Bullsnark Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 I decided that I hated the colored gravel in my beta sorority tank, and now that my fiancé has her glow tank and her angelfish beach (I know, I know) tank, it is time to lose the colored gravel. so this is the piece of wood I am starting with. I have to reshape it a bit, so it’s hatchet time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 After the hatchet work, I mixed up the soil and washed the sand that is going in here. I am going to have to go get more sand before I get the plants in. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tihshho Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 Looks like you're off to a good start! I thoroughly enjoy the scaping and building portion of new tanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 On 9/13/2021 at 11:43 AM, Tihshho said: Looks like you're off to a good start! I thoroughly enjoy the scaping and building portion of new tanks. I do as well. I just wish that I hadn’t hit my thumb with the hole saw last night. I was drilling little hidey spots for my beta since they like to tuck themselves into little tight nooks while they sleep. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tihshho Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 Ooo, that's never good. Hopefully it wasn't anything too serious. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 On 9/13/2021 at 12:01 PM, Tihshho said: Ooo, that's never good. Hopefully it wasn't anything too serious. Looks bad, but not deep. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 Ok, got the plants in and ready to start adding water Started adding water slowly. I had packed the soil tightly around the wood, but I was afraid it might still try to float. No idea why this is upside down 💥 disaster struck. The wood popped loose and soil exploded everywhere. Friggin great..🤬 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbit Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 Oh nooo bummer! Floating wood is strong, strong, strong. I had to drill holes in mine and secure it to the glass with fishing line and huge suction cups. Think you’ll start from the beginning or let the soil settle and keep pushing forward? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 To bad it popped loose, but I’m looking forward to the result. I have been interested in Betta sorority’s for a while now, maybe I’ll try it once. Do you always top soil of with sand? Does it work fine (offcourse without driftwood popping loose)? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 On 9/13/2021 at 2:40 PM, Hobbit said: Oh nooo bummer! Floating wood is strong, strong, strong. I had to drill holes in mine and secure it to the glass with fishing line and huge suction cups. Think you’ll start from the beginning or let the soil settle and keep pushing forward? Always forward! It looks like we ghetto right now, but I have sand and pea gravel outside to wash and add. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 (edited) On 9/13/2021 at 3:15 PM, Del said: To bad it popped loose, but I’m looking forward to the result. I have been interested in Betta sorority’s for a while now, maybe I’ll try it once. Do you always top soil of with sand? Does it work fine (offcourse without driftwood popping loose)? If I had been using the $20 a bag aqua soil, (that is basically calcined clay soaked in fertilizer) it probably would not have floated up at all. The problem is I used a potting mix that contains peat which is basically rotted wood, and the little white stuff and I’m drawing a blank now it’s not vermiculite, and it’s not gypsum… Anyway they use it to loosen up compact soils- it floats, so it makes for a very bad choice all things considered. That’s why I added the sand on top was to help kind of seal it in, and keep it from leaching nitrates into the water, and to keep the lightweight stuff in place. The wood ruined that for me, but oh well. Now I’m just going to add another inch or so of sand and top it with pea gravel for appearance sake. You could use aqua soil and then cover it with a coarse sand or light gravel and it would probably be easier to queen if you’ve got the money to do it; I just don’t EDIT— perlite. Of course I remember 20 minutes later Edited September 13, 2021 by Bullsnark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 OK this is about the fourth time that I’ve changed the water, and I’ve sat there and fished little bits of floaties out with a fine net. I am running a Clear2o filter on my garden hose to fill with, and it has a prefilter, and a solid block carbon filter that filters to one micron. there still a little bit of debris, and I have to get it up to temperature, but it’s looking pretty good for a one day project. I know my beta would appreciate being out of the bucket. Thoughts? I added a little pea gravel then a layer of sand about three-quarter inch thick, then another inch or so of pea gravel on top. I hope this makes it easier to gravel vac 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 I’m gonna wait about 20 minutes and put the heater in, but this is a look from the backside where it’s easier to see the substrate levels. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 The black one is jet, red is scarlet, and white body/red fins is Gretchen 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalmedByFish Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 Gretchen is a cute name. I hope your new set-up works out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 14, 2021 Author Share Posted September 14, 2021 (edited) @CalmedByFish Thanks! So far the fish seem to be loving it. Edited September 14, 2021 by Bullsnark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 14, 2021 Author Share Posted September 14, 2021 Tossed some food in 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbit Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 Lol I love the weights. I used all our glass/ceramic pie pans and some 9x13 Pyrex to try to keep my log sunk when I first set up my tank. 😄 I’ll be interested to know if you have any issues with gas pockets forming in the deep substrate. Everyone talks about the dangers of toxic gas buildup, but I’m definitely a “see it to believe it” kind of person. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 It’s coming together nicely! How long do you have the betta’s? Have they always been together? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 14, 2021 Author Share Posted September 14, 2021 On 9/14/2021 at 12:59 AM, Del said: It’s coming together nicely! How long do you have the betta’s? Have they always been together? I’ve had the white and red one for about two months now and the other two for about a month. We had one more but something happened while we were gone for a weekend and we came back and there was nothing but a skeleton. Between the Pleco and the snails they cleaned everything off. I’m guessing that she had something wrong with her and I suspect probably ich, but she was pure snow white, so you couldn’t tell. The red one had some ich spots started on her fins, so I hit the entire tank with the med trio, and added 4 males in perforated cups to treat them at the same time. be on the first day of a little bit of bumping and establishing a pecking order, they’ve had zero issues. The one issue we did have was we had another “female“ that happened to be an immature male plakat that was raising hell. That’s when we discovered that instead of having six females and four makes, we had 4 females and 6 males. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 To bad you lost one! Planning on some breeding project with them? Or just love having a lot of bettas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnark Posted September 14, 2021 Author Share Posted September 14, 2021 On 9/14/2021 at 8:15 AM, Del said: To bad you lost one! Planning on some breeding project with them? Or just love having a lot of bettas? Breeding. I have a number of dumbo males that I want to breed, but I need to get these girls all to size first, and need to get ahold of a vinegar eel culture for the fry. I have a brine eel hatchery and I’ve used it to help fatten up my guppies, but I don’t have anything tiny enough for beta fry. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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