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Nibblez's Journal

4K views 39 replies 5 participants last post by  Nibblez 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi all,
I'm making this journal just to keep track of my plans and thoughts as well as to keep track of my progress. My friend told me he might buy the 14 liter setup off me in a month or two which got me planning 2 extra tanks. I dont have a fish room or anything but I've rearranged my bedroom to fit as much as i can.

The Bettas
Nibblez is my first ever betta and i got him about 2 months back. I still have yet to figure out what tail he is or what colour class he falls into. He's just so lovable, curious, greedy, loves to eat the food off my finger and he just follows me, not much of an explorer.


Tenshi was an impulse buy about 2-3 weeks back. I saw him in the same pet store i bought Nibblez and i just had to have him. I bought him even though i have no proper tank setup for him so i put him in the 2 liter cube (and he is still in it) that i got Nibblez with. He is a bit shy compared to Nibblez but inquisitive none the less and loves to explore. I dont have a photo of him in the cube as it is now.


The Tanks
Theres the 14 liter (3.8gal) all in one setup which is the one my friend is considering to buy. Its a simple setup with a plant (not sure what kind) planted onto a piece of driftwood, a rock with grey gravel and the betta hammock. This is the tank Nibblez is in (first photo).

The spare 2-3 liter (.8-1gal) cube which is currently housing Tenshi (second photo) which i hope never to use except for emergencies or as a QT.

Ever since i got Tenshi, I've acquired a 38 liter (10gal) tank which i have planned to make into a NPT. Pretty much threw all my money into it, its got the substrates in but I'm still waiting for the driftwood and rocks to finish my hardscape. This is the stage it's currently at aside from the recently acquired lid.


The Plan

Aside from the 38 liter tank that I have under construction, as long as my friend buys the 14 liter tank I have, I plan to get 2 25 liter (7gal) tanks. These are also going to be NPT just like the 38 liter tank but i will probably design it differently, somehow. But with 3 proper tanks, this means that i can get more fishies. I am currently tossing up between 2 plans. Would be great if any of you have any recommendation of which plan to go with or advice.
Plan 1
38 liter tank becomes a sorority NPT community tank and the 25 liter tanks will be community tanks for the 2 male bettas i have right now. This plan will allow me to get a few female bettas.

Plan 2
38 liter tank becomes a large NPT community tank with a male and the 25 liter will also be community NPT community tank with a male betta each. So this means i get to get 1 more male betta.


Thats pretty much if for now, I'll just keep all my updates here. I should be updating pretty soon with the driftwood and rocks once I'm happy with the hardscape.:cool:
 
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#5 ·
Update time!!!!

REALLY EXCITED RIGHT NOW!!! SO HYPER!!! I GOT MY DRIFTWOOD! Sadly the rocks weren't there in the shop so i will have to go in another time. There were so many choices of wood he brought in for me. I was STUMPED! Luckily i settled on 3 pieces, 1 was literally a stump.:p

Anyways I arranged it in the tank, did a bit of trimming and now i'm going to soak it. Might have to add more terrain to even it out to my liking. Enough talk, heres the wood arrangement i have settled on.


Next is the rocks, light, plants and maybe a CO2 kit.
 
#6 · (Edited)
4/26/2013 - 36 liter

Posting this a bit late but i got the rocks and started placing them into the tank, fiddled around a bit with the hardscape and decided to remove the stump and a few rocks for use with another tank. About half an hour of figuring it out, i started to wet the substrate and began planting while it was filling very slowly. I think i have got HC for carpeting and.... cant remember the other plant's name. Planning of getting dwarf hairgrass and a few other stem plants the next time i go to my LFS.

This was how it looked on the first day after filling. Took this at night with only the tank lights on so the colours look a bit more bleached than they are.
 
#7 · (Edited)
4/28/2013 - 36 liter

3rd day since initial tank setup, i have been doing roughly 40%-50% water changes with Prime daily. My first time using Prime, i have to say it really is very very concentrated. Shifted the heater to the back of the tank behind the HOB filter but it meant that i had to move my HOB forward along with my light, so the light is currently sitting off centered. I would say the the substrate is still settling as there was still small air bubbles popping from the substrate yesterday. Water is a bit browned, most likely due to the driftwood still leeching. Anyways, I'm seeing all the plants with air bubbles on the leaves! THEY ARE PHOTOSYNTHESIZING!! Must be a good start. :)

Also found a tiny mystery snail today crawling around... Not sure what to do with it....

