Betta Tank Pics
- Thread starter Iggy
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These are my 3gal acrylic tanks, both have a bubble filter and UGF, with some fake plants, and fake rocks. I spent less than $20 CDN on them both, the one of the left is new, the one with the colored rocks was a garage sale purchase. Rigel and Reena live left, Ruby and Shelby live right.
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This shot is just to show my homemade tank dividers. I bought a 22"x32" sheet of 3/16" acrylic from Home Depot, made cardboard templates to fit the tank, then used a jig-saw to cut them (metal blade/slow setting) and drilled 3/16" holes all over to allow water flow. They fit between notches in the tank hood assembly at the top, the bottom is held in place by the gravel ontop of the UGF.
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I don't find it a big chore at all. Because they are all side by side, I feed them and do water changes all at one location. I have airline splitters so I only have to use 1 airpump for all the systems, so the noise level is the same as any other tank. Plus, because the total gallons is less than 10 overall, I only need to carry 1 b5gal bucket of water to do all my water changes.
fishface, nope I'm a guy (see my profile 
)
I like those 2.5 mini-bows too Amy. Lots of space for a betta.
fishlover25, I do weekly water changes, about 25% of the tank volume. During the changes, I turn off the airpump that powers the UFG, and I use a small gravel vacume/siphon to suck-up the water and dig-into the gravel ontop of the debris. It does a pretty good job at pulling out the waste ontop of the UGF. Then I re-fill the tank and turn the airpump back on. The water does get a bit murky for about an hour after from some of the floating debris, but it clears up pretty quick.
If I do a water change and it stays cloudy, I will do a full tank clean. I remove the fish and put it in a bowl with his old water, I remove all the tank decorations, then I pour out all the old tank water and gravel into a clean pail. I remove the UGF system and rinse it off using clean tap water, then let it dry. I rinse the tank decorations off and clean the inside of tank the tank with a tap water/vinegar mix. I wipe everything dry with paper towel, then put the UGF back in.
The bio-filter bacteria lives mostly in the gravel in an UGF system, so I rinse the debris from the old gravel using the old tank water and put it into the tank. I then add new water (I always have a bucket of new water aged overnight so that it is the same temperature as the tank water), then I move the fish back in.
Its really not all that different than a top-filtered tank. Any tank will get a lot of debris in the botton that will accumulate over time. In smaller tanks like I have, it has a much bigger affect on the water quality than say a 55gal tank.
) I like those 2.5 mini-bows too Amy. Lots of space for a betta.
fishlover25, I do weekly water changes, about 25% of the tank volume. During the changes, I turn off the airpump that powers the UFG, and I use a small gravel vacume/siphon to suck-up the water and dig-into the gravel ontop of the debris. It does a pretty good job at pulling out the waste ontop of the UGF. Then I re-fill the tank and turn the airpump back on. The water does get a bit murky for about an hour after from some of the floating debris, but it clears up pretty quick.
If I do a water change and it stays cloudy, I will do a full tank clean. I remove the fish and put it in a bowl with his old water, I remove all the tank decorations, then I pour out all the old tank water and gravel into a clean pail. I remove the UGF system and rinse it off using clean tap water, then let it dry. I rinse the tank decorations off and clean the inside of tank the tank with a tap water/vinegar mix. I wipe everything dry with paper towel, then put the UGF back in.
The bio-filter bacteria lives mostly in the gravel in an UGF system, so I rinse the debris from the old gravel using the old tank water and put it into the tank. I then add new water (I always have a bucket of new water aged overnight so that it is the same temperature as the tank water), then I move the fish back in.
Its really not all that different than a top-filtered tank. Any tank will get a lot of debris in the botton that will accumulate over time. In smaller tanks like I have, it has a much bigger affect on the water quality than say a 55gal tank.
PreciousGems, how does that Whisper microfilter do with your betta? Not too much current? I"m looking at that one and this one http://adelaideaquariums.com.au/products/new.html for my bettas?
It used to be too strong for my bettas, but now it isn't. On the back and bottom of it there is a switch to turn it on the lowest setting. I like to have water movement in all of my tanks so no film builds up on the surface, it seems to keep the water at an even temp when you have water movement too. So no, on the lowest setting it is not too strong at all. Here is an updated picture of the tank (with the divider), because Koopa died of dropsy, and the frog is in the 10 gallon female tank now. That mini/bowl filter is so neat! I think it will work good. as long as its not too powerful that it pushes your bettas around a lot. Some like to play in the current, but you need to provide them a resting place when they don't want to.
Alexa
Alexa
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