60L Planted Betta Tank (How To Squeeze Big Things Into Small Places)

[tunagirll]

This is my second planted betta tank, the first one (nano) is in my sig. This is a 60 litre tank (about 15 gallons you yanks

) which will feature a rather beautiful piece of driftwood I snapped up at my LFS. The piece is rather large for a small tank, so the challenge will be featuring it without overwhelming the tank. The driftwood still needs soaking, but a *cough* recent purchase has moved my timeline up considerably.
 
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMin8rlpWZA
 
First up, the booty from the fish store

tank, a new led light and a few bits and pieces extra. 

 
Best part of being female: not having to steal stockings to make gravel bags

 
The driftwood has been soaking for about two weeks and has been thoroughly scrubbed as well. It was a nice piece, not cheap at $45 but worth every penny for its beauty! Arranging the driftwood was a bit difficult due to its size. I was really reluctant to chop it at all, so the best solution was to hide the 'collar'.

 
Top down view

 
Root tabs go in and 10kg of fine black shrimp sand is put on top

 
And again from the top

 
Hardscape is in

 

[lrhodes]

Love that piece of wood! Looks great so far!

 

[AquaPit]

Pardon me, may I know what are the gravel bags for?

I have an exactly 60L tank like yours!

Check out my journal on how I arranged big pieces of wood in the tank(but do not expect it to be beautiful though! haha)

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/429989-a-60litre-named-aquapit/

I am doing a re-scaping of my tank and still configuring how to put in pieces of wood in there and not make the tank look too 'crampy-looking'..

 

[tunagirll]

Hi Aquapit, the gravel bags are made with tank gravel in stocking pieces, I use them to scape the bottom of the tank. They stabilise the floor shape and let me build high sections that won't slip down over time. They also fill in gaps a lot cheaper than expensive sands 

 
I just love your gorgeous little driftwood bridge! Nice tank

 
Back on track: in my quest for ever stupider things to do, my hugely media-ed filter from my cycled tank was happily plonked into the new tank and switched on - and it was shortly after that I remembered that I hadn't conditioned the water

 Frantic squirting of conditioner into the tank and a stir with my weapon of choice - my ruler!
 
Nitrites at 0.5ppm and I've put in 3.0ppm ammonia to see if my bacteria still live - if they do most if not all the ammonia and nitrites should be gone tomorrow. Hopefully.

 

[AquaPit]

tks!

Cant wait to see the end product!

 

[tunagirll]

Put my order in for stock for this tank plus two 30l tanks:
 
6 x Finke Gobies going into this tank
15 x Darwin Red-nose shrimp
10 x Chameleon shrimp
10 x cherry shrimp
Nymphaea nouchali as a feature plant
Hairgrass for the background
Pogostemon stellatus
Vallisneria nana
Pennywort for the foreground
 
Plus my new dumbo betta breeding pair 

 

[tunagirll]

A snap of a Finke Goby, which are a threatened species here in Australia. Very small and hardy fish that grow to around 5-6cm. Really pleased to add them to the tanks and hopefully breed a few for others to conserve!
 

 

[!TropicalTan!]

Those pair bettas are gawjus huni loking the tank too x

 

[RCA]

Looking great, and you are lucky to be able to buy from your supplier in Australia, I have for years admired her quality Bettas.

Those Gobies look great.

In terms of your stocking list, you are aware that the female and make Betta cannot live in the same tank? They can only go together when conditioned for breeding, and there needs to be no other inhabitants, or he is likely to attack/kill them protecting the nest. Sorry if you already know this but would hate you to loose that beautiful girl.

I like the stocking idea for build up, take a look at my Juwel journal (link in sig), as to how I raised up the levels.

Something that is a little confusing is that your profile location says UK, yet I am sure you are based in Australia?

 

[tunagirll]

Yeah I know, buying a third tank to keep the bettas separate
 
Yes I am in Australia, not sure why I can't change it to the UK

 

[tunagirll]

So my original plant plan isn't going to happen, even the natives are going to get pureed across the border it appears! That should have been fine, but no time to plan a new layout as my betta arrive today apparently! A quick trip down to Aquotix to scrounge for plants and a few bits and pieces to split my CO2 into the new tank.
 
Here's what I came back with:
 
A pot of Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (Brazilian micro sword)
A nice Echinodorus horizontalis (Horizontalis sword)
Hygrophila corymbosa (Narrow leaf giant hygro)
Hairgrass (want dwarf but that will have to wait)
Narrow leaf val
More blyxa japonica as well
 
and picking up some hydrocotyle sp japan (pennywort) today
 
So here's the mess today. Not happy with the layout but got the plants in and will decide on an arrangement over the new few days (ideas welcome). Planning to pick up some pebbles to decorate and make hidey holes for the gobies arriving next week.
 

 

[looking-glass]

the tanks looking great keep the pictures coming those gobies look really cool I wish we had them at my LFS

 

[tunagirll]

the tanks looking great keep the pictures coming

those gobies look really cool I wish we had them at my LFS

 
Cheers There are plenty of gobies around, they aren't flashy but they are neat. Finke River is one of the oldest rivers in the world, and the Finke Goby's habitat is only around 5000 km2. They are at risk thanks to the spread of the non native Mosquito fish. The supplier feeds some of the funds of their sale back to programs to protect their habitat, which is very neat!
 
They have an amazing range of water conditions they can survive in, so ideal for a numptie like me lol

 

[tunagirll]

Hidey holes for the shrimp and gobies are in
 

 
The bettas and cherries arrived in perfect condition, they are just settling in so no pics yet.

 

[AquaPit]

i must say.. the pebbles made a big difference to the look! nice!