30L/8G Betta Aquarium

[AshleyNZ]

Well, this one started when mom and I went to a local auction place in town and saw a neat little tank, and I think it's the small size of it that made mom let me have it.
The set up included 1x 25w Aqua One heater, 2x 180l/hr Aqua One HOB filters, a syphon, gravel, tank and tank lid, and some sort of bridge ornament. 

The tank literally had my name on it, or, last name anyway. I placed $50 on it, but went to the auction later in the week just to be sure. And with my luck, it was one of the last things to be auctioned. So...2 hours later got to take it home for $60.
 
Got home, tested it for leaks and everything, was satisfied that it did not. 
 
Added about 2-3kg (4-6lbs) of silica sand to the bottom. 

 
The bags in there are plants left over from my 65L bowfront / 17G which I sold. Sorry for bad photo. 
With the money I got from selling the tank and a few other bits and pieces, managed to get enough money to grab everything I needed. 
 
Two days later, had three packages arrive for me.
I got: 
Aqua One 8w 12" (30cm) light tube
50w Jager heater
2 small air stones
Small piece of driftwood
2 Blue hygros
1 Polysperma
1 Babies tears
Also got a betta hammock and some java fern from BlondieLovesFish (Thanks so much for that )
 
Here's the tank set up as it is currently : (got a new phone so cameras a bit better) Also have Windelov and Ambulia planted in the tank

 
Will try to keep updating. Please feel free to comment!
 
 
 
 

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Looks great!
You're very welcome for the plants
I can't wait to see your future betta!

 

[Ninjouzata]

That was very nice of you Blondie
 
Ash your tank is looking great. I also can't wait to see what you pick and I bet he/she is going to love the tank!

 

[Mamashack]

Looking forward to further progress reports, Ashley.
Your pictures are just fine, better than anything I've managed! lol

 

[Flash_Fire]

Is this the betta hammock you have?
http/www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=57831

 

[AshleyNZ]

Is this the betta hammock you have?
http/www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=57831

I believe it was homemade

Looking forward to further progress reports, Ashley.
Your pictures are just fine, better than anything I've managed! lol

Thanks! Im looking forward to the progress aswell
 

That was very nice of you Blondie
 
Ash your tank is looking great. I also can't wait to see what you pick and I bet he/she is going to love the tank!

Thank you so much
Added an exact 2ppm of ammonia today, will have to wait and see if the seeded HOB filters will process this in 24 hours

 

[Blondielovesfish]

 

Is this the betta hammock you have?
http/www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=57831

 
No, that's not it
All it is is a silk leaf from a silk leaf plant thingy, and then the leaf is stuck into a air line suction cup holder.  
Here's a picture of it...

 

[Mamashack]

That looks much nicer than mine, Blondie! Is it rigid enough for the betta to rest on? I've got the plastic one and the snails have rasped the surface off it so it looks a proper mess!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

That looks much nicer than mine, Blondie! Is it rigid enough for the betta to rest on? I've got the plastic one and the snails have rasped the surface off it so it looks a proper mess!

 
Yeah it seems to be! Zeus who was my betta always rested on it just fine, it seemed to be one of his favourite items in the tank ^.^
Hopefully Ashley's betta gets just as much enjoyment out of it

 

[Mamashack]

Might try that then. Have got lots of spare airline suction cups and a silk plant that isn't in use at the moment. Might even try that in the shrimp tank too.

 

[AshleyNZ]

Checked ammonia levels this morning, just shy of 24hrs and seems to be the same (2ppm). I'll continue to monitor and update

 

[AshleyNZ]

So turns out the HOB filters aren't seeded as the ammonia level is still 2ppm, NitrAtes 50ppm, NitrItes 0ppm, pH 6.0 (or lower) Temp is 26 degrees Celsius.  I will be keeping a line graph of these four parameters and keep a note of the temp so I can have a better understanding of how cycling works for the future

 

[Mamashack]

You could try bumping up the temp to 29-30 which will encourage bacterial growth.
It's unusual to have ammonia and nitrates, but no nitrites. How much nitrates in your tap water?
Also the very low pH may be inhibiting the bacteria. Have you any means of bumping that up too so it's slightly alkaline?

If the HOBs contents were allowed to dry out the bacteria will have died off. Are you planning on using cartridges or have they been replaced by more sustainable contents like foam or ceramic beads? Cartridges would be expensive to keep replacing and would reduce the bacterial colony you're working so hard to nuture each time you replace one.

 

[AshleyNZ]

Did a water change, tap water pH is around 8.2 but after 24 hours 7.6 so should help with bumping it up. Will try raising the temp a bit too. No nitrates in tap water. 
This happened with my last cycle too, never saw nitrites. 
 
In the HOB I removed the cartridges (stupid little carbon ones) and added filter floss, black sponge and some ceramic noodles.
 
I have a canister running on one tank that hasnt dried out, so if it's still cycled (added ammonia just now) should be able to steal some media from that.

NitrAtes were 5.0ppm, sorry

 

[AshleyNZ]

Just did another test.
pH - 6.4 (Will do another waterchange to bring that up)
Temperature - 26 degrees (Is this right for a betta?)
Ammonia - 0.50ppm 
Nitrate - 10ppm I think....can't tell
Nitrite - 0
 
What do y'all think? Exciting that the ammonia level dropped

 
Okay just kidding I forgot about the waterchange I did yesterday >.>