Greetings all!

[Oldfishlady]

Are you setting this up as a natural planted tank.....I have never heard of that soil...is it soil like dirt or potting soil??....how much gravel did you cap it with...I know on my soil based tanks I will make back to back water changes until my water is clear and then plant and fill

What is the kelvin rating on your bulbs?
What kind of plants are you planting?

[Nanglebadger]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

Are you setting this up as a natural planted tank.....I have never heard of that soil...is it soil like dirt or potting soil??....how much gravel did you cap it with...I know on my soil based tanks I will make back to back water changes until my water is clear and then plant and fill

What is the kelvin rating on your bulbs?
What kind of plants are you planting?

yikes....ok i'll have to defer those questions to my brother lol!!

yes natural plants. JBL is a brand that the fish shop my brother works in stock, seems to be an up and coming brand perhaps, but seems popular and they are very impressed with it. They do fighter specific flake food and water conditioner.

on the plus side...the water is clearing. we cleaned out the filter and that made an instant improvement. probably should have guessed thats what was wrong. it was almost totally clear by the time i left this morning. so another clean this evening and she should be crystal clear by tomorrow then we can add my two males (the younger of which has blown his first bubble nest, the first i've ever seen as the other one never really seemed to bother). As we're now a little behind schedule we'll air on the side of caution and only add these two boys for now, but i'll pick up another two at the weekend and house them in the temporary bowls for a few days.

my computer is also due back soon so i should be able to provide pictures pretty soon too.

Phil.

[Jinx]

Hello, I'm a new member to this site too. I joined because I wanted to learn how to take proper care of a betta before I bought one. I've had a betta once before, but he died after a month of living in my house. Ever since I haven't had another one. Now I'm getting back into it so that I can have my 2nd betta and have it survive longer and healthier than the one I had before. Your custom tank sounds like a huge project that's worth the time. Please, post pictures if you can. I can't really afford anything fancy so I only have a 1 gallon prepared. I hope to update to a 2.5 gallon a few weeks after we move into our new house.

[Nanglebadger]

cheers Jinx! i can't take credit for the work, but i'll definately be getting pictures up just as soon as i can. hopefully get some plants in this evening all being well.

all the best with getting back into fish keeping! i'm looking forward to it myself!

Phil.

[Pekemom]

Hi, Phil~ I'm new here myself and happy to say that I've visited Northern Ireland many years ago. Ate the very best and freshest salmon of my life there - and none can compare after that!! I'm new to betta-keeping but have kept all kinds of fish (fresh and salt) for many years. What kind of 'soil' are you using in the tanks? Gravel or actual soil? Like all the other members, I'm looking foward to your pictures!

[Nanglebadger]

Hi Pekemom! Nice to hear you've been to NI, fresh salmon is one of the highlights here! I'm usin the JBL Aquabasis soil with gravel on top of it.

UPDATE

We are up and running! My CT and new VT got moved in late last week and they seemed pretty happy! We've got some weed in each cell, and on saturday i bought a piece of wood that we're going to split up so we've a piece for each cell.

So, saturday was fish shopping day. I picked up a lovely red/white/blue VT from Exotic Aquatics, a gorgeous mostly white with traces or red and blue VT from Grosvenor Tropicals in Lisburn, and we took a risk on a dark blue CT from Pets At Home in Belfast, as well as 6 Amano shrimp from Exotic Aquatics.

Now, we quaratined the CT and mostly white VT from Grosvenor. The VT is MINT, he hasn't so much as flinched at the move and is in perfect condition, as is the VT i got from Exotic.

However, even though i conditioned the CT from Pets at Home for longer than the others, by the time i got up yesterday morning he has developed acute fin rot and some form of fungus on his face. good job we quaratined him! i'm rather pissed about this, he was the only CT i saw the WHOLE day, everything else was a VT. My brother has treated him already and may bring more treatments from work tonight, but he doesnt hold much hope for him. Lesson learned, no more generic pet shop fish, specialist shops ONLY from now on. i aint happy.

also, the shrimp we put all in one cell to begin....they have decided to go walkies over the tops of the dividers! lol.

also, i got my PC back, so i should be able to provide some early photos tonight after work to let u see the incomplete set-up. its nearly there tho! few bits of wood, add the mostly white VT later in the week, get the runners for the cover glass, and we're pretty much done bar one sick CT.

Phil.

[mand]

Bad luck on the crowntail, i told you they were difficult to find, lol. Looking forward to seeing pics.

[Nanglebadger]

yeah, i thought it was maybe something i'd done, but my brother assures me its not. its just the luck of the draw sometimes. we'll do our best to treat him but he isn't hopefull.

wont be buying anymore fish from Pets at Home mand, i can assure you of that!

and yes, you did warn me! haha! i was NOT expecting to see no crowntails at all! i was VERY surprised. if this lad doesnt make it i'll old off until i know that Exotic receive a batch of CTs in which they do from time to time. or...Grosvenor had a class all white VT, but i had wanted to mix CTs and VTs! I've ended up with a majority VT population!!! lol! ah well not to worry, the VTs are class lookin! tonight will see the first feed in the new tank, so that'll please them.

Phil.