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Siliconemelons

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So the boiling to water-log is merely to get it to sink naturally...
I get boiling it for a bit to kill anything that may be in / on it... but I was like, wtf 3 days straight? lol

I just picked up a big ol branch that fell off some tree in my lawn and thought it would be cool.. but I may just buy whatever they have at petco when I go get the tank...its only a 10g, so not super big

thanks yo
 

Siliconemelons

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30$ Wal-Mart 10gal kit! Goooo

Pump was whisper quiet...now it has the standard brrrr-hummm :(

But tomorrow I buy some overpriced weeds and sticks for it.

Still pondering guppies to be with the betta or not...

IMG_20200726_1851352~2.jpg
 
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Aamry

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30$ Wal-Mart 10gal kit! Goooo

Pump was whisper quiet...now it has the standard brrrr-hummm :(

But tomorrow I buy some overpriced weeds and sticks for it.

Still pondering guppies to be with the betta or not...

View attachment 288281

Since you don't have anything in the tank yet, and you're looking to put in live plants, I'd drain it and put in a layer of organic potting soil underneath your pea gravel. It will give the roots nutrients, and make your substrate thicker for more bacteria to breakdown sludge.

Not necessarily as thick as this old guys, but I heavily recommend it, since I never use a gravel vacuum.

 
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a c i d.f l y

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Since you don't have anything in the tank yet, and you're looking to put in live plants, I'd drain it and put in a layer of organic potting soil underneath your pea gravel. It will give the roots nutrients, and make your substrate thicker for more bacteria to breakdown sludge.

Not necessarily as thick as this old guys, but I heavily recommend it, since I never use a gravel vacuum.


If you do this, run the soil through a screen filter. The wood shit in it will start to rot and bubble up underneath. I have 2" of soil under my sand, after about 6 months a giant bubble popped, and soil and dirt shit got everywhere. It took almost 2 years to clean it out.

Buy a roll of screen door repair kit, lay it over a 5 gallon bucket and sift the dirt through it. You can use water to accelerate the process. Slow stream. Dirt should sink to the bottom, but you'll need to drain some off depending on how much soil you use.
 
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Aamry

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Sheesh yeall and your proper ways of doing stuff ;)

Do it right, do it once. lol. You could have always bought a better substrate, but quality dirt from lowes/home depot is cheaper than ADA Amazonia or other fancy shit.
 

Siliconemelons

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Argh.... Water is hazy now... no fish in it...just filer / pump running.

Did is tap water and conditioner ... we do have a water softener - so? Salt?

I can just buy some water from the store.. Spring? Ozinized? Filtered?

Figure fix it when I put the dirt layer in
 

Aamry

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Argh.... Water is hazy now... no fish in it...just filer / pump running.

Did is tap water and conditioner ... we do have a water softener - so? Salt?

I can just buy some water from the store.. Spring? Ozinized? Filtered?

Figure fix it when I put the dirt layer in

Does conditioner have a good bacteria in it? Like a quick start? The haziness is usually bacterial bloom, and is typical, and will clear up in a few days.
 

Gator

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Anyone have a good online source for plants? I need some new, big plants and there is nothing local.

I think I've used every one of these sites except aquaticarts. No complaints from any of them. Careful with azgardens though. Their shipping was steep compared to the others.
 
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lurkingdirk

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I think I've used every one of these sites except aquaticarts. No complaints from any of them. Careful with azgardens though. Their shipping was steep compared to the others.

Thanks! That's mega helpful!
 

Aamry

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Aquatic Arts is also basically the only live plant provider that sells through Amazon.
 

Hateyou

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This is how we keep the males, 1000mm x 200mm x 200mm tanks, divided in the middle. So kinda like how yoy described besides that ours are on the smaller end. :)

View attachment 287079

I would really like to have a legit tank like one of these for our betta but have no idea how to start, what kind of plants to look for or how to clean/care for that. Those look awesome.

Moving him up to a 5 gallon tank from a 1 gallon later this week. So far my only plan is some moss balls and maybe driftwood and silk plants until I can take the time to research doing a real plant tank like that.
 

Siliconemelons

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Bought a 18$ cool looking hunk of wood for the tank from a local owned pet shop.

Floats...

Like... if I just wanted driftwood I could do that myself!!!

Rustled...

What's the best thing to weigh this darn thing down
 

Aamry

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Bought a 18$ cool looking hunk of wood for the tank from a local owned pet shop.

Floats...

Like... if I just wanted driftwood I could do that myself!!!

Rustled...

What's the best thing to weigh this darn thing down

Wait a couple weeks, it'll waterlog, or you can use lead. Pet stores use lead strips to keep live plants in the substrate
 

Siliconemelons

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Lead won't poison my water? I know it's cheap and dense

Should I just plant my plants and toss my betta in and hope it does not get squished when the log decides to stop floating?


Thanks.
 

Aamry

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Lead won't poison my water? I know it's cheap and dense

Should I just plant my plants and toss my betta in and hope it does not get squished when the log decides to stop floating?


Thanks.

After doing some research, what I thought was lead might in fact be strips of zinc? or an amalgam. But yeah, the betta won't be crushed by your log, they aren't dumb.
 

Aychamo BanBan

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F106E7B5-C833-46ED-B422-45937CEEEE72.jpeg

What would a custom aquarium around this size cost? I have a huge wall in my media room that I’d like a large bowfront tank. Like 1000+ gallons. It would need to be on a base with all the equipment underneath.
 
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Sludig

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>10,000$ Especially if saltwater. A custom tank to the size you need alone could run that without any of the equipment or livestock.

A base is I think the wrong word though semantics. 1000g x8.something for salt + sand/rock alone is hitting pretty significant weights to where if it's not on foundation slab you will have issues. Even basic slab I think ideally you need extra work done. Then my fear with huge tanks (I had a 300) is if it ever fails, that's astronomical destruction to you're house.