60l planted Betta smaragdina tank - pic heavy!

After a three year break from the hobby for uni and a realisation of a number of mistakes I made before that, I've decided to come back to the hobby and do it properly!

Kit:
60l aquarium modified to have a rimless front
A1171 Aquamanta IFX 50 internal corner filter 200 l/hr
3W Aquamanta Xanti led light
clip-on LED terrestrial plant growth light

Hardscape:
Unknown driftwood and rocks from my garden that were sat in my empty 125l

Plants:
Above water:
Calathea (misto?)
Parlour palm
Pothos
Peperomia (Ruby Cascade?)

Floating:
Salvia natans

Below water:
unknown anubias
unknown leafy stem plant
unknown cryptocryne
Java moss

30.09.19 - cleaned and set up tank
01.10.19 - added fish food to provide ammonia and started treating with melafix
02.10.19 - test kit and Salvia natans came
added the S. natans
test results:
Tank
pH -> 7.4
NH3+ -> 0.5 ppm
NO2- -> 1.5 ppm
NO3- -> >160 ppm

Tap
pH -> 7.4
NH3+ -> 0.25ppm
NO2- -> 0 ppm
NO3- -> 30 ppm
03.10.19 - water starting to clear up + new leaf on parlour palm!
pH -> 7.8 - bit worried about this, hope it doesn't go up any more! Will be adding Indian almond leaves when they come which may help
NH3+ -> 1.0 ppm
NO2- -> 2.0 ppm
NO3- -> >160 ppm
04.10.19 - added Indian almond leaves
pH -> 7.6ish
NH3+ -> 1.5 ppm
NO2- -> 1.5 ppm
NO3- -> >160 ppm
Also have a strange jelly developing on some of the sand, planning on doing a 100% water change tomorrow which should get rid of this
09.10.19
pH -> 6.6ish - impressive drop due to CO2, need to get drop checker!
NH3+ -> 2.0 ppm
NO2- -> 1.0 ppm
NO3- -> 35 ppm
27.10.19
pH -> 7.1
NH3+ -> 0 ppm
NO2- -> 0 ppm
NO3- -> 10 ppm

Can I ask why you are treating the tank with melafix? You don't mention having fish in the tank?

Also, if you have/intend to have Betta smaradina, none of the -fix products should be used as they contain cajeput oil (melafix, bettafix) or bay oil (pimafix) both of which cause problems for labyrinth fish.

Thank you for your concern @essjay ! Treating it with melafix because the hardscape came out of a tank which I'd left with just water and plants while at uni and wanted the peace of mind of having treated for any bacteria that may be lingering. In terms of melafix not being suitable for anabantoids, I remembered that earlier today! Currently doing a fishless cycle and going to be doing a couple of very large water changes before the fish go in and won't be using it once they're in

That's fine. I was just a bit concerned that you may already have fish even though you said you'd added food to provide ammonia which sounded as though you were cycling

essjay said:

That's fine. I was just a bit concerned that you may already have fish even though you said you'd added food to provide ammonia which sounded as though you were cycling

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Completely understand, much better to be safe than sorry!

Sound so good! If you would like help indexing you’re plants, just post a picture of them and we’ll be able the to help you.

(If your screen says, “File is to large to upload”, then set your cameras resolution to the lowest setting, and the take the picture.)

Also, make sure there’s is NO Melifix in the tank when you put the betta in. The Melifix will clog up the bettas labyrinth organ and he will suffocate.

Initial preparation of the tank:
With rim:

Rim taken off:

Setting up tank:
Arranging hardscape with thin layer of sand to protect bottom of aquarium:

Layer of soil where I intend to plant heavily:

Sand and emergent plants added:

Filling with a filter floss:

Cloudy after adding fish food to cycle:

S. natans added:

PheonixKingZ said:

Sound so good! If you would like help indexing you’re plants, just post a picture of them and we’ll be able the to help you.

(If your screen says, “File is to large to upload”, then set your cameras resolution to the lowest setting, and the take the picture.)

Also, make sure there’s is NO Melifix in the tank when you put the betta in. The Melifix will clog up the bettas labyrinth organ and he will suffocate.

Click to expand...

Added photos in the comments!

Interesting about the melafix, I'd read that bettafix was just a lower concentration version of the same thing? Doesn't really matter as I'm planning on doing a couple of pretty much 100% water changes before I get the fish anyway (nitrates already off the charts and I'm not even over the nitrite peak!), just interesting to know for future!

AlStu said:

Setting up tank:
Arranging hardscape with thin layer of sand to protect bottom of aquarium:
View attachment 94268 View attachment 94269
Layer of soil where I intend to plant heavily:
View attachment 94271
Sand and emergent plants added:
View attachment 94272
Filling with a filter floss:
View attachment 94273

Click to expand...

Looks very good!

AlStu said:

Added photos in the comments!

Interesting about the melafix, I'd read that bettafix was just a lower concentration version of the same thing? Doesn't really matter as I'm planning on doing a couple of pretty much 100% water changes before I get the fish anyway (nitrates already off the charts and I'm not even over the nitrite peak!), just interesting to know for future!

Click to expand...

Sounds good. Some people just don’t know what a certain medicine does to their fish, I just wanted to take the extra precaution of telling you!

What is the brand of light on the tank?

@PhoenixKingZ thank you! Very happy with it given everything but the calathea and parlour palm were just lying around my house!