1 Gallon Heater? Filter? Help???

[smbrg]

I initially got my male betta, Bob, as a birthday present and was ignorant about betta habitats at the time and he was in a pretty small cube.

But today I bought him a 1 gallon tank, which I know is still small, but it IS better than what he was in. But I'm really lost with heaters and need some help finding one that won't overheat such a small aquarium.

Also, the filter that was in the aquarium was waaaay too strong for Bob, so I'll have to do without one right now. Do you guys think if I do 1/3 water changes every other day and full changes once a week that would be enough to prevent ammonia/nitrate/other issues? Or fewer/ more changes?

Please help, I'm new to bettas, but I love Bob and want him to be as comfy and healthy as possible in his new home.

[Pataflafla]

In a 1 gallon, you can get away with 1 50% and 1 100% weekly.

Don't worry about a filter for it. It's small enough that the filter would be more of a hassle.

As for a heater, it's generally 5 watts per gallon, but I don't think they make a heater that small. You could go with a 25 watt adjustable, because that could safely heat your tank (With a little experimentation on the setting for correct temperature).

For heater brand, I recommend either an Elite or an Eheim Jager since I've never heard bad reviews for them. Stay away from the little Marina heaters since they don't work as they're advertised to.

[Thunderloon]

There are two filtration options for a 1g tank, either the Tom's/Lee's small sponge filter or get a "small world" kit from Penn-Plax and replace the cartridge with a chunk of reticulated foam (bio-cube foam block cut down).
Both these options are air-pump driven and while about 90% of this forum will say you don't need aeration AND can't cycle a one gallon, sponge filters can cycle a pop bottle and a little aeration lets Betta sleep longer and kills about 40% of the bacteria that might harm him.

The little no-adjustment Tetra heaters are fairly safe in a one gallon tank, you'll want to use hot water to pre-bend the power cord so that the heater lays down. The trick is that in a 1g tank you will always have heater over-shoot but the 76.5° setting point means the overshoot will stay in the realm of normal Betta temps.

Can't really say that the little uncontrolled 7.5w heaters are better or worse, they suffer from a lot of tank disturbance and are difficult to place in any manner one would call secure. The 7.5w are designed to self regulate by water evaporation and heat radiation from the tank.

It will probably be best for you to do the 50/100/50/scrub schedule through the week, remember to use larger gravel in a thin layer and if you wish to have a plant, see about putting it in a plant-pot that's been cut down (gently with a hack-saw blade cuts terra cotta just fine: start with dry pot and keep wetting the blade)

[smbrg]

Thank you both so much! I really appreciate the advice, particularly because it was good advice(;

[Myates]

I would skip the filter- just a hassle and takes up room that your betta could use.
Tetra brand has a lot of enemies in this site when it comes to heaters- a lot of the smaller heaters from them only warm the water up by a few degrees, or doesn't at all.
I would have to agree with Pata- get a 25 watt adjustable one, that way in the future if you upgrade to a larger tank, you can continue to use it rather then having to go by another.

1 50% and 1 100% per week water change is what is very highly recommended by most around here, breeders, etc. You can have too clean of water.. so any more then that really isn't going to benefit them at all, but could actually hamper their immune system.