Filter; 80 GPH internal sunsun filter filled with (from bottom to top) denitrate, activated carbon, and pillow stuffing. The filter will be rinsed out weekly with the water change and the pillow stuffing will be replaced.
Light; 3.6 watt, 468 lumen, 12 inch Aquaneat light, composed primarily of 10000K LED's with a few 460 nm LED's. Will be on 7 hours a day on a timer, but I will not be turning it on at all before plants are present.
Substrate; A mix of 2 cups each top soil and pool filter sand, capped with 6 additional cups of sand. I added some seachem stability before adding the 6 cups of sand.
CO2: A yeast reactor in a 500 ml soda bottle. In addition to dechlorinated water, this bottle will use .15 ml baking soda, .3 ml corn starch, .6 ml rapid rise yeast, 45 ml raw sugar, and a small amount of fish food. The bottle will be restarted once a week. All of my yeast reactors are kept in a small aquarium heated to 79 degrees.
Diffuser; A three in one diffuser/bubble counter/check valve from aquatek california. My idea is that this will minimize the number of parts in this CO2 system and thus how many parts can malfunction and leak.
Fertilizer; Likely dry ferts. I will have a bottle with the Macros (KNO3 and KH2PO4) and another bottle with the micros (NiloCG GH booster and Plantex CSM+B) and dose daily rather than adding the whole dose at once like my current tanks to encourage stability (will be working towards this with my current tanks as well). Exact quantities of ferts are TBD, but I will likely not be dosing very much KNO3 in the water column; instead, much of the nitrogen will be dosed as osmocote tabs in the substrate. (EDIT: I realized that magnesium levels might not be adequate with this regime, so the tank will also be receiving 1/8th tsp epsom salts over the course of the week, mixed in with the plantex and GH booster)
Plants; TBD
Animals; Prisca (Duh!). Also, malaysian trumpet snails.
Care routine; The tank will be fed daily except for Saturday; it will receive macronutrients at the same time, while micronutrients will be given in the evening. Water changes will be done on Saturdays, while the yeast reactor will be replaced on Friday.

Thanks for viewing I will keep you guys posted on this tank's progress.

 

Sounds like a nice project, look forward to seeing it progress

 

Hi everyone! Minor update time. I just set up a yeast CO2 system for this tank, using a 500 ml bottle with 60 ml raw sugar, .3 ml baking soda, .45 ml corn starch, a tiny amount of fish food, and .75 ml yeast - a more potent version of the reactor I am using on my other two five gallons. I DIY'd a bottle cap this time by having my mother drill a hole slightly too small for the CO2 tubing, cutting the tubing at an angle, then using pliers to pull the tubing partially through the hole...time will tell whether this works.

EDIT: It works! The diffuser started spewing large numbers of CO2 bubbles within a half hour after I set the system up. They are not mist sized, but this is likely because I just started using this diffuser...the packaging for the diffuser says it takes an hour or two for the ceramic disk to get hydrated enough to produce a fine mist.

 

Hi everyone! I have an annoying problem on my hands...the diffuser stopped working properly. It has started spewing singular largish bubbles rather than the fine mist it was creating earlier, in spite of the bubble counter still producing the same number of bubbles...I am going to try to get it working again, but if I cannot I will need a new diffuser. At least this happened now instead of when there are plants in the tank that would encounter problems due to this diffuser.

 

Hi everyone! I will be performing the tank's second weekly water change later today, but this morning I used a nitrite/nitrate test strip (usually used for examining drinking water) to check how the cycle is going. Nitrite levels were about 4.95 ppm while nitrate was about 2.2 ppm...so it does appear that the cycle is progressing normally (I did not measure ammonia levels).

 

Hi everyone! Another minor update. Did water change number three today...nitrite and nitrate levels were (as of yesterday) similar to last week, so I added some seachem stability to facilitate the process. I have a sneaking suspicion that the cycling process might not be finished by the end of this month, though...Nitrite is still quite high.

 

Hi everyone! Another minor update. Did water change number three today...nitrite and nitrate levels were (as of yesterday) similar to last week, so I added some seachem stability to facilitate the process. I have a sneaking suspicion that the cycling process might not be finished by the end of this month, though...Nitrite is still quite high.

Hi,
I use seachem stability all my tanks, if you start nonstop for 7 days, you can add the fish at the 2nd day. This is how i do it. But my tank cycle is plants (1st day)>omnivores (after 2nd day & 1 per gallon)> carnivores (anytime after the 1st month)
good luck...

 

Hi,
I use seachem stability all my tanks, if you start nonstop for 7 days, you can add the fish at the 2nd day. This is how i do it. But my tank cycle is plants (1st day)>omnivores (after 2nd day & 1 per gallon)> carnivores (anytime after the 1st month)
good luck...

I can try to do that. Thanks

 

Hi everyone! Here's a quick picture update;




Not much to report, though I started dosing seachem stability daily to hasten the cycle.

