New 10 Gallon tank

[Bettawolf19]

Hello everyone! I'm new and I currently have a Crowntail Betta fish named Oscar that I've had for about 7 months now. The first few months He was in a half gallon vase(I was new at this) and is now currently in a 1 gallon tank with a bubble stone.

My questions were:

How long does a 10 gallion tank need to set and filter before its ok to add Oscar?

I currently have a Elite Radient 50 Watt 8" Aquarium Heater that I've read somewhere shorts out after a while soon exceeding temps of 100 degrees. Tomarrow however I believe I shall return it and get a better(and more exspensive) Heater. What are your thoughts on that?

Also the tank has 10 lbs of natural gravel stones (like what you would find at a bottom of a stream, smooth and small) and a Aqueon Quietflow 10 filter. I also have 5ml of Aqueon Water conditioner in the tank as well.

Currently it has no planets or deco because I wish for the water to stablize before adding live plants. (thinking Java plant and two lily bulbs).

So any comments/concerns please state :) Suggestions are welcome!

Here's a picture of it currently:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[RandomFish]

Originally Posted by Bettawolf19

Hello everyone! I'm new and I currently have a Crowntail Betta fish named Oscar that I've had for about 7 months now. The first few months He was in a half gallon vase(I was new at this) and is now currently in a 1 gallon tank with a bubble stone.

My questions were:

How long does a 10 gallion tank need to set and filter before its ok to add Oscar?

About 3-8 weeks if you're doing the fishless cycle. But this guy says you could cycle a tank instantly if you go to Petco, ask for a bit of bacteria from one of their cycled tanks, and dump it into your tank:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E21dIdJLbs

I currently have a Elite Radient 50 Watt 8" Aquarium Heater that I've read somewhere shorts out after a while soon exceeding temps of 100 degrees. Tomarrow however I believe I shall return it and get a better(and more exspensive) Heater. What are your thoughts on that?

Great idea on returning it! I don't see why a betta's aquarium should be heated to 100 F but I've read about that heater frequently being defective.

I recommend these two heaters:

http://www.amazon.com/Hydor-T11102-T...9173151&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Rena-SmartHeat...9173184&sr=1-1

Also the tank has 10 lbs of natural gravel stones (like what you would find at a bottom of a stream, smooth and small) and a Aqueon Quietflow 10 filter. I also have 5ml of Aqueon Water conditioner in the tank as well.

Currently it has no planets or deco because I wish for the water to stablize before adding live plants. (thinking Java plant and two lily bulbs).

So any comments/concerns please state :) Suggestions are welcome!

Here's a picture of it currently:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Nice!

I think that's the substrate I'm using right now, actually....Petco's Shallow Creek Mix or something to that effect.

A Java Fern would do fine in with that type of gravel - you just need to rubber band it to a rock or a piece of cured driftwood. It's really slow-growing though.

Water sprite could also be kept in there because it grows well without a dirt substrate. You could bury its roots in the rocks or simply leave it floating (the bettas love that... one of mine uses his water sprite as his bed).

And of course you might want some java moss tied to a cork or even make a wall of java moss or Christmas moss... they eat up ammonia well.

Happy planting! ;)

[Bettawolf19]

Originally Posted by RandomFish

About 3-8 weeks if you're doing the fishless cycle. But this guy says you could cycle a tank instantly if you go to Petco, ask for a bit of bacteria from one of their cycled tanks, and dump it into your tank:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E21dIdJLbs

I wonder if its possible to get a plant from petsmart's tanks and use the bacteria on that to speed up the cycling? Hmm.

Originally Posted by RandomFish

Great idea on returning it! I don't see why a betta's aquarium should be heated to 100 F but I've read about that heater frequently being defective.

I recommend these two heaters:

http://www.amazon.com/Hydor-T11102-T...9173151&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Rena-SmartHeat...9173184&sr=1-1

Ya I am returning the heater tomarrow and I haven't seen any heaters like that but would one like this work?:http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2755273&lmdn=Fish

Originally Posted by RandomFish

Nice!

I think that's the substrate I'm using right now, actually....Petco's Shallow Creek Mix or something to that effect.

A Java Fern would do fine in with that type of gravel - you just need to rubber band it to a rock or a piece of cured driftwood. It's really slow-growing though.

Water sprite could also be kept in there because it grows well without a dirt substrate. You could bury its roots in the rocks or simply leave it floating (the bettas love that... one of mine uses his water sprite as his bed).


And of course you might want some java moss tied to a cork or even make a wall of java moss or Christmas moss... they eat up ammonia well.

Happy planting! ;)

Do you know where to find a water sprite because I believe I haven't seen one around here.