# New planted 10g giant betta build!



## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

I had a nice 10g tank my wife bought for a betta last year, but that betta had passed a long time ago. It's a Top Fin kit tank that came with one of those light up bubble wands and what kind of seems like a tiny internal sump. I think that the bubble wand produced too much flow, but at any rate I took both of those out, and installed a small sponge filter. The tank came with bio rings that I had sitting in the HOB for my 29, I just plopped them in the tank too, and planted a whole bunch of plants that I don't really know anything about, but they were $9 a bundle of like 6 stems at the LFS, so I got 5 bundles. The employee told me they're all easy, low light plants, and that's all I needed to hear. I used a 4.4lb bag of stratum and a 5lb bag of black sand.

Enough about the tank, what about this giant betta? It was on the shelf at the store with a bunch of regular females, so I think it's a female? I'm not planning on breeding it, so I don't really care either way. I think it looks awesome.


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## SBirtell1 (5 mo ago)

Gorgeous betta and set up!


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## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

SBirtell1 said:


> Gorgeous betta and set up!


Thanks!


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

All low light plants, keep an eye on ammonia though as some plant substrate will leach ammonia, I used Uns and it leached for 6 weeks,


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## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

susankat said:


> All low light plants, keep an eye on ammonia though as some plant substrate will leach ammonia, I used Uns and it leached for 6 weeks,


What is Uns? And absolutely, I'm watching it closely. I had .5 ammonia today, none yesterday, so I did a quick water change and added some Ammo Lock and Seed by Aquavitro. 6 weeks huh? I've used this substrate a few times now with no issues like that, but thanks for the heads up! Just another reason to keep on top of a new tank. Thankfully it's only a 10g, so 50% is a 5g bucket. I have a python to fill it back up with.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Its a plant substrate controsoil.


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## Kurama (5 mo ago)

Nice forest! Bet the betta likes swimming in it


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## Gamegurl (4 mo ago)

What a gorgeous Betta. Nice one


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## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

Kurama said:


> Nice forest! Bet the betta likes swimming in it





Gamegurl said:


> What a gorgeous Betta. Nice one


Thanks guys. Still showing trace ammonia (as of yesterday, lights come on in a half hour), so still working through the cycle. Plants still look green and the betta still looks happy. So far so good.

Also, I'm still trying to come up with a name for it.


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## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

Test came back 0 ammonia today, 0 nitrite, and I think trace nitrate (just barely not yellow anymore). Looks like the cycle is establishing nicely in there, of course it's still too soon to know for sure. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Plants are starting to melt a little bit, but that's normal when you first plant them from what I've read. I just need to keep on top of getting dead stuff out of there.


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## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

2 weeks in, and all is well with the fish. Water checked out at about 10ppm nitrate today, but I hadn't changed water yet except for a quick emergency one the day after I started it for an ammonia spike, so I did a quick ~10%. I did lose quite a few of those frilly looking plants, though. They just basically melted into nothing. The ones that are left don't look so good, either. The other plants look okay, so I'm hoping that a WC helps. I refilled the tank with water from my 75 simply for a little boost in nutrient levels, to try and maybe save the frilly plants that are left. I know that's not generally considered best practice, but I don't think it will hurt.

I think the betta's name will be Jay.


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## Gamegurl (4 mo ago)

Looks good.  Those plants look alot like one I have, good to see they fill out some.


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## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

Gamegurl said:


> Looks good.  Those plants look alot like one I have, good to see they fill out some.


Which plants in particular? And I don't think you should credit any of the plant keeping to me, my LFS has one of those 3 tiered waterfall tanks just packed with plants, and they even keep a betta in the bottom section. Anyway, I'm pretty sure they're the ones to credit for great plants at a great price. Some of them melted back really bad, but seemed to bounce back just as fast. The only exception is that frilly one.

Edit; I just noticed I didn't even get it in the picture. Lol!


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## Gamegurl (4 mo ago)

The tall plants with all the roots dangling, has kind of a curved round leaf. I think they are called Althernatera.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Althernatera will have lots of red, looks more like Bacopa monnieri.


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## Gamegurl (4 mo ago)

susankat said:


> Althernatera will have lots of red, looks more like Bacopa monnieri.


This is what I was sold and told was Althernatera Ficoidea. Excuse the brown algae, it seems to love this plant.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Yours have red in the stems so yes Althernatera Ficoidea. His does not.


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## Gamegurl (4 mo ago)

susankat said:


> Yours have red in the stems so yes Althernatera Ficoidea. His does not.


Ahhh, very cool and thank you.


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## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

So, I had an oopsie. I was adding liquid ferts to my 75, when I looked over at the betta tank and thought "I wonder if this will help those plants". So without thinking I started adding. 1 squirt, 2 squirts, 3 squirts, 4 sq.... Wait! What am I doing? It's 1 squirt per 10g!

So I did a 50% WC, and did another the next day, but the damage is done. I now have all of the hair algae. Stupid. At least it's just algae. Jay doesn't seem to mind.


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## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

So, I've been keeping up on my maintenance, and I still have a considerable amount of algae growth. The tank has successfully cycled, nitrates are staying in the 20s week to week, and Jay looks great! I've decided to add a couple of nerite snails, they're yellow and black zebra pattern. I got a couple more to add in my other 10g once it's ready for them too. My main issue is hair algae, though, and from my experience, nerite's don't do a great job with that. So, I have been toying with the idea of maybe trying some ghost shrimp? It would be after the holidays, but I foresee this as going to be a problem for a while. I've been manually removing what I can, but being that the plants aren't very firmly rooted yet, I don't want to mess with them too much.