 

Hi,
What do you mean by topsoil? Is that dedicated freshwater plant soil ? Or pool filter/river/ sand/gravel over the dirt? (Walstad methd) Because that has certain hight limitations among with the sand on top.
Good luck

 

Hi,
What do you mean by topsoil? Is that dedicated freshwater plant soil ? Or pool filter/river/ sand/gravel over the dirt? (Walstad methd) Because that has certain hight limitations among with the sand on top.
Good luck

Top soil - the cheap, heavy dirt used in lawns and whatnot. This is not a true walstad tank (there is ferts, water changes, added CO2, etc), but the dirt is being used for its capacity to capture nutrients for the plant's roots. Sand (in this case pool filter sand) is basically incapable of absorbing nutrients.

 

Top soil - the cheap, heavy dirt used in lawns and whatnot. This is not a true walstad tank (there is ferts, water changes, added CO2, etc), but the dirt is being used for its capacity to capture nutrients for the plant's roots. Sand (in this case pool filter sand) is basically incapable of absorbing nutrients.

It looks like an interesting project.
Good luck

 

Hi everyone! Good news...the tank is cycled after dosing seachem stability for almost two weeks, nitrite levels are zero and nitrate is about 8.8 ppm. I can now set to work adding plants to this tank

 

Hi everyone! Since the tank is cycled, I purchased some plants for it on ebay today. I purchased the following;
- Three bunches of Golden creeping jenny
- Three bunches dwarf sagittaria
- One bunch Ludwigia ovalis
- Three bunches Ludwigia sp. 'Red' (in practice one of these is going into my persian killifish tank)
- One Cryptocoryne wendtii 'red'
- Twenty amazon frogbit plants

Since this tank currently lacks fish, I will be using it for some CO2 experiments...namely, trying to get 30 ppm CO2 with a yeast reactor. This time I will be using a 1 liter bottle as the reactor and will start with 1/4 tsp yeast, 1/2 tsp corn starch, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 6 tablespoons raw sugar, and a little fish food (in addition to water); this will be restarted once a week. Again, there are no fish in this tank yet, so I can safely experiment with it.

 

Hi everyone! The plants (sans the frogbit, which I purchased from a different seller) arrived yesterday, I planted them...and it finally looks like an aquarium and not a moonscape Here's a picture from this morning;




The plants were all grown emersed, so it will likely be a few weeks before they start growing extensively. I am going to try to keep both of my bettas in here eventually, but there's no guarantee that will work out...

 

Hi everyone! I tried to spawn my bettas last night after reintroducing them over the course of a few days, but Prisca got several chunks taken out of her tail in the process; thus, I have separated them permanently and moved Prisca to this tank, which she seems to like a great deal. Also, the frogbit arrived Friday and the plants that were already in the tank are growing well...here's a full tank shot;


And here is Prisca in the tank;


The ludwigia 'red' and the ludwigia ovalis are growing well, but are not turning very red...maybe too much nitrate in this tank? Anyhow, thanks for looking

 

Hi everyone! I tried to spawn my bettas last night after reintroducing them over the course of a few days, but Prisca got several chunks taken out of her tail in the process; thus, I have separated them permanently and moved Prisca to this tank, which she seems to like a great deal. Also, the frogbit arrived Friday and the plants that were already in the tank are growing well...here's a full tank shot;
View attachment 703417
And here is Prisca in the tank;
View attachment 703418
The ludwigia 'red' and the ludwigia ovalis are growing well, but are not turning very red...maybe too much nitrate in this tank? Anyhow, thanks for looking

Maybe not enough co2 or light. Usually plants only turn red if there is enough co2 and high light.

 

Maybe not enough co2 or light. Usually plants only turn red if there is enough co2 and high light.

The drop checker is almost yellow and the PH rose by at least 1 when a sample of water was allowed to off gas...probably too little lighting.

 

The drop checker is almost yellow and the PH rose by at least 1 when a sample of water was allowed to off gas...probably too little lighting.

Shouldn't the drop checker be green?
If you have co2 you'll want higher lighting. Otherwise what happens is a lot of "red" plants will.be red when you buy but over time transition to green.

 

Shouldn't the drop checker be green?
If you have co2 you'll want higher lighting. Otherwise what happens is a lot of "red" plants will.be red when you buy but over time transition to green.

Ideally it should be green...I was just emphasizing that minimal CO2 was not the problem (yellow is too much CO2...thank goodness the current occupant is an air breathing fish). I'll have to reduce the CO2 slowly to avoid stressing the plants out and thus triggering an algae bloom. CO2 is very helpful to plants at any lighting, but yeah - it cannot turn a plant red if the lighting is too low.

 

Hi everyone! Picture update time



The plants are growing well, but the most obvious difference is that I changed the lighting to a 1120 lumen, 4000k LED bulb. The Ludwigia 'red' in the middle has already turned more red, but it's only been a few days...here is a closeup of the best looking Ludwigia stem (it looks better in person);

 

Grrr...not a good update. I have been slowly lowering CO2 levels in this tank...I have been adding slightly less yeast (.15 ml less) each week to get CO2 levels closer to the 20-30 ppm level I want. Apparently this was too fast for the plants, as diatoms have started to proliferate on the glass and even a little black beard algae is visible on the glass. I am probably not going to reduce the quantity of yeast any further...