Looks like when i open the curtains, the sunlight hit my tank at the perfect angle around late afternoon that im getting an awesome rainbow right now in the middle of my room.
 
#9 · (Edited)
4/29/2013 - 36 liter

Quick update, the water is starting to clear up, substrate has finally settled i guess. Re-arranged the plants and got myself a bunch of blyxa that i planted around the driftwood. Baffled the HOB filter on both the intake and the outflow spout as well. Now running on maximum output with barely any disturbance, should be perfect for Tenshi once its ready.
 
#10 ·
4/30/2013 - 36 liter

Water is continuing to clear up as i change the water so im glad the wood has stopped leeching. The HC seems to be spreading out i think, aside from that, theres not really much, waiting a couple more days till i do the first trimming.
Massive photo dump.

Heres the newly planted blyxa.

Think i am seeing some growth...

A picture of the baffled HOB, its running on max output right now, the total amount of water outflow is around the same as mid power or so although there is barely any disturbance. Used a fluval edge intake foam for the intake and a bio sponge folded over stuffed in the spout with a rubber band to hold the lid down.


My beautiful little boy is sitting right next to his new tank, keeps staring at the tank like....
 
#11 · (Edited)
5/3/2013

14 liter (Nibblez)
Did a 50% water change for Nibblez yesterday cleaned up the entire tank, scrubbed the java fern and rock as well as scrubbing the glass. Java fern seems to be sprouting new leaves, might have before but its my first time seeing it. Nibblez also seems to like the new arrangement of his tank, just look at him, its the second time he did that today...


36 liter - Into Week 2
It is now the start of week 2 fore the Do!Aqua tank. All the plants are doing excellent, carpet is beginning to start growing now that it has settled, the Rotala H'ra (the one in the back) is also sprouting new growth, new health leaves on a few of them. The Blyxa which was introduced halfway through the week seems to be melting from the looks of it. Did a bit of trimming of them stem plants and planting them to help spread the plants out. Also bought the ADA Brighty K and Green Brighty Step 1 to help the plants along. Will be doing water changes every other day now.

Pulled out the heater for a wipe down and cleaned the filter pre-intake sponge as well at the baffling sponge. The tank is starting to have an algae outbreak, hair algae is growing on the driftwood, rocks, on the plants and substrate as well. I was thinking of introducing some otos and shrimps soon to help keep the algae under control.

Before the maintenance:






Spotted some weird brown liquid coming out of the top of the driftwood. Any idea what it is?



After maintenance:
 
#12 ·
5/5/2013

36 Liter
My tank is looking extremely green now, and not in a good way, the hair algae seems to be increasing at an exponential rate so i got to scrubbing down the driftwood and rocks as much as i can during the water change today, the hair algae also seems to be growing on the substrate and messing it up. I have decreased the hours of light and lower the intensity of the light a little to hopefully keep the algae growth to a minimum till i get a cleaning crew. I really hope i can do that tomorrow.
 
#13 ·
5/6/2013

36 Liter
Went to my LFS to buy myself a new Sera Master Test kit and also have the water tested. Last water change was yesterday, ammonia tested at 1.0mg/L, nitrite at 0mg/L with a pH of 6.5. Was told it was pretty normal with the ADA substrate in it. So for now, got 4 Otocinclus and put them into the tank to hopefully get the algae under control, if all goes well, most likely shrimps at the end of the week.
 
#14 ·
36 Liter
Just did a water change and tested the water after the water change. Cleaned off as much algae as possible but its still pretty full of algae. I got a reading of:
pH - 7.0
Ammonia - 1.0mg/L
Nitrite - 0.0mg/L
Nitrate - 0.0mg/L

I presume at this stage that the BB is still establishing, havent used any QuickStart or any chemicals with BB to help establishment so i'm expecting it to take a while to start cycling anyways.
 
#16 ·
5/9/2013

36 Liter
Water change today, almost into week 3 and the algae is blooming like crazy, crazy enough to drive me crazy. Anyways, the otos are staying fat, they did a good job cleaning the glass, looks like they finally cleaned it enough that they are moving around to other surfaces to eat the algae. I'm guessing that the tank is probably too well setup that the tank has an excess of everything and lacks CO2. Went out to get a pressurized CO2 system today and hooked it up, hopefully this will get the HC spreading fast and the plants growing much healthier, and also get rid of the damn algae bloom.





 
#17 ·
5/13/13

36 Liter
So i tested my water today before i did a water change and i got:
Ammonia : 0.5mg/L
Nitrite: 5.0mg/L
Nitrate: 50mg/L

So the parameters seem very off, just trying to get it to stabilise for now. Aside from that, i have a few new plants coming in, the rotala seems to be growing really fast.

