Top Fin 5.5 Gallon Mod For Betta

I’m new, so I’m not sure if this is the place to share this. Please delete/move if not appropriate!

Long story short:
*Got a Top Fin 5.5 gallon starter kit from Petsmart
*Realized too late that it might not be ideal for my want for a betta/planted aquarium (inadequate lighting, crappy filter)
*searched the internet for what people did to upgrade this tank
*found nothing
*did my own thang

What I did:
Easy part: Ditched the filter and switched to a sponge filter (advice I got from some lovely folks on this forum); current is much more appropriate for a betta fish

Harder part: Made a DIY glass lid, as there were no lids I could find that would fit the 5.5 gallon tank
*ditched the old lid, which included a terrible 2 inch LED light and no place for any sort of upgrade
*attached a much better clamp light

Anyway, nothing too crazy, but definitely an improvement, in my opinion (ignore the bad photo lighting):


Tank is currently cycling

 

Love the new tank!

If this is a first, or even fifth or sixth scape, congrats! Looks like a betta wonderland.

I actually have pretty much the same kit, but I ended up using it for a reef. You can't say a ton of good about Top Fin, but they make some pretty good kits, especially while on sale!

+1 to Stella. Some floating plants would do wonders. Personally, in small betta tanks, I think duckweed can be great for nitrate and phosphate reduction, as it can act like an algae scrubber once it gets established. That said, some find it unsightly, so some floating water sprite, or even better, anacharis, would provide comfort and keep your water quality doing pretty well.

 

Oooh thank you for the suggestions! I didn’t think of floating plants; that would be cool looking!

I’m gonna have to check out my LFS tomorrow to see what they have!

How much would your recommend I add (in terms of coverage)?

 

Depends. With duckweed, you're going to have almost 100% surface coverage until you remove some, if it does well in your tank.

With any other stem plant (anacharis, water sprite, wisteria) you can just look for a few stems spread throughout the tank. It's more to make the fish feel less vulnerable and exposed while at the surface of the tank.

 

Very nice,
I just upgraded my 5.5 top fin as well, so it's nice to see yours.
The lid was the hardest part for myself as well. I somehow ended up finding one that fit. cheers to a cycling tank.

 

Thank you!

Ugh I couldn’t find a lid anywhere; that would have made things easier (although, this lid cost me $11 to make, so it was cost effective at least haha).

Where did you find your lid?

 

I was worried about it for a while and panicked then I read the perfecto brand by marineland 16" works. Only without the plastic piece in the middle though .

Did you see anything you wanted to stock yet?

 

I’ll give it another go and see, messed with it for a while and it wouldn’t budge for me
Same one from dr foster too.

 

@stella1979
It won’t fit with the plastic piece on, I just have the panels on the tank. For some reason the plastic sticks out 1-2mm more than the glass either way I move the panels. I’ll give it another shot or knife it off
I got sucked into the sale they were having...
Sorry if things got off topic for your post

Edit: I do have an Aqueon 5.5 but I like the top fin better, less trim and more viewing of fish

 

Where did you get your clip light from, Staci? The tank looks fantastic!

 

Thank you!

I got this light from Amazon:
 

It wasn’t exactly what I wanted; but it was within my budget and would fit my tank, so I went for it. Super happy with it so far!

 

Thanks so much! The reviews look great. I love how it looks on your set up.