Preperation Of Set Up For My First Betta!

[Forestpisces]

Ok, so i decided today to start on my betta tank set up after wandering round my local fish /garden center and buying a few silk plants, and wanted to check in that id done everything right so far (bear with me i'm still quite new and the batta will be my first tropical fish). Anyway to start with my tank was a mess, its an elite 35litre with stingray 10 filter that came with it, it had previously housed one fantail and one oranda which sadly passed away due to ich and what in my uneducated opinion was velvet.
Firstly i drained all the water from the tank and removed all decorations and gravel. This alone took nearly two hours and i have come to the conclusion that gravel is the devils dust (darn stuff gets everywere!)
Then i plonked the tank in the bath and set at it armed with hot water a toothbrush and cloth. The algae was not too bad but had crept into the sealent but i managed to clean most if not all of it out.
Once i had taken another hour or so on that i proceeded to wash my slime ridden silk plants and the new ones with hot water (i think i'l start on real ones when i can get the flippin fake ones right )
Then i let it all airdry and chucked out the gravel as i'm replacing it with sand and it was beyond cleaning anyway. Plus it was blue which i had always not been too keen on as i prefer a more natural look for the fishes enviroment.
I forgot to mention that throughout this i sat my filter in a container filled with old tank water is this ok and will the bacteria last in there? it will be in there till this weekend at least and im worried about having to recycle it. It has been cycleing for at least a month now but i didnt want to get my fish until after i went on holiday as il be away for two weeks in august and dont know if i can get someone to pop in and check on them (though if i can i will be more than tempted to get my fish before the holiday any advise on this?)
So now my clean tank is sat on the windowsill awaiting its remaining gear and decore e.g. heater substrate.
Have i done everything ok? Any help is appreciated as always.
Gentle breezes
FP x

 

[Honeythorn]

With no fish waste to feed the filter, you will need to keep adding ammonia to the water your filter is in , in order to keep it cycled. Obviously the filter must be switched on 24/7as it would be in the tank.

Here's the problem with wating until after your holiday to get the fish - If you go away for two weeks ( or even a few days ) and do not feed the filter with ammonia, your bacteria will die and you will be back to square one. Unless you can get someone to come and dose the bucket of water with the correct amount of ammonia every day, then you will lose your bacteria.

If you get your fish next week or when your tank is set up and ready with it's cycled filter, then adding your fish should be fine. When you go away for two weeks you will have to get someone who is not an idiot, to come and feed the fish , and do a water change once a week as you would have done.

If the person in question has never done this , then you will have to leave them explicit and detailed instructions on what to do , such as make sure the water is the correct temp before adding, and using the correct amount of dechlorinator , what time to turn lights on and off ect so you don't get an algae explosion ( unless your lights are on a timer )

Feeding - you can make up little paper packets containing the correct amount of food so that they do not over feed him. To keep waste low, you can leave instructiuon and food packets so that the betta is fed every other day instead of every single day. This will not harm the betta in the least .

Water changes - I find the easiest method for someone who has never done water changes on a tank, is to remove the water with a new clean jug instead of using the gravel vacum .Your fish has less chance of being sucked up the tube by an inexperienced user that way. You can do a proper gravel/sand vac when you return home.



Also, real plants are not at all difficult to keep alive. One of the easiest plants to keep is Moss balls. Just chuck them in, they'll eventually sink and then you just leave them alone to roll about in the tank and generally exist without needing any maintenence other than the occasional rinse in some old tankwater to get any bits off .

Cabomba is also a good plant to start with, and bettas love it. It's usually sold as a bunch of stem cuttings. They have no roots to begin with, but they will grow them.

I've found that if you crush up some root tabs ( your lfs should sell them ) and mix that with a little bit of basic pond soil, you will have a nice base to help your plants grow.

You can spread this mix in a thin layer on the bottom of the tank before you add your sand or gravel on top. The layer of soil should be about 1/2 a centimetre, and then a couple of inches of gravel or sand on the top of that. Basic plants should grow absolutely fine in that. Mine do.

I don't use CO2 or anything of that sort in my tanks, and using the method above I can grow cabomba, aponogentons, elodia, crypts,echinodorus and hygrophillia very well indeed ( see tanks in sig ) .

 

[Forestpisces]

Honeythorn as always your a star . I honistly cannot thankyou enough for the advise youve given me over the past few months. Ok youve persuaded me with the moss balls i deffinately chuck one in . As far as the other plants go i'l put a layer of the soil mix you explained in the bottom of the tank BEFORE i put my sand in and then gradually i can replace my fake plants with real ones to ween my silly old self in. Apart from tham how am i doining so far

 

[Honeythorn]

That sounds good. Soil goes in first right on the glass bottom ( make sure there's no big lumps ) then your gravel/sand on top.

I think moss balls ( you can buy them in packs of 5 small ones on ebay, or you could go for one big one ) and Cabomba would be a great start for you. I have a mossball in all my tanks, Duncan ( blue betta in sig ) like to drape himself over his

When the cabomba grows and starts to trail along the top of the water, just pinch the tops out. It also puts shoots off the sides of the stem, and you can pinch the plant off just below these side roots, strip any leaves round the bottom of the bit you picked off ( leave the roots on!!! ) and then plants that bit back in the sunbstrate if you have a space that needs fiilling. Saves you buying more plants!

 

[Forestpisces]

Ooooh nice tip i like it. I cant wait to get my fist betta. Hel be such a special little guy