Upgrade: New 5 Gallon For My Betta.

I was getting tired of seeing my boy Orange Crush in his tiny 2.5 So I picked up this 5 gallon Top Fin "Retreat". It was on sale at Petsmart this weekend for only $29 and I just couldn't pass this up. Comes with a built in filter and very bright clip on LEDs. I stuck a small heater inside the filter box. I'm really pleased with it and how happy my little guy looks.

I've heard mixed reviews about it, but honestly my only complaint is that the LEDs are too bright. So I'm looking at ways to dimm or diffuse the light..

Fortunately for me I also have an over planted 10 gallon betta sorority tank, so I'm able to use the extra plants and clippings for this tank. Orange Crush has never had real plants, his last tank had fake plants. So it really warmed my heart to see him play and floating inside the live plants.

There's some water Sprite, 2 kinds of java fern, a banana plant, small Amazon sword, and 1 other I don't remember the name of.

The 1st and 2nd picture are the new tank, the last photo is the old 2.5

 

What a beautiful betta! <3

 

The live plants will appreciate the bright LEDs

 

Wow! That's an amazing deal! I've been eyeing this tank for awhile, buts its too expensive. Does it come with a lid???

 

Your Betta is gorgeous!! I am jealous of all your plants!!

 

The live plants will appreciate the bright LEDs

They really are too bright. These are twice as bright as my 10 gallon and my 20 gallon. And these same plants are already thriving in both of those, without any ferts or co2. The water Sprite alone has doubled in size in just a few weeks.

The other problem is that this tank sits up high on my entertainment center, almost 5ft up. That's only about 6ft away from our couch where we watch TV so these LEDs are blinding us.

I've been shopping for a different clip on LEDs with maybe a hood and/or that can be tilted back towards the tank.

I'm thinking about cutting a plastic gallon of milk in half and placing it over the lamp so that it diffuses the light.

 

They really are too bright. These are twice as bright as my 10 gallon and my 20 gallon. And these same plants are already thriving in both of those, without any ferts or co2. The water Sprite alone has doubled in size in just a few weeks.

The other problem is that this tank sits up high on my entertainment center, almost 5ft up. That's only about 6ft away from our couch where we watch TV so these LEDs are blinding us.

I've been shopping for a different clip on LEDs with maybe a hood and/or that can be tilted back towards the tank.

I'm thinking about cutting a plastic gallon of milk in half and placing it over the lamp so that it diffuses the light.

The milk carton might help, just make sure the plastic it is made out of is safe and clean it very well

 

Wow! That's an amazing deal! I've been eyeing this tank for awhile, buts its too expensive. Does it come with a lid???

Yes it has a glass lid. The lid just sits on the tank, it doesn't cover it completely, it leaves about a 1/4 inch gap around it. And only has 3 clips or retainers to keep it from falling in or falling off the tank. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before I accidentally break it, since I have to remove it every time I go in the tank. For feedings I just drop the food through the small gap.

 

Nice looking tank, I'm sure mr betta will be happy with it!

I'd toss some floaters in there to block some of the light, maybe frogbit or water lettuce

 

Wow! That's an amazing deal! I've been eyeing this tank for awhile, buts its too expensive. Does it come with a lid???

Oh and yes it was a great deal, I was shopping around for one and the lowest price I could find for similar tanks was between $69 and $99

I'm so glad I popped into petsmart and saw it before it flew off the shelves.

 

Nice looking tank, I'm sure mr betta will be happy with it!

I'd toss some floaters in there to block some of the light, maybe frogbit or water lettuce

Thanks
Yes that is what I'm planning to do with the water sprite, I really love how that plant has grown across the top of my 10 gallon, provides shade and a place for my betta and shrimp to hang out in.

If you look at the pictures you'll see I have some planted on the left and also some floating on the right. That's the beauty of this plant you can grow it both ways. I'll be clipping some more later to float in this tank. With these bright LEDs it will grow into a thick canopy in no time.

 

Just need to note one other thing I noticed about this tank is the temperature. Ok so I've only used the heater once during setup to bring the water up to 78 degrees, and I've left it unplugged since then. Soon after I noticed that this tank maintains water at 82 degrees. Being that it's still summer All my other tanks stay a constant 78 degrees (both with or without their heaters on).

I'm assuming the filter pump is heating the water up. Not sure if I should be concerned about this or not..

 

Bettas might not be able to handle 82 degrees for that long

 

Bettas might not be able to handle 82 degrees for that long

Hmmm... Thanks,
I need to figure something out then. I'm going to leave the lid off for a while and see if that lowers the water temperature any..

 

Bettas might not be able to handle 82 degrees for that long

Hmmm... Thanks,
I need to figure something out then. I'm going to leave the lid off for a while and see if that lowers the water temperature any..

Update: bad thermometer..
Ok you're not going to believe it, or maybe you will.....
So I left he tank lid off and waited to see if the water would cool down. It did not. I decided to test it side by side with the thermometer from my 10 gallon tank. And I got 2 different readings, exactly 2 5 degrees difference between them.

So it looks like this tank is really running at 79 degrees, just 1 degree warmer than my 10 and 20 gallon.

Here's both thermometers side by side. The inaccurate thermometer on the right is a "Marina Floating Thermometer w/ Suction" if anyone is using this I suggest you check yours.

 

I have those thermometers in all my tank and honestly I think they're all complete trash. I've wondered many times if they're accurate.

 

I have those thermometers in all my tank and honestly I think they're all complete trash. I've wondered many times if they're accurate.

I picked this piece of junk up at my local Pet Goods store.. My other (working) thermometers are either Top Fin or Imagitarium brands.

 

I was thinking about posting a notice about the labor day sale. it's a nice-looking tank for the sale price. I think it looks so much better!!!! (I personally hate the plastic cylindrical tank lol)

82 degrees is fine for a betta! I probably wouldn't let it get any hotter though. 80 is a happy medium.

 

Nice setup - I really think live plants and a small amount of drift wood in a 5G tank is really the idea size for a Betta. Of course they can survive in smaller, but I like my betta's to get a bit of muscel and strength into them esspecially if they are going to breed at some point.

The temp is pretty good for a betta - though I prefer to be at about 24C (around 77F) but they will do fine in 26-27C. Betta's are pretty resilliant though, and they tend to adjust pretty well as long as your conditions arnt way outside of the normal range.