 

Hi everyone! Picture update time;



Suffice to say that the 'dwarf sagittaria' in the front was not the real thing...sooner or later I intend to remove it and replace it with a proper carpeting plant. Anyhow, the tank is still having problems with a brown string-like algae due to me changing the CO2 levels too quickly a few weeks ago. I have been keeping CO2 levels stable the past two weeks, and hopefully it will eventually go away on its own as the plants adjust to the new CO2 levels.

Side note...when it gets close enough to the lamp, the Ludwigia ovalis develops a stunning orange coloration with distinct veins. I just trimmed it Friday during the water change, so it won't be growing that way again for a while, but the orange color is still visible on the older growth;


The tank has very uneven lighting, so once I get the algae issues stabilized I will likely add a second lamp to make the lighting more even (and thus improve plant color and growth on the ends of the tank). Side note...do the pronounced veins on the ovalis indicate a deficiency of some kind?

 

Hi everyone! Not a great update. Algae was continuing to proliferate in this tank, so I put the tank on a week long blackout Friday after the water change. Before I put it on blackout, I tried to move the sagittaria...and scattered enough dirt while doing so to make the whole tank look like mud. I proceeded to throw a fit and trash all the plants in the tank before doing the water change and putting the tank on a blackout...probably an overreaction, but oh well. The tank will be on blackout for a week or two, only being removed from it briefly to feed Prisca, dose excel, and perform weekly water changes, and then I will add new plants. This is also giving me the opportunity to tone down CO2 levels on this tank, so it's not a total loss.

 

Hi everyone! Minor update time. The tank is still in a blackout, so there isn't much to report; however, I will be getting new plants in the mail this week and will be pulling the tank out of blackout. The tank will start with a 3000k, 430 lumen LED light, similar to the one over my other 5 gallon, and I may increase the lighting if the tank does well.

 

The tank is (as of Wednesday the 22nd) now planted again! Here is a full tank shot as of a few minutes ago;


The plants I received include Hygrophila difformis, Ludwigia ovalis, red flame sword, and green Cryptocoryne wendtii. The difformis and red flame sword adapted quickly to submerged life and are already growing rapidly; the ovalis and crypts are taking longer but are also growing (though some of the leaves on the crypt have melted). I also added a few cuttings of Ludwigia repens from my persian killifish tank, and these are also growing.

 

Hi everyone! Picture update;


The tank is doing quite well. There had been very little algae in most of the tank; the glaring exception is the heater, which - for some bizarre reason - had a 4-5 inch clump of diatoms blowing in the current. I removed most of it last night, but later today I will be spot dosing the heater with excel to prevent its return. The Hygrophila difformis is overwhelmingly the most successful plant in this tank and has already been trimmed several times; the other plants are also doing well, but are growing somewhat more slowly.

 

Hi everyone! I am currently setting up a new 5 gallon, called 'Prisca Pad 2.0', to replace this tank, but that doesn't stop me from continuing to post about this tank as long as it is up. Here is a picture I took of it yesterday;


A lot of the old emersed growth on the Hygrophila was decaying and encouraging algae problems, so I uprooted all of it, trimmed it, and replanted the better looking portions before the water change yesterday. Let's hope that helps...

 

Hi everyone...not a great update. Though she doesn't obviously have anything wrong with her, Prisca has become very lethargic...she has not been eating today or yesterday and has instead spend most of her time curled up near a plant. I think old age is getting the best of her (I've had her less than a year, but she was wild caught and already an adult, so she could easily be quite old right now). I think my days with her are numbered...it's sad If Prisca does pass, I will need to decide what to do with this tank.

 

Just read through your whole thread. I’ve enjoyed the ingenuity you show in the hobby! But I’m sorry to hear that Prisca is not doing well.

 

Just read through your whole thread. I’ve enjoyed the ingenuity you show in the hobby! But I’m sorry to hear that Prisca is not doing well.

Thanks Yeah, while I've been in the hobby since high school, I have improved in leaps and bounds since shortly before the pandemic started. Thanks for the condolences...obviously she was going to succumb to old age sooner or later, but I wasn't expecting it to potentially happen less than a year after I purchased her.

 

Hi everyone...as expected, Prisca died today I had to tear through the tank to find her body. Not sure what I will do with this tank next, but I am considering tearing it down, converting it to a blackwater tank, and eventually stocking it with a pair of either a small wild betta species or licorice gouramies. What do you guys think?

 

Best wishes to you and your baby, sorry if i didnt see this post earlier i wish i did. ;(

 

Hi everyone! Yesterday I tore this tank down, so this is officially the end of this thread. I am currently working on devising the (now empty) tank's future and will start a new thread when I figure that out. Thanks for looking