[BettAy Paige]

Here is my recently purchased 3 gallon, half-moon aquarium kit:

http://www.amazon.com/Tetra-Half-Mo...C0F8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1317674620&sr=8-2

I've set it up, prepped the water, landscaped, stocked up on all of the "good betta owner" necessities that this wonderful forum has opened my eyes to. Got a heater, baffled the filter, the whole shebang...

I finally brought home our little family's newest addition three days ago. Everything seems to be fine, except for one thing...the damn bubbler that came with the kit. It is hard to anchor in the gravel and is constantly coming loose, and is a pain the rebury.

There is a valve that can lower the intensity of the bubble flow, but the current is still waaaaaaay too strong for such a small tank. He obviously despises it and, when he figured out that he couldn't really swim around it without getting caught up in the airflow, just avoids the entire area, which means he's been cowering in corners and his little teacup, looking po'd.

Sorry for the diatribe. My main question: is it possible to disconnect the bubbler light from the rest of the filteration system entirely? Or is it an "all in one" deal? I suck at mechanical things like this. Right now I have everything off except the heater, and he seems much happier, but I would really like to have a filter running if at all possible.

Thanks so much in advance from this clueless noob

 

[Thunderloon]

ohah

Ok, this is the same kit of filter and bubbler that comes in the 1g hex tetra kit.


You shouldn't have heavy flow problems with the bubbler, I've got mine regulated way back.

Check to make sure the filter itself is running unrestricted air flow "full power" then turn the bubbler all the way off and slowly turn it back on 1/8th a turn at a time and wait about a minute each little bit of turn.

Or you can simply leave the disk of lights down in the bottom without the air line attached to it, the filter itself is producing tons of aeration for the tank.

If you haven't put an intake sponge on the filter you should go ahead and get one, Fluval makes a perfect one that they normally use on "The Edge" tanks that is about $3.00 which fits snugly onto the Whisper 3i filter. When you put it on don't pull it all the way up, let it hang down with about an inch of space below the poly intake pipe inside the bottom of the sponge.


I've currently got this filter/air stone combination in a two gallon hex tank that my wife's new crowntail girl is in, she has no trouble with the flow, it makes me wonder if you've got dirt in valves or are running the hoses wrong. You should be able to regulate it down to little waves of table-salt sized bubbles.

 

[BettAy Paige]

Thanks bunches for replying! I got a more savvy aquarium friend to help me out and that's pretty much the same thing he did. I haven't gotten an intake sponge yet (although it is on my quickly growing equipment list), and was wondering which brand/size/type to get, so that is totally awesome that you threw that in I'm sure you saved me another trip to the petstore to return yet another betta care item that is either harmful, unnecessary, or the wrong size. Thank you, thank you!

 

[Thunderloon]

Its literally http://www.bigalspets.com/Fluval-Edge-Pre-Filter-Sponge/dp/B002LL32RY?ie=UTF8&id=Fluval%20Edge%20Pre-Filter%20Sponge&field_product_site_launch_date_utc=-1y&field_availability=-1&field_browse=3007699011&searchSize=12&searchNodeID=3007699011&searchPage=1&searchKeywords=sponge&field_keywords=sponge&class=quickView&refinementHistory=brandtextbin%2Csubjectbin%2Ccolor_map%2Cprice%2Csize_name&searchRank=salesrank

For the Whisper 3i its pretty much mandatory to put some kind of grill or sponge over the intake at the bottom, it can pull in and snag long fins.

I've actually gotten away with rubber banding a bio-ball onto one of them before, but the pre-filter sponge makes the filter card last a lot longer AND acts as the biological media surface for cycle.