I have a feeling I'll be kicking myself for the life of this tank for dosing that much fertilizer.


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## Tetra234 (1 mo ago)

Dlaw said:


> So, I've been keeping up on my maintenance, and I still have a considerable amount of algae growth. The tank has successfully cycled, nitrates are staying in the 20s week to week, and Jay looks great! I've decided to add a couple of nerite snails, they're yellow and black zebra pattern. I got a couple more to add in my other 10g once it's ready for them too. My main issue is hair algae, though, and from my experience, nerite's don't do a great job with that. So, I have been toying with the idea of maybe trying some ghost shrimp? It would be after the holidays, but I foresee this as going to be a problem for a while. I've been manually removing what I can, but being that the plants aren't very firmly rooted yet, I don't want to mess with them too much.
> 
> I have a feeling I'll be kicking myself for the life of this tank for dosing that much fertilizer.


Lol I've never messed with ferts without it becoming one huge bugger up.. Just give it some time and it'll sort out itself but if you need a critter to gobble up hair algae I'm a big advocate of a Siamese algae eater.. 
10gal is too small for one but a juvenile of an inch ought to be fine..


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## Deathdealer91 (Jul 23, 2014)

Dlaw said:


> So, I've been keeping up on my maintenance, and I still have a considerable amount of algae growth. The tank has successfully cycled, nitrates are staying in the 20s week to week, and Jay looks great! I've decided to add a couple of nerite snails, they're yellow and black zebra pattern. I got a couple more to add in my other 10g once it's ready for them too. My main issue is hair algae, though, and from my experience, nerite's don't do a great job with that. So, I have been toying with the idea of maybe trying some ghost shrimp? It would be after the holidays, but I foresee this as going to be a problem for a while. I've been manually removing what I can, but being that the plants aren't very firmly rooted yet, I don't want to mess with them too much.
> 
> I have a feeling I'll be kicking myself for the life of this tank for dosing that much fertilizer.


Algae takes awhile to get rid of. Reduce lighting time and keep up with the water changes. Also keep ripping out the Algae. Itll get better soon. But beautiful tank and fish


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## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

Deathdealer91 said:


> Algae takes awhile to get rid of. Reduce lighting time and keep up with the water changes. Also keep ripping out the Algae. Itll get better soon. But beautiful tank and fish


Thanks, and as for lighting, I'm only running it for 6 hours. It's just the light/lid that came with the kit.



Tetra234 said:


> Lol I've never messed with ferts without it becoming one huge bugger up.. Just give it some time and it'll sort out itself but if you need a critter to gobble up hair algae I'm a big advocate of a Siamese algae eater..
> 10gal is too small for one but a juvenile of an inch ought to be fine..


I would rather stick with permanent additions to the tank. I was considering a small group of otos, but i don't yet know what Jay's temperament is like.


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## Deathdealer91 (Jul 23, 2014)

Might want to upgrade the light. Its probably helping the algea grow. I run this light on my 10 gallon. It's 9 watts. Grows my low light plants like weeds.
LAQUAL LED Aquarium Light (for 12-18in Fish Tank), Waterproof Fish Tank Light, 3 Modes (Best-Vision-Mode, Night-Mode, Plant-Mode), 5 Brightness & 3 Time Settings, Extendable Brackets, 9W, UL Approved https://a.co/d/5KPs4hw


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## Deathdealer91 (Jul 23, 2014)

Plus its affordable, full spectrum, Dimmable, Has timer, And super easy to use


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## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

Deathdealer91 said:


> Might want to upgrade the light. Its probably helping the algea grow. I run this light on my 10 gallon. It's 9 watts. Grows my low light plants like weeds.
> LAQUAL LED Aquarium Light (for 12-18in Fish Tank), Waterproof Fish Tank Light, 3 Modes (Best-Vision-Mode, Night-Mode, Plant-Mode), 5 Brightness & 3 Time Settings, Extendable Brackets, 9W, UL Approved https://a.co/d/5KPs4hw


I'd like to upgrade the light, but here's the situation: The tank absolutely has to have a lid, and there's no top rim on this tank. We have a cat that would endlessly play in the tank should it not have a lid on it, and while I don't think he'd mess with the fish, the tank itself sets on our entertainment center with our expensive stereo, game systems and etc. that don't need to be getting wet.

If I were to upgrade the light, I'd probably have to upgrade the whole tank, which would probably end up being more of a sidegrade (or maybe even a downgrade, as I really like the overall look of this tank) to a standard 10g with a top rim.

I have been thinking about it, though, and I've heard of a 33g long tank that I think would fit on my desk really nicely, and I have no doubt my desk would be able to hold without issue. I might see if I can pick one up for a decent price, and build a duplex out of it.


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## Deathdealer91 (Jul 23, 2014)

No just go to your local hardware store and have them cut you a plexiglass lid with the dimensions of the inside lip of the ten gallon. Better yet just measure the lid that's on it and you'll have the dimensions.


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## Dlaw (6 mo ago)

Deathdealer91 said:


> No just go to your local hardware store and have them cut you a plexiglass lid with the dimensions of the inside lip of the ten gallon. Better yet just measure the lid that's on it and you'll have the dimensions.


There's no inside lip, is what I'm saying. The top of the tank is rimless, the lid is shaped to go around the outside of the glass in stead of sit on a ledge. I probably could have a custom lid made, but that would cost me as much as the light around here, probably, because unless it just sits on top of the tank, it's going to need to come down over the outside of the glass to hold it in place. If it doesn't, it will get bumped out of the way and chaos will ensue.


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