On a side note, just got myself a new betta in hopes to start breeding in the future. Heres a quick photo of him.
 
#18 ·
5/16/13

14 Liter
Did a 30% water change in the 14 liter yesterday after i took nibblez out (he was a bit unhappy about that), managed to scrub down of the rock and the driftwood, scrubbed out the algae as well, quick maintenance.

36 Liter
Did a 20-30% water change yesterday, tested the water today and the parameters are looking very promising now, must have been a massive nitrite spike i was seeing before. Algae infestation seems to have also slowed down even though the Otocinclus are still looking full without me having to feed them anything yet. Might just be able to finally get the shrimps i want in the tank. Still no sign of the new plants i ordered yet although that will give me time tomorrow to rearrange the rotala h'ra, its growing wild now, i'd say quite a few of them have already grown to the surface.

Ammonia: 0.0mg/L
Nitrite: 1.0mg/L
Nitrate: 50mg/L

The new betta (yet to be named) still looking pretty calm and chilled out. Not bothered by Tenshi at all who would be flaring away, this little boy would just stare at Tenshi going nuts.
 
#19 · (Edited)
5/17/13

36 Liter
Looks like i was wrong, my parameters seem to be veering off course again. I still don't know what's going on. Did a 20-30% water change today as well. Nitrate wont go down, and the nitrite increased again even though it decreased yesterday.
Water parameter before WC:
Ammonia: 0.0mg/L
Nitrite: 2.0mg/L
Nitrate: 50mg/L

After WC:
Ammonia: 0.5mg/L
Nitrite: 1.0mg/L
Nitrate: 50mg/L

Anyways, it is now the start of week 4 since filling it in, the rotola h'ra is growing extremely well, blyxa still looking as terrible as ever, no improvements there for some reason. The HC might or might not be spreading i have no idea, it still looks more or less the same from when i first planted it. Did the weekly maintenance, scrubbing everything and cleaning everything, trimming the rotala, took forever. Talk aside, here the photos.


That one fat oto.....
 
#20 ·
5/20/2013

36 Liter
Quick update, my nitrite are out of whack, parameters are messed up. I've decided to start using the Sera Bio Nitrivec to help with the darn water parameters. Did a massive 80% water change with the Nitrivec which will hopefully get my parameters right. At least i got some good news, my new plants arrived! The tank is looking much fresher with these new plants, the HC is finally showing small amounts of new growth. However the phoenix moss still isnt attaching, some of them keep coming off cause of the damn algae.

Tenshi is very active now that i've placed Courage next to him although i've only let them see each other for a couple of minutes a day. Courage still calm and placid as ever while Tenshi gets riled up. Got a new EE HM pair on their way as well
 
#21 ·
5/22/2013

Received my breeding pair early this morning which was extremely unexpected, was thinking that i had at least until the end of the week till they arrived so i scrapped together what i can to make sure the two are as comfortable as possible till i sort something out because my LFS is closed today. Both of them are looking very healthy.

36 Liter
The hair algae just wont go away no matter what, i thought i the algae growth was slowing down when i first introduced the CO2 system in my tank but it is growing as fast as ever the past couple of days, liquid fert dosages are normal. Finding it really hard to explain the algae growth. Added a mixture of ADA Bacter 100 and Clear super to the water column to hopefully improve the current situation. Did about 25% water change today with the daily dosage of the Sera bio Nitrivec, also dosed the liquid ferts after the water change.

Looked up the causes for hair algae and it mentioned that hair algae grows on slow growing plants and gravel which does seem to be the case here. However, it mentions causes for green hair algae is high iron content, i tested for iron before the water change and i got 0.0mg/L. I know its not good for the plants but i was dosing ferts today so it didn't worry me. Been checking in with my LFS regarding this problem but he is just as stumped as i am.

Water parameters before water change:
Ammonia: 0.0mg/L
Nitrite: 1.0mg/L
Nitrate: 50mg/L

There will be a massive photo dump soon for all the updates on both the tank, new barracks which will hopefully be here soon, breeding tank which will also be here soon and all the bettas.
 
#22 ·
5/23/2013

36 Liter
Things are looking up, the stem plants are all looking as healthy as ever. The HC is starting to spread now although its still covered in hair algae. The phoenix moss is also growing and might already be attached to the driftwood in some areas aside from those that came off recently. The blyxa on the other hand is showing no new growth as all. I did however notice some new sprouts that look very much like blyxa couple of cm away, not sure how it ended up there. Still dosing with Nitrivec daily and the water parameters are looking up, nitrates have gone down, nitrite is coming down as well, all good signs.

Water parameters;
Ammonia: 0.0mg/L
Nitrite: 0.5mg/L - 1.0mg/L
Nitrate: 25mg/L

14 Liter
I've put my new sponge filter in this tank with Nibblez which i think he seems to like although it very much temporary. I'm trying to get this sponge filter established in the tank so that i can use it for the growout tank in the future. Odd thing about this tank however is that i never did get to test the water but that was because everything thing seemed absolutely fine, plant is healthy, barely any algae growth, even seen a bit of java moss grow from the driftwood. Nibblez is healthy as well. I check the water to be sure the other day and i got back 0.0 for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, the last water change was a week ago. Waiting a couple more days to test the water in that tank.

27 Liter
YES, I GOT A NEW TANK. As i mentioned, the pair i bought arrive much sooner than i expected so they were in make shift containers which i really just dont want to talk about at all. So in desperation, i went to my LFS today and got a bunch of things for the pair. I got a 30cm X 30cm X 30cm Do!Aqua cube (approx. 7 gallons), 55W heater, thermometer, a bunch of live plants, black water extract, a satellite breeding box and a internal water pump. Its quite bare right now as i am to use it as a breeding tank for the pair i got, the male is in the main tank and i have the female in the satellite breeding box right now. Both seem to be getting used to their new environments for now.

As for that massive photo dump, will have to wait till tomorrow, its a bit late and the pair are still exploring.
 
#23 ·
5/24/2013

Heres the massive photo dump i was mentioning.
36 Liter
The tank is just covered in hair algae now, however, with the dosage of Nitrivec, its looking much better in terms of water parameters. Did a water test today and its looking great, should be able to stock the tank pretty soon.

Water parameters:
Ammonia: 0.0mg/L - 0.5mg/L
Nitrite: 0.0mg/L
Nitrate: 10mg/L



14 Liter



27 Liter
Heres the setup i have so far, the light is temporary, just built a frame to attach the led strip to. I ordered another bag of IAL locally in hopes that that will get here next week. Going out tomorrow to get terracotta pots to help plant then plants in this tank with some ADA aquasoil. The plant seems to be pearling quite a bit despite that though. It looks bluer than it actually is though i have to say the light spectrum looks more like 7500k than 7000k.



And here are the photos of the lovely pair.
The female




The male





 
#25 ·
5/25/2013

36 Liter
Did a water change today with Nitrivec and cleaned out as much algae as i could again. Trimmed the rotala and planted some of it in the 27 liter tank. At this point i'm aiming to get rid of the algae, its really spreading.

27 Liter
Made some changes to the tank, went out and tried to find some terracotta pots to plant but didnt manage to find any so i ended up finding some other replacement to plants the plants. Also finished building the lighting unit for this tank. Its slightly changed from the photo as the wood warped slightly due to the heat from the LED strip. Still fits perfectly though and i tidied up the wiring a bit more. Photos i took this morning before the changes.







 
#26 · (Edited)
5/26/2013

36 Liter
WOOH! I tested the water parameters today and i have to say i am very pleased! The water is very very green so i am just hoping thats the hair algae disintegrating. I'm still continuing the dosage of nitrivec for another 4 more day so now the tank looks really really cloudy now, it has very low visibility. Got a new oto today as well to restock the tank, the tank is pretty much ready but i'll be waiting until i finish the dosage of nitrivec to introduce some shrimps in there and then Courage. It seems that he is biting his tail and he is the most placid of all my bettas, so i'm thinking he might be the best option for a community tank.

27 Liter
I added a bunch of amazon sword (that thing is huge) to the tank to add a lot more cover to the tank, also added some duckweed to the tank. Doing daily water changed to help keep the water quality in the tank as pristine as possible for the breeding pair. Hoping the IAL get here early in the week. Also the male ended up blowing a pretty big bubble nest while i was out today, too bad a part of it got destroyed when i was doing the water change.

Also, i was curious when i was at my LFS about better foods for my bettas. I looked into getting NLS as it was suggested since it has whole fish meal but i just cant find it in Australia and i cant just import it. I asked my LFS and they said some stores might have it exclusively but you will have to search for it, checked out some other foods he has stocked, one of them looked promising but it was flakes so i worried that my bettas wouldnt like them. I ended up buying the ADA AP-3 food to see if my bettas like them. Hopefully all goes well.
 
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